Kasper de Kruiff, member of Pro Deo and InSPE
I am Kasper de Kruiff and I study interaction technology. I am at the university since 2013 and in that time I have always been a member of Pro Deo. I have been quite active as a board member. I did board years for Pro Deo, InSPE and the study association Proto. Next to all the associations and graduating I like to work with electronica and 3D-printing.
What other associations are you part of?
This study year I joined Piranha. Three years ago I started swimming for myself, but I couldn’t teach myself everything. At Piranha you learn a lot about swimming techniques. Unfortunately, I haven’t swam that much this year due to the Corona measures. Hopefully this will change soon!
What can you tell me about your cultural background?
Before I went to the university I didn’t do a lot with culture. A sometimes played the guitar and the piano and I did some performances. When I started living on the campus here I had a lot of roommates that were part of Pro Deo. I did an open class and really liked it. I am really like the atmosphere within Pro Deo: open, social people who all want the best for everyone, and there isn’t a lot of drama.
What did you learn from your board year experiences?
I think this is a difficult question. I think I learned the most about organizational skills, politics (how to act with others and how you discuss choices) and how choices can influence others. I also learned how important it is to have active members within an association.
During my InSPE board year I was the officer of concept. I was more a general board member and I made sure that we had a practice room every week, the planning and building the décor. The work load of InSPE has a lot of ups and downs. One moment you are really busy with cancelling plans because you don’t have enough money and the other moment you suddenly have the amount of money you need. Due to the ups and down it costs a lot of energy.
My Pro Deo board year was more relaxed. I was a president and I learned a lot about delegating people in a good way. Most of the time you are busy with fixing things. I also set up an international group. This is quite a success. Online makes things a bit difficult, but there were a lot of people interested for this international group.
Within the Proto board I was the officer of educational affairs. Within this board there are a lot responsibilities about organizing nice things and joining these activities. It was really nice to do, but at a certain moment it is also nice to start studying again.
What moment would you never forget about a cultural event?
I once joined the Twents theater sport tournament with my roommates. We were a group of 5 and we played against other groups. It was quite unbelievable, but we won! That was crazy, because I only did theater sports for two years and some of us had even less experience. We played above our own level and it was really special.
The Jesus Christ Superstar from InSPE also impressed me. The music was absolutely stunning; I still listen to it. I had an amazing part to play and it just gave me a lot of adrenaline. After the two performances, I had a bit of a theater hangover. I love to be on stage. As soon as I am on the stage I get a lot of energy and I really enjoy the attention you get.
Another experience which I never forget is a bit different. I did the lights for the NSK theater sports (Dutch Student Championships). There was one team from Belgium who were really trained to also use the lights during their show. If I put the spotlight somewhere else they just automatically stepped into the spot. I also made a sunset for them and they used it in their show. Everything is improvisation, so the lights I did were also improvised. I really like to just play with the lights at such a moment. They now have new lights at the Vrijhof. They are really cool to use, but I still have to learn how they work. You can’t mix the colours that good anymore, because it uses fragments of colours. Therefore you have to program more before the show starts and at the show itself, you must know which buttons you should use.
What did you learn from culture/the cultural associations?
I learned a lot from the atmosphere within Pro Deo, especially in the international group. I learned to be more open to others. In the international group we just talk more about the taboo subjects. Theater sports is not about taboo subjects, it is more about stereotypes. You play with what people know and make use of these subjects. You therefore look for what moves people, but it is not aimed for taboos. Now I must say that humor often the edge of taboo is.
From theater sports itself I learned to communicate with people and to learn more about story telling. When telling a story you also need to know what aspects of story telling are important.
What would you tell first years about Apollo/culture?
I would start the conversation with first year and ask them if they have already thought about joining a cultural association. I myself learned a lot from theater sports and culture and I would like to share that with first years. After having a little chat with first years I would recommend them to try as much open classes as they want and if they like it: just do it. Joining an association forms you as a person. You learn different things than the things you learn during your study. The focus is more on your soft skills (e.g. communication).
What do you think of the culture at the University of Twente?
I am really glad with the diversity and the size of culture at the University of Twente. There are a lot of options. If you want to start your own association, then you can.
But the amount of associations is also a weakness. I noticed that just because there are a lot of smaller associations that there sometimes is a shortage on resources. You are fighting for members, locations and sometimes money. Therefore there is a bit of a competition between the associations. However, the association work together a lot and can unite to make new activities. I think that is really special.
Do you still dream of something to achieve with culture?
I would like to join the next NSK in Belgium. It is really exciting to be there for two days just for theater sports. It will only take a while I think, first the pandemic should be over. Next to NSK I would like to do something professional with theater sports.
