sTAY IN TOUCH!
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Dear MONAD community,
With a heavy but grounded heart, I’m announcing that I’ve made the incredibly difficult decision to close the studio. For now.
As always, true to MONAD’s values, I want to be transparent about why. I truly believe it is this kind of transparancy that we need as a community, to better understand how our scene functions and how deeply we rely on one another to keep it going.
From the beginning, MONAD was built as a space rooted in care, connection and integrity. A space that uplifts artists while remaining affordable and community-focused. Where intimacy and personal attention weren’t just marketing, but core values. We wanted to contribute to a healthier and kinder dance community, one that honors the work, values the people, and compensates accordingly.
But building something meaningful in a system that continuously demands more: more rent, more output, more resilience, all while offering less support in return, has been a struggle. The rising costs of everything around us, both physically, emotionally and energetically, have made it nearly impossible to sustain this space without compromising the very values we built it on.
But what really pushed us to make this decision was our location. Our physical space has become a limitation in ways that no longer allows for the care, presence and growth our community deserves.
What started as our safe haven has increasingly faced more restrictions and challenges, making it harder to expand and support our community in the ways we envision. Continuing here would mean standing in the way of that growth.
So instead, I’m choosing to pause, step back, and protect the integrity of what MONAD stands for.
Over the years, we’ve seen how deeply necessary this space has been. And how much we have been valued for what we offer. Many people have given so much to make this studio what it is. Not just their energy, but their time, heart, and love, often without compensation. All because they believed in what we were building.
For that I want to express my deepest gratitude.
Thank you for believing in us. Thank you for showing up, for growing with us, and for helping us shape something so meaningful.
Letting go of MONAD in its current form and trusting it will find a new shape is incredibly hard, but we’ve come to see this as a completed chapter, not a failure.
Because with this decision comes something quietly powerful: the acknowledgment of the beauty in creating something temporary. We’ve seen this in our classes and events, and now, however unexpected, we’re applying this same philosophy to the studio itself.
Our culture often measures value by longevity, by how long something lasts and how permanent it appears. But there’s something profoundly human about showing up fully for a moment in time.
MONAD, in its current form, has always been a response to a need, a deeply human desire for space, movement, and community. And we’ve taken great pride in meeting that need, even if only for a moment in time.
That being said, our community and what we’ve built together, exists in a way that is infinite. The impact, the memories, the growth, the connections, those don’t disappear. Their value isn’t tied to how long it lasted, but to how deeply it was felt.
And that’s why this isn’t the end. We’re taking a necessary pause to reflect, reimagine, and find a new space. One that can hold not just our artists and community, but also the people working behind the scenes to make it all happen.
I know this may feel unexpected, and that in itself says a lot. It shows how often the struggles of spaces like ours go unseen, the emotional labor, the financial balancing act, the quiet, constant sacrifices.
I hope this will serve as a reminder for us as a community: if we want spaces like this to exist, we have to actively support them, not just financially, but with presence, care, and solidarity. It’s a two-way street: the more you give, the more we can give back. We need one another!
As MONAD, we’ll keep cheering on the beautiful spaces and people shaping this scene, and we hope you will too. Together, we can help these spaces thrive, and hopefully soon, MONAD will be part of it again.
With love and a lot of gratitude,
Nina van der Zouwen
COMING SOON:
A 3 MONTH TRAINING PROGRAM AT STUDIO MONAD, DESIGNED TO SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONTEMPORARY DANCER.
JOIN OUR ONLINE COMMUNITY AND BE THE FIRST TO HEAR ABOUT UPCOMING EVENTS, GET EARLY BIRD ACCESS AND STAY IN THE LOOP WITH EVERYTHING HAPPENING IN THE STUDIO!