ISH Dance Collective

Our inspiration was found in the street. Now, we bring hiphop dance and urban sports to the theatre. Our performances combine contemporary street forms with traditional disciplines such as ballet, theatre, and classical music.

ISH is a collective of those who can think differently, free of formats and restrictions, united by the notion that boundaries are futile. No doubt then that the work of ISH Dance Collective is hard to classify. For a free runner, a wall is no obstacle but a step up, for a street footballer a simple square becomes an arena. We are inspired by the movement that comes from dismantling the framework to find the binding vision of an open view.

‘ISH is a way of life. Stay true to yourself and look around for inspiration.’

—Marco Gerris, founder and artistic director of ISH

We bring our divergent outside worlds together in the theatre. In the studio breakers, ballet dancers, actors, voguers, urban sporters, musicians, orchestras, and spoken-word artists converge. In the audience, we find a mixture of different ages, backgrounds, and genders. We want everyone to feel at home in the theatre, also those who have never been.

ISH has a commitment to young people. We inspire new generations, guiding and mentoring young talent to find their place within our industry. Parallel to ISH Dance Collective our organization has three other important pillars: ISH Academy, ISH Talent, and ISH Community. For them, we develop programs designed respectively for children, youth, new professional talent, and the hiphop community in general.

ISH Dance Collective is led by Marco Gerris. Marco established ISH in 2000 and remains the principal director of performance.

You will find our studios in Amsterdam's New West. This is where we have rehearsals and classes, where new talent emerges, and where the community can come to participate.