With Korzo’s new season, you’ll be ready to take on the world, even in times like these."

Korzo Director Jimmy-Pierre de Graaf on the New Season...

Korzo’s new season is (a)live: part familiar, part bold experiment. With topical monthly themes, productions that return multiple times throughout the season, an inclusive pop-up strip club, and music taking center stage at CaDance, Korzo is becoming much more than just a place to catch a performance. Director Jimmy-Pierre de Graaf sees Korzo as a modern-day salon, where artists and audiences come together to figure out what the world needs right now.

You’ve been Korzo’s director for about a year and a half now. What was your first impression when you got here?
“I saw a passionate and professional team, but I missed a bit of boldness and playfulness. At times, I found myself wondering: are we performing theater or are we living theater? And more importantly: what do we want to accomplish together? Our motto is ‘Here to move you,’ but I wasn't sure what that really meant. That’s something we're actively changing now.”

In the new program, every month has a central theme that revolves around a major headliner, with performances, talks, and workshops that all ask the same question: what does the world need now? Why?

“Because life is intense.”

Is it?
“Yes, especially on an individual level. You have personal ambitions, a family, and a dozen other balls to juggle at the same time. The new program invites audiences into the world of the curator and the artist. We're showing people how we see the world and asking them to explore it with us. We want people to feel energized and motivated, like they can handle whatever life throws at them. The feeling that, together, we can take on the world.”

Do you mean the general public?
“No. Korzo is geared towards curious, creative, and courageous people who need art to feel motivated and inspired. That’s who we tailor our programs to. Because if society loses people like that, we’re in serious trouble.”

It sounds like you expect theater to be more than just a great performance.
“I’ve always believed that art should be a tool for shaping society. But it should also be a space to play, to question things, and to embrace the unknown. I’d love for Korzo to become a kind of contemporary salon— a place where artists, audiences, and Korzo itself can experience the world together and help shape it.”

Why is this sense of community so important to you?
“It stems in part from my musical background. I trained in West African percussion, and in that tradition, you don’t make music alone. Then there’s my personal story. I was adopted by a Dutch family and grew up in a very white environment. That creates a kind of loneliness that shapes the way you experience the world. Almost everything feels personal. But when you feel like you’re carrying life together, you realize you can accomplish so much more.”

One of November's headliners is the inclusive pop-up strip club Striptopia. Is this introducing a new kind of Korzo?
“No, if anything, it’s bringing us back to our roots. At its core, Korzo has always been about the body: about physicality as form of expression, communication, and knowledge. The Striptopia performers embody themes like gender, sexuality, safety, and consent, turning lived experiences into a compelling performance. The way they do that is incredibly relevant to see, and there's so much audiences can learn from it. The conceptual themes we discuss here are their daily reality—an unwanted framework within which they operate. With Striptopia, they're breaking the conventions of how we see them and see theater.”

That sounds exciting. Will the other headliners be pushing boundaries, too? "Whenever technology becomes the subject of a performance, it's usually portrayed as some kind of disaster. Cocon, by artist Nick Verstand and Cello Octet, explores what it might look like for humans to exist in harmony with technology. In this case, a giant robotic arm. They approach this with remarkable gentleness and spirituality, offering a deeply human perspective on the theme through music. To me, it's a beautiful response to the question of what the world needs right now.”

I've noticed quite a few colleagues leaving Cadance meetings with red faces. Are you shaking things up there, too?
He laughs. “I’ve never been afraid to shake things up a bit. Cadance is transforming into an interdisciplinary festival where music is becoming important part of the program, alongside the physical disciplines. When you talk about experimentation and innovation, there are so many exciting things happening in music. It often comes from artists and groups on the margins of society and the cultural sector. Especially from non-Western musical traditions. I really wanted to brings those musical worlds that we tend to dismiss as ‘periphery’ into Korzo. Because for the creators, it’s the very heart of their daily life.”

What does this music offer audiences?
“I think we tend to forget just how small the Netherlands is. It’s important to bring the outside world in as a reminder that different realities exist. It holds up a mirror and give us room to breathe. That’s what this season is all about. By making choices like these, we're giving our audiences, our makers, our city, and the world what it needs.”

Curious? Explore the new season here.