Floor Eimers

Alarm set for quarter past five 

As a four-year-old, Floor saw Swan Lake, performed by an East-European company. She was sitting almost in the front row and still remembers how delicate Odette was and how effortless her dancing seemed to be. She also remembers how “heart-rending” Tchaikovsky’s music was. Straight after the performance, she exclaimed, “Mamma, I want to be a ballerina.” In her classes at Dansatelier Velp, her talent and her fanaticism soon became apparent. To her teacher’s amazement, she’d learned all the French ballet terms by heart in no time. When she was seven, she joined the orientation class at the Royal Conservatoire, and when she was accepted for the school two years later, she immediately felt at home. For three years, the alarm clock in Velp was set for quarter past five in the morning, and in the following years she lived with a host family in The Hague. During her training, she won first prize at The Night of the Young Dancer, and went on to represent the Netherlands at the Eurovision Young Dancers competition, where she came sixth. 

Mata Hari 

The first major role she was given with Dutch National Ballet, partly because of her outstanding jumps, was that of Myrtha, in Giselle. “That was my breakthrough.” One of the other highlights of her career was – of course – the dual role of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake. “I learned so much from that. Not just the technical aspects, but also how to take responsibility for a whole evening.” In addition, her intensive collaboration with David Dawson has formed her, she says, because he always manages to get the best out of everyone. “For David, it always has to go even deeper and even higher, and be even more extreme, which has allowed me to go further than I ever dreamed possible.” Even so, right at the top of her list of favourite roles is Mata Hari, in the ballet of the same name by Ted Brandsen. “Getting the chance to immerse myself in such an icon and to bring a real person to life on stage was a very emotional experience. And then afterwards to realise that you really touched people and transported them out of their everyday world for a while: well, that’s what you do it for, after all.” 

No double layers 

Partly through this type of role, and also through the reflection brought about by corona times, she has grown enormously in recent years, not just as a dancer, but also as a person. Whereas previously she just worked her socks off, always with the next promotion in sight – “meaning that I didn’t live as much” – nowadays she enjoys all the opportunities she gets and is proud of what she’s already achieved. Moreover. she’s “not one for double layers”, wanting to be pure, honest and approachable, both on stage and off, which is something she communicates as well. “There’s still this stigma of ballet dancers being timid, modest and unapproachable. But I want to show that there are plenty of dancers who have both feet on the ground, hold their own opinions and are able to express themselves well in words.” She also draws on these qualities as the chair of Dans Talenten Fonds and board member of Stichting Dansersfonds ’79, two positions she has taken on in order to provide support to young dancers. 

Ice-cold plunge 

Floor likes to spend her free time outdoors in nature. She says it makes her a more complete human being. For instance, she often goes swimming in open water, near to her home – in the winter as well. “When I walk along a half-frozen jetty, I think I must be crazy. But once I’m in the water, I can really feel the nature, and the endorphin rush you get from plunging in makes me very happy.”

Text: Astrid van Leeuwen