Fun & Famous

Let me start with an editorial warning because I really like this woman. So much so that my youngest daughter carries her name. So you know this is a piece that is quite positively biased. May I have attention, tribute, eternal fame, and great applause for Igoné de Jongh. First soloist of the National Ballet.

Igoné, you danced the lead role in Romeo and Juliet (duh) and had your last performance yesterday. The show is still running but with a different cast, so you must be having a big Thank God It’s Friday experience today?

“My TGIF moment was last night after the performance. Then we all dive into café Blauwbrug, which is diagonally across from the Stopera, and I celebrate the success of the performance and herald the start of a vacation, because I have no performance for a while and I asked if I could be freed from the tour the company is making to Spain. This way, I am really free for a bit and I get to enjoy May vacation with my son Hugo.”

How have those weeks leading up to the performance been?

“The nice thing was that this was a compressed period where we worked on this performance for six weeks straight. Sometimes you start half a year in advance, but there are also periods of rest in between, and now we were constantly busy with a project which keeps you completely focused.”

And do you then have incredibly long days?

“During the training period, we train every day from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM and on Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. In the performance weeks, I am of course also working in the evenings.’

But now it’s the weekend. What does that look like?

“I really want to take my son to DierenPark Amersfoort because we have been to Artis so many times. I try to do as much as possible with my family on the weekends, although I often go to the Concertgebouw on Sundays for the series of Master Pianists. I often go there with Hans van Manen. This weekend I’m heading to Limburg where I rented a cottage to celebrate the vacation with a good friend and her children.”

Do you still train or are you the type that lies with her leg on her neck while watching TV?

“No, haha, I just sit on the couch when I watch TV. No sitting wide-legged and stretching for me. It depends a bit on whether I have a performance shortly after or not. Then I take a class or a barre.”

I’m so curious about what you listen to on the weekend…

“Sky Radio! I find it nice and calm and I like that there isn’t too much talking. When I listen to classical music, so many pieces come by that I have danced to that I can never listen to it relaxed.”

And what are you reading?

“Very silly, but I hardly get around to it anymore. This weekend especially not, all attention goes to my little boy and to my friend with whom I really want to catch up.“

Just a bit about that fantastic collaboration you had with Anecdote. How did that come about?

“I already thought it was a very nice clothing brand with beautiful, soft fabrics. The owner of Anecdote, Jetteke van Beuningen, had contacted my husband Matthieu to ask if he could make short films for them, and he suggested doing that with me. I immediately said ‘yes’ because I like the brand and my husband does too. Moreover, Matthieu is also a dancer, so he knows exactly what I can do.”