The Documentary History of the Relationship Between Anderson Carvalho, ACDC and DOX

A Chronology Based on the Contemporaneous Record

Introduction

In recent public statements, DOX has expressed pride in the care and support it says it has provided to Anderson Carvalho and has stated that it does not recognize the claims brought by Anderson Carvalho Dance & Choreography ("ACDC").

We respect DOX's right to present its position. The legal dispute between the parties is currently before the Dutch courts, and those legal issues will ultimately be determined by the Court.

The purpose of this page is therefore not to litigate the case in public.

Rather, it is to explain the historical development of the relationship between Anderson Carvalho, ACDC and DOX through a chronological account of the relevant events.

Because legal proceedings are currently ongoing, ACDC is presently unable to publish many of the contemporaneous documents that underpin this chronology. Those documents form part of the court record. As soon as the procedural rules permit, ACDC intends to publish the underlying agreements, correspondence, reports, protocols and other contemporaneous documents, together with their drafting history where relevant.

As to future disclosures:

1. ACDC will comply with any restrictions imposed by the court or by applicable procedural rules.

2. ACDC will not publish documents containing DOX's confidential business information, trade secrets, or other commercially sensitive information, nor documents ("producties") received solely through DOX's court submissions, unless those documents are already lawfully available in the public domain. Where a document is essential to understanding the issues in dispute but contains confidential or commercially sensitive information, ACDC will, where appropriate, redact all non-essential confidential content prior to publication.

3. ACDC will publish emails, WhatsApp messages, or other correspondence only where at least one member of ACDC's board participated in the correspondence, or where one of the participants has expressly authorized its publication.

4. For correspondence involving third parties, all email addresses and telephone numbers will be fully redacted. For parties directly involved in the dispute, telephone numbers will be fully redacted and email addresses partially redacted where appropriate, in order to comply with the AVG, GDPR and other applicable privacy legislation.

Until then, this page summarizes the chronology upon which ACDC bases its position.

2002 - 2011: Early years Anderson - Brazil

Anderson Carvalho started his dance career when he was 14 years old at EDISCA, in Fortaleza Brazil (2002). When he was 18, he started working as dance teacher at the same company, and co-choreographed several of EDISCA’s works.

Anderson moved for the first time to the Netherlands in 2012.

2013 - 2017: Anderson’s period in South Africa

Anderson Carvalho moved to South Africa in 2013. He started choreographing and teaching as a volunteer at Dance For All. In 2014 he started studying at the Dance department of University of Cape Town (UCT). He brought several works to the main programm of the annual Baxter Dance Festival. Anderson left South Africa in March 2017.

July 2017 – May 2018: Anderson's period at DOX

Anderson Carvalho worked with DOX for a relatively short period between July 2017 and May 2018.

Anderson’s involvement at DOX was limited one afternoon and one evening per week.

At the time, Anderson was already an accomplished contemporary dancer with a strong classical ballet background.

During his period at DOX Anderson concluded that DOX was not the artistic environment in which he wished to develop his long-term career.

DOX's primary mission is the development of young performers, with a strong emphasis on urban dance and community participation.

Anderson's ambitions lay elsewhere: creating contemporary dance on an international stage.

Within approximately one year Anderson voluntarily left DOX.

The artistic differences can still be seen in publicly available recordings of DOX’s production for STYX

Following his departure in May 2018, Anderson did not return to work with DOX for more than five years.

2018 – 2023: Independent artistic development

Following his departure from DOX, Anderson independently established Anderson Carvalho Dance & Choreography (ACDC).

During the following years he independently:

• established ACDC;

• completed his Master's degree in Choreography through Codarts and Fontys;

• Started the ideas around Dance Intersect in Brazil

• Created Dance film art during Covid

• developed his own choreographic language;

• established Dance Intersect in Cape Town;

• organised the pilot edition of Dance Intersect in 2022;

• organised the first full Dance Intersect festival in 2023;

• developed international collaborations, including projects in Rwanda.

• Chairman of Jury International Dance Competition Seoul Korea

These developments all occurred before Anderson renewed contact with Hildegard Draaijer.

According to ACDC, neither DOX nor Hildegard Draaijer was involved in the conception, artistic development, financing or organization of these activities.

This five-year period forms, in ACDC's view, the foundation of Anderson's independent artistic career.

