Sasha Waltz

Sasha Waltz was born in Karlsruhe, Germany and studied dance and choreography in Amsterdam and New York. In 1993 she founded her company Sasha Waltz & Guests, together with Jochen Sandig in Berlin. In 1996 she opened the Sophiensæle, a theatre she co-founded with Sandig. From 2000 – 2005, Waltz was named one of the artistic directors of Berlin’s Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz where –amongst others– she created pieces such as the »Körper«-trilogy (2000-2002). During the following years various works of Sasha Waltz – among them »Dido & Aeneas« (2005), »Medea« (2007), »Roméo et Juliette« (2007) and »Passion« (2010) – constituted a whole new genre: the choreographic opera. Furthermore she implemented various »Dialoge”-projects: »Dialoge 09 – Neues Museum” at the Neue Museum Berlin and »Dialoge 09 – MAXXI« at the new MAXXI Museum in Rome, for example. In 2012 she was invited by the Berliner Philharmoniker to choreograph the dance project »MusicTANZ – Carmen« for their Education programme, with over 100 pupils performing to Rodion Schtschedrin’s Carmen Suite. In 2013 Sasha Waltz created a choreography on Strawinsky’s »Le Sacre du Printemps«, a collaboration between Sasha Waltz & Guests and the Mariinsky Ballet, which premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in May 2013. Together with Peter Weibel Sasha Waltz curated the exhibition »Sasha Waltz. Installationen. Objekte. Performances«, which presented her work for the first time in the context of visual arts. In April 2014 Sasha Waltz staged Wagner’s »Tannhäuser« under the musical direction of Daniel Barenboim at the Staatsoper im Schiller Theater Berlin. In September 2014 Claudio Monteverdi’s »Orfeo« choreographed by Sasha Waltz with the Freiburger Barockorchester directed by Pablo Heras-Casado, premiered in Amsterdam. In 2016 Sasha Waltz developed the new format »ZUHÖREN« and opened up a »third dimension« for art and politics. Together with musicians and dancers from her compagnie, she inaugurated the Foyers of the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg with her choreographic installation »Figure humaine« in January. Her latest work »Kreatur«, a collaboration with the artist and fashion designer Iris van Herpen, was premiered in June 2017 at Radialsystem V Berlin.
Sasha Waltz was awarded several prizes, among them the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2011. Since June 2013, Sasha Waltz is also a member of the Academy of Arts, Berlin.
Besides leading her compagnie Sasha Waltz & Guests, together with the Royal Swedish Ballet director, Johannes Öhman, Sasha Waltz will become the joint artistic directors of the Staatsballett Berlin in 2019.