Graduates of the SNDO, including Sasha Waltz, Ivana Müller, Nicole Beutler, Martin Nachbar, Florentina Holzinger, Alma Soderberg and Jeremy Wade among many others work internationally as choreographers. Others develop their work in performative contexts of visual arts: Michelle Rizzo, Simon Asencion & Adriano Wilfer Jensen (Galerie), MOHA (Alice Pons and Olivia Reschofsky), Samira Elagoz, Jija Sohn or Lester Arias.

Others dedicate themselves to organizing and initiating dance centers or festivals and events, such as: Zodiak (Helsinki), Francesc Casadesus at the Mercat de les Flors (Barcelona), Gisela Müller at the Tanzfabriek (Berlin), Jacuzzi in Amsterdam – a growing artists-led space, initiated by Noha Ramadan, Tomislav Feler, Eva Susova, Michele Rizzo and Setareh Fatehi Irani and ArtBeat Amsterdam led by Melvin Fraenk. 

Many graduates get awards for their work.  Pere Faura (ITS Choreography Award 2006), Chris Leuenberger (ITS Choreography Award 2007 and the Swan (Dutch Dance Prize, 2011), Leena Keizer (ITS Choreography Award 2008), Alma Soderberg (ITS Choreography Award 2009) , William Collins (ITS Choreography Award 2010), Nicole Beutler (VSCD Mime Prize), Simon Tanguy (ITS Choreography Award 2011), Samira Elagoz (Bloom Awards 2014, Andre Veltkamp beurs 2016, Prix Jardin Europe 2017, Silver Lion at Venice Biennale 2022), Lester Arias (TAZ 2017, Rotterdam Opera Days 2018), Jija Sohn and Sigrid Stigsdatter Mathiassesn (Moving Forward 2017, 2018), Elisabeth Raymond (AHK Graduation Prize 2019), etc.

Meet the new generation of SNDO graduates 2020 in a curated selection of photographs of their performances.
Photography: Nellie de Boer; from: yearbook CONNECT 2020

Graduates participate regularly in different festivals in the Netherlands and many festivals in the rest of the world. Alumni produce their work in collaboration with: Theater Frascati, ICK, Veem House for Performance, FLAM Festival, Impulstanz and [8:tension] Vienna, Buda Kortrijk, Culberg Ballet, SPRING Festival, KunstenfestivaldesArts, etc.  
A number of students pursue their education on graduate level, following Masters and PhD studies at DAS Graduate School or in recent years at the Dutch Art Institute and Sandberg programmes in the Netherlands or Concordia University in Montreal.

Many former students continue working as performers with choreographers/companies as: Meg Stuart, Jérôme Bel, Boris Chamatz, Rosas/Anne Teresa de Keersmaker, Vera Mantero, Sasha Waltz, Fura dels Baus and Les Ballets C de la B / Alain Platel.  

Current and former students work with a wide variety of media and interests, and while some have ventured into film and video, others are engaged with writing and dance criticism. Some shape the world and field through activist work. Others work with disabled artists, make site-specific work, work with children or adolescents, develop an interest and work in fashion shows, drag and Ballroom scenes, with performance and theatre companies, or work as ‘dramaturge of space’ combining architecture with dance.

A significant number of teaching staff on the ATD’s Expanded Contemporary Dance and Dance Teachers programmes are SNDO alumni. They include Jeroen Fabius, artistic director of the DAS Choreography MA programme.

For the past forty years the school has been an important source of artists and practitioners who contribute to the dance and performance fields. As the so-called ‘contemporary dance’ field expands and critically examines its scope and limitations – its own inclusiveness and exclusiveness – the SNDO students and alumni continue to shape the questions and bring relevant new insights into the field.