In corona times we are all ordered to stay at home, self quarantine, and do social distancing. With more time on your hands to spend online, Eurodressage launches a "Hit & Run" interview series so that you get to know the world's most famous dressage riders and personalities more closely.
Cees Slings is a renowned Dutch composer and producer who has written pop music hits and TV music. He created all of Anky van Grunsven’s Freestyles between 1995 and 2005, including the famous Bonfire Symphony and L’Esprit Chanson. He has composed kurs for top dressage riders such as Tinne Vilhelmson, Sönke Rothenberger, Laura Bechtolsheimer, Beatriz Ferrer-Salat, Matthias Rath, Marlies van Baalen, Victoria Max-Theurer and many more. Well known for his unsalted opinion, Slings has now designed a software programme, EQ Musync, which generates an objective analysis of the horse's movements to the music.
Hit & Run - Cees Slings
What is your earliest memory?
A kind of blue overall with a logo stitched on it of a cowboy on a horse when I was 3 years old.
Which person alive do you admire the most and why?
Too many to name all of them; because they all are more talented than me and still accept to work with me in kind harmony
When were you the happiest?
I’m happy every day when my daughter Vera is around me
What is your biggest fear?
Fear of heights; despite having my pilot’s license for gliders
What was your first thought today?
That my back didn’t hurt when I stepped out of bed
What is your most annoying character trait?
I never give up
Which trait do you dislike the most in other people?
Arrogance fueled by ignorance
What is your dearest possession?
My 1952 Grafton alto saxophone in mint condition or my Caterham; can’t choose
If you look into the future, what do you see?
New projects I’ve started early this year; meant to be ready end of this year; due this worldwide pandemic it will probably be ready next year.
What makes you unhappy?
Rain
What is the love of your life?
Vera
What was the best choice you ever took in life?
My career switch, from being a nurse to what I do now
What's your guilty pleasure?
Driving one hour in my car to get the best herring (and other fish) and driving one hour back; it’s bloody worth it
What do you owe your parents?
My mom: smoking & the joy of a Bourbon - my father: all other things that still makes every day a joy.
Who can sit next to you at your dream dinner table?
Frank Kemperman and Katrina Wüst, forced to sit on their chairs with their mouths shut, so I can tell them in two hours how they ruined Freestyle Dressage.
What was the worst job you ever did?
To get pollen from tobacco plants with a silly tool in a hot greenhouse (holiday job when I was 15)
What was your biggest disappointment in life?
To work four years on a documentary with a great team with the best dressage rider in the world; when it was almost ready it was withdrawn by the client
What would you change if you can go back into the past?
Nothing
Name one thing that would improve your quality of life?
Getting younger instead of getting older with every birthday
What is your biggest achievement?
Yet to come
What is the most important life lesson you have learnt?
Never give up
Where would you like to be right now?
In Spain, with Beatriz Ferrer Salat, and close to Victor and Maya Alvarez
What's your favourite scent?
I have a special one made for me by Creed, for many years...
Which character would you dress up in for Halloween?
Not any clue at all; dressing up in tuxedo however is always nice
To whom would you like to say sorry?
To no one; I say sorry when it’s necessary and not many years later
What does love feel like for you?
Holding the steer of my Caterham in a fast corner, the wood of my Beretta D12 to my cheek while shooting a difficult clay-target, the smell of Vera's hair, having great dressage riders in my camera screen to create a new freestyle...
When are you most relaxed?
Never
What super power would you like to have?
I deal with the ones I have
When did you last cry, and why?
After my father died, 10 years ago, my two other brothers asked me to help them to dismantle his house; when I arrived every thing was already gone. I drove home with 35 wooden cloth hangers and all his bow tie’s he used to wear.
When were you closest to death?
In a race accident, a hill climb event in the UK. My Caterham got launched when I hit a soft wall and I tumbled over a wall on the other side and ended hanging upside down in the trees, about 6 meters above the ground. They got me out safe in the end.
How do you want to be remembered?
By my children as a father who tried to be the best father; however I understand that I probably failed….
By my friends as friend you could rely on.
And Google does the rest, true or not, that’s up to the ones who ever want to know who was me...
Related Links
EQ Musync To Improve the Judging of the Kur to Music
Letter to the Editor: The Trouble with Ten” has an answer: EQMusync
Slings Music Cast's 2008 Enterprises
Slings and Kerkhof, No Longer Exclusive Kur Composers for Anky
The Making of Wayne Channon's Kur to Music "Il Passeggiato"
Sanneke Rothenberger to Premier Slings Arranged Freestyle
New Freestyle Music for Victor Alvarez and Cava-Iles
L’Esprit Chanson, The Secret to a Winning Freestyle