Living the Nederlands Dream: Drew Jacoby

Photography by Casey Herd

The gypsy goddess of contemporary ballet has found a home: Nederlands Dans Theater. But although the avant-garde company in The Hague seems like a natural fit for Drew Jacoby’s fierce style, she was rejected when she initially tried out for former artistic director Jim Vincent. “I’ve always been too tall for everything,” says Jacoby, who’s 5′ 11″. “Opportunities never fall into my lap. I’ve always had to push and search and try and fail until something works.” Those very qualities were what led current artistic director Paul Lightfoot to ask her to join. “Drew’s ambitious, and I love that,” says Lightfoot. “She works so hard that sometimes we even have to tell her, ‘Drew, enough!’ ”

Now that she’s joined the company, in stereotypical Dutch fashion, her day starts with a 10-minute bike ride to the studio. It’s a quieter lifestyle than what Jacoby was used to in New York. (She sees her husband, who’s still living there, every few weeks.) Her schedule mostly revolves around rehearsing, performing and keeping her body in shape—sometimes with twice-daily visits to the company’s physical therapist, a new luxury.

NDT has turned out to be exactly what she wanted. “Freelancing was kind of a lonely career,” she admits. Dancing for the many top choreographers who come to NDT has stretched her. She’s learned to speak and even sing onstage. She’s been forced to make her steps more specific, and to move with a softer quality. “I was used to having the freedom to dance however I felt like—which was always with full attack,” Jacoby says. “To be able to challenge myself in new styles, it’s exactly what I was craving. I knew in my gut this was something I had to try.”