Taking on Queen’s 1975 classic “Bohemian Rhapsody” is an audacious move, especially when translating Freddie Mercury’s shifting rock opera into pure physical movement. Dutch dance collective CDK Company stepped directly into that challenge with an ambitious dance film directed and choreographed by Sergio Reis. Filmed in the cavernous Main Hall of the Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ in Amsterdam, the production trades typical rock-video nostalgia for sharp contemporary ensemble choreography.
Rather than mimicking a Queen concert, the project uses the song’s famous structural shifts between choral harmonies, sweeping piano balladry, and hard rock as a canvas for dynamic staging. Surrounded by the hall’s towering LED walls, the collective weaves together dozens of moving parts into a kinetic visual world. It immediately sets an adventurous standard for what a dance film can do with classic rock, pulling the viewer straight into the ensemble’s energetic momentum.
What makes the performance land so effectively is how it embraces the track’s theatricality without falling into literal pantomime. Writing for The Awesomer, Paul Strauss singled out the clever staging, highlighting an inventive chair-based moving-walkway routine that plays with perpetual motion. That balance between tight coordination and playful chaos runs throughout the entire sequence, brought to life through sharp cinematography by Mark Verhees and striking colour grading from Ryan Urzi.
CDK Company, founded in Eindhoven by Reis and co-choreographer Jowha van de Laak, operates as both a performing company and a training ground. That shared foundation gives the ensemble an unmistakable cohesion. Producers Ivy Schoumacher and Bas Kunz, who also performs in the piece, help steer a project in which dancers constantly shift between synchronized patterns and brief moments of individual personality, proving that high-concept screen dance works best when the performers truly move as one organism. The troupe brings that same collective precision to Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know,” directed by Reis and choreographed by Reis, van de Laak and Mauro van de Kerkhof.
This ambitious scale is not entirely new territory for CDK. The group previously broke through to a broader global audience with a viral 2024 dance film set to Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know,” which Reis noted pushed their work far beyond traditional dance circles. That visibility led to major commercial ventures, including starring alongside Troye Sivan in Gap’s 2024 campaign with choreography by Reis, setting the stage for their even bolder independent productions.
With more than half a million views racked up on YouTube following its January 2026 upload, the Queen interpretation struck a deep chord with audiences. Fans repeatedly praised the production design and camerawork, with one viewer writing that “this is not just dance, this is film making, costume, cinematography, music, choreography, it is the whole package.” It feels like an answer to Freddie Mercury’s famous request to never make his work boring, delivering a tribute that stays completely alive.