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Dutch Dressage News
Slings and Kerkhof, No Longer Exclusive
Kur Composers for Anky
February 7, 2005
 The
famous Dutch kur composers' duo Cees Slings and Victor
Kerkhof will no longer be working exclusively
for Anky
van Grunsven. Slings and Kerkhof announced this news
at the 2005 FEI/PSI Freestyle Forum and stated that
they will expand their equestrian activities as of
February 2005. In the equestrian world, Slings and
Kerhof are known as composers of Anky van Grunsven’s
Olympic gold (Athens 2004 and Sydney 2000) medal winning
freestyles.
Slings and Kerkhof are currently negotiating with
a number of international dressage riders and intend
to get more composers
involved in the freestyle to music. The pair,
who
arranged music for many international TV-drama
series, comedies, wildlife films, documentaries and
commercials the past 15 years, have worked exclusively
for Van Grunsven as her freestyle composers
from 1996 until
2005.
Slings and Kerkhof first surprised the equestrian
world with “Bonfire’s Symphony,” an orchestral piece
specially made for Bonfire and Van Grunsven. In Atlanta
(1996),
Anky won Olympic silver medal riding
to this musical piece. This was the start of an artistic
collaboration between Anky and Slings/Kerkhof resulting
in Olympic gold in Sydney (2000) with “Something
Old, Something New” and Olympic gold in Athens
(2004) with “L’Esprit Chanson”. In the latter freestyle,
Van Grunsven also made her debut as a singer, voicing
the music for the canter zig zag.
Anky van Grunsven will continue to work with Slings
and Kerkhof as her in-house composers, but she also
supports further developments that can lift the level
of
dressage
and
freestyle riding in particular.
 In Athens, Slings and Kerkhof already presented a
taste of their broader approach. Riding to a Slings/Kerkhof
composed freestyle, American rider and six-time
Olympian Robert Dover scored great
marks
for artistic interpretation and ended in sixth place.
He scored a 9 for his music.
Slings and Kerkhof ended their exclusive contract
with Anky van Grunsven with the release of an international
CD/DVD “Anky’s Music,” which shows the highlights of
their successful, nine year, cooperation.
Slings and Kerkhof were
invited as keynote speakers
at the first FEI/PSI Freestyle
Forum in Ankum, Germany, where
they shared the secrets to
their success with the audience.
special guests to attend many
dressage
events. For the future, they
have been asked to write the
music
for the opening and closing
ceremonies of the Aachen World
Equestrian Games (WEG) in 2006.
Images copyrighted: Astrid
Appels/Eurodressage - No Reproduction
Allowed
Related Links
2005 FEI/PSI Freestyle Forum
Slings/Kerkhof Kur Composers
Online
New Freestyle for Anky van Grunsven
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