Maurits van geel

ROMA AND OTHER DANCES

Maurits Van Geel lives in The Netherlands and holds a degree in Arts and Crafts and Art History. He graduated as a folk dance teacher in 1977 and received his degree at Dance Academy level from the Ministry of Culture in 1986. He taught at folk dance clubs in Amsterdam and worked as a dance consultant for the City Council 1986-1988, initiating dance projects in schools in combination with setting up dance projects and festivals. Also in the 1980s, he specialized in the Appalachian clogging, worked as guest teacher in Belgium, The Netherlands, and Germany, and was invited to be a guest teacher at the Rotterdam Dance Academy.

He was employed by Het Internationaal Danstheater, a professional dance company in Amsterdam, first as choreographer and later as artistic director for 23 years (1988-2011). During his career, he produced over 47 theatre programs in the field of world dance for this company. Part of this job involved several months of dance research each year in order to prepare for these programs. His travels have included India, Pakistan, Turkey, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Cherkassy, among many other countries. His archive consists of almost 900 DVDs, with research material from all over the world, most of it recorded by himself. He has also choreographed folk dances, among them Syrtós Kitrínou.

Since 2011, Maurits has been teaching, often with his wife Tineke. They have traveled to many European countries, New Zealand, Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, and were guest teachers at a number of folk dance camps and workshops in North America.

In November 2017, Willem-Alexander, King of the Netherlands, appointed Maurits Knight in the Order of Oranje-Nassau for his extensive contribution to dance.

Maurits first attended Stockton in 1986, as a camper, with his wife, Tineke.