Verdict of the jury: Lennart Lahuis treats the concept of visibility in an inventive way, playing with the amount of information he grants to the viewer, and the time he takes to relinquish it. Both the disposable images he hides behind a layer of wax and his floor projects, apparently consisting of nothing but water, demand a certain effort on the side of the viewer. The effect, however, is all the more forceful. The image fades or, quite literally, evaporates, leaving the viewer with its ghost. In this way he forces us to think about what we are actually seeing. By using this conceptual approach Lahuis consciously limits his creative scope.
Verdict of the Jury: It is evident that the Canadian Sarah Murphy is a talented and hard worker. Her movement is striking; she truly employs her whole body. Murphy uses every fibre, and manages to enchant her audience without effort. She is able to draw the viewer into her vast imagination, and has a large array of dance styles at her disposal. Like no other, Murphy is able to integrate emotion and feeling into her performance. Her ability to enrich her emotions with expressive detail is intriguing. Murphy’s expressiveness genuinely touched the jury.
Verdict of the Jury: Nik van den Berg is enormously talented. It is small wonder that he was already nominated last year. At that time he made an impression with his Parade performance, where he amply demonstrated his ability to seduce his audience with his extravagant stage personality. Over the past year, he managed to develop even further. Van den Berg possesses a clear artistic signature and is able to change gear at a moment’s notice. He can really twist the audience round his finger. The jury hopes van den Berg will continue to look for new layers as an actor, maker and performer, and will find collaborators who will challenge him. It also hopes he will enlarge his palette as a solo performer in such a way as to help him find new substance and meaning, and engage his audience artistically as well as intellectually.
