Niek Wagenaar (Amsterdam) is a dancer and choreographer, driven by a desire to touch audiences both physically and emotionally. Trained at the Amsterdam University of the Arts (Urban Contemporary Dance), he joined Hofesh Shechter Company in London during his studies and continued performing with them while shaping his own choreographic voice.

His movement language is fluid and organic, sensual yet powerful, rhythmically charged, and rich in imagery. At the core lies a wish to connect through universal emotions and existential questions. With an international troupe of young dancers, he creates layered works that weave themes of community, empowerment, and depolarisation into embodied performances. His aim is always to make audiences feel first, and to let meaning and message emerge through that affective encounter.

In 2022 he founded his initiative Nymphs, premiering its first work Nymphs to critical acclaim and multiple awards. His second piece, After All (2023), was hailed as “an ode to the beauty of dance.” Alongside his company, Wagenaar creates commissions for other ensembles. For Conny Janssen Danst he made Slipping Under (2025), a raw duet on toxic power relations, performed with visceral urgency.

In the same year, his company presented Sabbath—an evocative ritual celebrating queerness, witchcraft, and the empowerment of outsiders. Praised by de Volkskrant (★★★★☆) as “enchanting and inviting,” the piece reclaims the witch as a symbol of resistance and transformation.

Through these works, Wagenaar and his Nymphs carve out a bold, poetic presence in the contemporary dance landscape—unafraid to confront human struggles while always searching for intimacy, beauty, and connection.