What is the best thing that I love about my work? What I love most about my work is that it makes me live in the now. While dancing, I don’t think about anything else than what I am busy with. It is almost meditative. Dancing really forces me to be in the moment and to let go of everything that’s in my head.

What is my idea of perfect happiness? I think putting the words perfect and happiness in one sentence already is a mistake. Striving for perfection won’t bring happiness. I believe embracing life’s imperfections will bring you closer to the essence of what happiness is. My idea of happiness is being able to share all that I have with the people I love.

What is my greatest fear? My greatest fear is to miss something. I am afraid of having the feeling that I missed something in life. I am afraid of time passing by so quickly. I want to experience as much as I can. I want to travel and have adventures. Find love. I hope to feel that, when I am old and wrinkly, I can say : ‘I’ve seen and felt it all’

What is the trait that I most deplore in myself? I really don’t like how afraid I can be. I think I am brave, but that doesn’t take away that I do feel afraid often. Afraid of the unknown, afraid of really being vulnerable, afraid of change and so on. Luckily I push myself to not let these fears stand in the way of my decisions and actions but I always need to sit myself down and give myself a peptalk, each time I face one of these fears.

Which living persons in my profession do i most admire? This is a hard question. I admire so many people. I admire all the dancers I have worked with and work with. Admiring your colleagues, I think, is the most important thing to feel motivated and inspired. Of course there are many great people that did great things, but to me, the people I work with on a daily base are the ones that I really get to know and therefore mostly admire.

What is my greatest extravagance? Flights or train tickets. I definitely spend most of my money on traveling. Not always to see new places, but often to visit friends abroad (as all my friends are spread over the world), or my family when I am abroad. I think money is never wasted when traveling to see people that mean a lot to you.

On what occasion would I lie? I hate people that lie. And I hate catching myself lying. I think the only reason I would lie is to not hurt someone else. I guess and hope that is the main reason anyone would lie.

What is the thing that I dislike the most in my work? I really don’t like how my job makes me travel the world to make new friends in new places, create a home, create a comfort zone, create a little family somewhere new and then…leave it all behind again. Saying goodbye is the thing I hate most in life. And sadly, next to many wonderful hello’s, my job brings many goodbye’s with it as well. This is something I will never ever get used to.

When and where was I the happiest, in my work? This is a tricky question. I think we all tend to idealise the past. So looking back at many chapters of my career I feel that I have been happy everywhere. Of course not everywhere and with everyone I felt at my best, but there is always so much to find happiness in. I definitely feel that lately I am feeling very happy. Since I started to give myself more freedom in my job and be more open for new experiences, I find myself constantly in new places and places where I have been dreaming of and never thought to find myself in. That makes me happy.

If I could, what would I change about myself? I wouldn’t really want to change anything about myself. Of course I can say how I would love to be less afraid of things, or how I would want to have more discipline to do all the things I tell myself I will do every January 1st. But I am sure if I would be able to change something about myself, I would find the next thing I am not happy with and the next, and so on until not much of myself would be left. So I would like to not change anything.

What is my greatest achievement in work? I think that my greatest achievement is just the fact that I became a dancer in the first place. It started as a fun hobby, then it became something that would be ‘cool’ as a profession, and then after a lot of hard work and dedication it became my profession and I keep finding myself in these amazing places being surrounded by the most amazing dancers and sometimes I still don’t realise what a privilege it is to be able to do this for a living. And then I am proud of myself.

Where would I most like to live? As I am Dutch, of course I like to be in my own country. I only realised this after having lived in many countries. I haven’t lived in the Netherlands for almost 6 years, but being in the Netherlands does make me feel a certain way that I don’t feel anywhere else. Of course. But I also believe by now that I am quite adaptable and able to live in many different places. So who knows where I will end up. I like to keep it open.

What is my most treasured possession? My little rope of pictures of my family and friends that I take anywhere I go to work with me.

What is my most marked characteristic? My humour I think. I hope..

What is my most inspirational location, in my city? I am taking Rotterdam as ‘my city,’ as that’s where I am born and have lived most of my life. I always feel inspired when I am surrounded by water, and preferably the sea. As Rotterdam doesn’t have the sea there, I will take the second best thing, which is the river. Just seeing the water makes me calm and inspired instantly.

What is my favourite place to eat and drink, in my city? Rotterdam has many amazing places to eat and drink. I like to try different kitchens, and luckily as Holland is so multicultural, we have amazing places with kitchens from all over the world. So hard to choose!

What books influenced my life and how? ‘The power of Now’ by Eckhart Tolle – It just opened my eyes. It made me realise that all that we really have is the now. And it definitely made me live in a more aware and at the same time relaxed way. And I am currently reading ‘The art of happiness’ by the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler. Which I am sure is changing my view on the world as well a little.

Who are my favourite writers? Eckhart Tolle and Paolo Coelho

You Only Die Once. What music would I listen on my last day? I wouldn’t really care about music as long as I am surrounded by the people I love.

Who is my hero or heroine in fiction? My little stuffed animal toy monkey called ‘Aboe’ I have him since I was six and my mum and me used to pretend that he is alive and give him all these characteristics. He still sleeps in my bed and he definitely inspires me.

Who are my heroes and heroines in real life? My mother. She just is the strongest woman I know. Her ability to stay positive and finding humour in any situation, how she fights for her happiness and how she is so full of life, even when life throws her in to impossible situations, inspires me every day.

Which movie would i recommend to see once in a lifetime? Any disney movie.

What role plays art in my life and work? Art is my life and work. As dancers we are creating art and trying to communicate to an audience. I love art, I think it is so important for the world that there is more than the rational mind. Art is a way to step out of that. Art can be what you want or need it to be.

Who is my greatest fan, sponsor, partner in crime? I wish I had any of these three haha

Whom would I like to work with in 2017? I would like to keep working with the people I have been working with this past year. And also hope to discover new people and places which I don’t even know of yet.

What project, in 2017, am I looking forward to work on? I am looking forward to see how everything will take shape, as now everything is blurry, haha. But I like that. I love the sudden surprises this job brings. All I need to do is stay open and ready to take opportunities when they are in front of me. I’ve learned that often brings me to places I didn’t even  dare to dream of yet.

Where can you see me or my work in 2017? I just came back to Holland for a few weeks after a few months in Goteborgs Operan Danskompani. Where I worked with Roy Assaf on a new creation. Soon also I will perform again with another company called 420people in Prague, a new work we created last season, by Vaclav Kunes.
Online, you can see my dancing on vimeo, a short video of most of my recent works :
https://vimeo.com/239364966 or follow me on instagram to see where the next adventure will take place! ‘@sabinegroenendijk’

Sabine Groenendijk from Sabine Groenendijk on Vimeo.

What do the words “Passion Never Retires” mean to me? Passion should be the drive behind every relationship, profession or just life in general. If we live with passion I truly believe we will find happiness. Passionately taking on whatever life throws at us, I believe is the only way to live a fulfilled life.

How can you contact me?
via Facebook