September 2023: First contact with Hildegard Draaijer

Only after Dance Intersect 2023 had already taken place did Anderson and ACDC first meet Hildegard Draaijer again after his leaving of DOX in 2018.

That renewed contact was not with DOX. At the time, Hildegard Draaijer was not employed by DOX. She was therefore approached by ACDC in her personal capacity and invited to consider joining ACDC's Supervisory Board. Following Anderson's departure in 2018, neither Anderson nor ACDC wished to re-establish a professional relationship with DOX. Hildegard was approached because of her personal experience within the Dutch cultural sector and was invited to consider joining ACDC's Supervisory Board in her personal capacity, independent of DOX.

By then:

• Dance Intersect 2023 had already taken place (May 2023);

• ACDC had already been established;

• Anderson had completed his Master's degree;

• international collaborations had already been developed.

Despite this chronology, the 2023 DOX Annual Report—prepared during a period in which Hildegard Draaijer's roles later became acknowledged as intertwined—described DOX as building together with ACDC on the international network ACDC Dance Intersect, claiming that it was working together with ACDC’s partners SboNdaba Dance, Eoan Group in Cape Town, Moving into Dance Johannesburg and Mindleaps in Kigali. All these 2023 collaborations happened before September 2023, before Hildegard Draaijer became involved with ACDC.

Late 2023: A limited commissioned assignment

Shortly after Hildegard informed ACDC that she would return to DOX, discussions took place concerning possible conflicts of interest.

According to ACDC, Hildegard assured the organization that her renewed employment at DOX would not interfere with ACDC's independent development.

Despite Anderson's reluctance to become involved with DOX again, Hildegard encouraged him to accept a small commissioned assignment.

The commission was valued at €3,400 excluding VAT.

It involved creating work with several DOX dancers for an in studio performance, partly also in connection with a violin competition.

(Note: This documentation consists of the contemporaneous email introducing the artists to establish contact for the project; it does not constitute a formal contract with the musician.)

The written agreement contains no reference to:

• Dance Intersect;

• ACDC;

• co-production;

• an artistic residency for Dance Intersect;

• future editions of Dance Intersect;

• future rights relating to Dance Intersect.

It was a standalone professional commission.

According to ACDC, this assignment nevertheless later became one of the elements relied upon by DOX in support of its description of itself as co-producer of Dance Intersect 2023 and 2024. Link to snippets in reports DOX 2023 and 2024

Analogy:

Imagine that in 2023 a PhD student is writing his doctoral thesis. During that same year he is employed by a high school to teach several classes. The school pays him for teaching, provides facilities and supports those teaching activities.

Years later, the school claims that because it supported the student during 2023, it was therefore a co-producer or co-author of the doctoral thesis.

No reasonable person would accept that proposition. The school may have supported one aspect of the student's professional activities during that year, but it did not contribute to the conception, research, writing or production of the thesis itself. Those are entirely different activities.

The same distinction applies to Dance Intersect 2024. Even if DOX supported certain Dutch activities during that period, that does not make DOX a co-producer of Dance Intersect South Africa. To claim co-producer status, there would need to be evidence that DOX participated in the conception, organization, financing, management and production of Dance Intersect itself. Collaboration on individual activities during the same period does not transform a collaborator into a co-producer of the festival.

After this 12 day commission (4th Quarter 2023), Anderson did not go back to DOX till May 2025.

The chronology currently ends before the chapter Funding Discussions. The remaining chapters concern matters that are presently before the Dutch courts. Out of respect for the judicial process, those sections will only be published after the proceedings have run their course.

Funding Discussions

Governance Discussions

Draaijer’s Coordinating Role in ACDC’s Funding Activites

Dance Intersect 2024

Report Dance Intersect 2024

December 2024: Documentation of mental health crisis and institutional awareness

A project at Codarts in first half year 2025

The Utrecht proposal

Public Presentation of the Utrecht Co-Production

ACDC’s Investment in the Utrecht Co-Production

The International Tour

March 2025: Defining DOX role

The written co-production agreement

September 2025: From Operational Concerns to Proposed Mediation

Dance Intersect 2026

September 2025 – Discovery of the Reporting Issues and Attempts to Resolve Them

The funding question

The documentary record

Protocols Cape Town & Kigali

Financial Presentation of the Collaboration

The Role of DOX in the Dutch Embassy Funding Proposal

MGE Funding

How the MGE Proposal Described Roles of the Parties

A recurring documentary pattern

What the Documentary Record Actually Shows

Final observations