Four world premieres, just like that on a Monday afternoon at NHL Stenden. It is the musical finale of the presentation given by project leader Mees van den Bergh and workshop leader Jan Ruerd Oosterhaven to Social Work students on behalf of Embrace Netherlands.
Students must use materials from the classroom to arrange something. Titles like “chaos” and “panic” outline the circumstances, but everyone responds well to the assignment. Eagerly they set to work with paper cups, garbage bags, chairs and other “instruments,” resulting in four totally different mini-performances. “Sometimes you have to get over your shame,” is a telling comment from one of the attendees. And that’s just the way it is.
The moral of the story of Mees and Jan Ruerd – who talk about the work of Embrace Netherlands – is that something can be done with music in everyone’s environment. That is also the mission of Embrace Netherlands: to use music more in daily practice, both in healthcare and in the social domain.
