Sasha Waltz

Sasha Waltz was born in Karlsruhe, Germany.

She studied dance and choreography in Amsterdam and New York. Together with Jochen Sandig, she founded Sasha Waltz & Guests in 1993 and the critically acclaimed theatre sophiens?le in 1996. Between 2000 and 2005 she was named one of the artistic directors of Berlin’s Schaub?hne am Lehniner Platz. Among the works that originated there are »K?rper«, »S«, »noBody« and the choreographic installation »insideout«.

At the end of 2004, Sasha Waltz & Guests became independent once more, and Sasha Waltz realised her first opera production »Dido & Aeneas« to the music of Henry Purcell, which premi?red at Grand Th??tre de Luxembourg and Staatsoper Berlin. Her second choreographic opera »Medea« to music by Pascal Dusapin and text by Heiner M?ller premi?red in 2007 in Luxembourg and at Staatsoper Berlin.

In 2007, she choreographed »Rom?o et Juliette« to the Dramatic Symphony by Hector Berlioz for the Op?ra National de Paris. The musical-choreographic project »Jagden und Formen (Zustand 2008)« to music by Wolfgang Rihm, a collaboration with Ensemble Modern, premi?red in Frankfurt am Main in 2008. In March 2009, the company presented »Dialoge 09 – Neues Museum« by Sasha Waltz at David Chipperfield’s reconstructed Neues Museum in Berlin, enchanting more than 10.000 spectators.

That same year, »Dialoge 09 – MAXXI« celebrated the inauguration of Zaha Hadid’s »MAXXI_Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo« in Rome. Her choreography »Continu« premi?red in June 2010 in Zurich and was followed in October by the premi?re of her choreographic opera »Passion« by Pascal Dusapin at the Th??tre des Champs-?lys?es Paris. In May 2011, the opera »Matsukaze« by Japanese composer Toshio Hosokawa with choreography by Sasha Waltz opened at the Th??tre Royal de La Monnaie in Brussels.

Sasha Waltz has received many awards for her work, among them the French cultural order »Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres«. Most recently she was honoured with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2011.