Thomas Hauert is a Swiss dancer and choreographer, leader of the

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

-based company ZOO.

Early life and education

Born and raised in Switzerland, Thomas Hauert studied at the

Rotterdam Dance Academy Codarts University for the Arts () is a Dutch vocational university in Rotterdam that teaches music, dance and circus. It was established in its present location in 2000. History Codarts can trace its origins to the Rotterdams Conservatorium voo ...

in the Netherlands.

Career

He moved to Brussels in 1991 to work in

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker Anne Teresa, Baroness De Keersmaeker (, born 1960 in Mechelen, Belgium, grew up in Wemmel) is a contemporary dance choreographer. The dance company constructed around her, , was in residence at La Monnaie in Brussels from 1992 to 2007. Biogra ...

’s company Rosas. He then collaborated with David Zambrano, Gonnie Heggen and Pierre Droulers. After the creation of the solo ''Hobokendans'' (1997), he founded his company ZOO (based on the name of a book used by the group as study material) with fellow dancers Mark Lorimer, Sarah Ludi, Mat Voorter and Samantha van Wissen. Their first performance, ''Cows in Space'' (1998), was awarded two prizes at the Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis. The work of Hauert first developed from research on movement, with a particular interest in improvisation-based processes exploring the tension between freedom and constraint, individuals and the group, order and disorder, and form and formlessness. The relationship with music also plays a major part in his work. Since 1998, Hauert has created around 15 performances with his company ZOO. They were co-produced by European organizations such as Kaaitheater (Brussels),

Kunstenfestivaldesarts The Kunstenfestivaldesarts (KFDA) is an annual international multi-genre arts festival that takes place in several locations in Brussels, Belgium. The festival, founded in 1994 by Frie Leysen, is a celebration of the arts by both the Flemish an ...

(Brussels),

Charleroi Danses Charleroi Danses (Le Centre Chorégraphique de la Communauté Française Wallonie-Bruxelles) is the choreography center of the French Community of Belgium. History The company originated with the Royal Ballet of Wallonia, (Ballet Royale de Wallon ...

Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...

(Paris), Festival d'Automne à Paris,

Théâtre de la Ville (; "City Theatre") is one of the two theatres built in the 19th century by Baron Haussmann at Place du Châtelet, Paris, the other being the Théâtre du Châtelet. It is located at 2, place du Châtelet in the 4th arrondissement. Included a ...

(Paris), Montpellier Danse, La Bâtie-Festival de Genève, Tanzquartier Wien (

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

), Mercat de les Flors (

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

), Springdance (

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

) and PACT Zollverein (Essen). In addition to his work for ZOO, Hauert was commissioned to create pieces for external structures like P.A.R.T.S., the

Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music, dance, and musical theatre conservatoire based in South East London. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. Trini ...

, the Zurich Ballet,

Toronto Dance Theatre The Toronto Dance Theatre is a Canadian modern dance company based in Toronto, Ontario. Described by ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' as "one of the foremost modern-dance companies in Canada", the company tours nationally and internationally and regu ...

and

Candoco Candoco Dance Company is a contemporary physically integrated dance company, founded in 1991 by Celeste Dandeker and Adam Benjamin. The company is based at the Aspire National training centre in Stanmore Stanmore is part of the London Borou ...

. He participated in improvisation events like Movement Research Fall Festival 2008 and regularly improvises with musicians including Michel Debrulle,

Chris Corsano Chris Corsano is an American improviser based in Chicago, Illinois. Early life Corsano picked up the drums after seeing his half-brother Tony playing. Corsano's first drum set had Animal from the Muppets on the bass, and he largely is self-ta ...

and

Barry Guy Barry John Guy (born 22 April 1947, in London, England) is an English composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation, and he has worked with a wide variety of or ...

. In 2012, he was invited by

IRCAM IRCAM (French: ''Ircam, '', English: Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music) is a French institute dedicated to the research of music and sound, especially in the fields of Avant-garde music, avant garde and Electroacoustic ...

in Paris to lead a project on the relationship between improvised dance and electronic musical composition in the context of the festival-academy ManiFeste. In 2010, the Belgian director

Thierry De Mey Thierry De Mey (born 28 February 1956 in Brussels) is a Belgian composer, filmmaker, and choreographer. Biography De Mey is the founder of the contemporary music ensemble Maximalist!, and he has participated in other important projects such as ...

created a film co-produced by European cultural television channel

Arte Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...

, based on the ZOO's work ''Accords''. Hauert has developed a teaching method from his choreographic practice. As a teacher, he has an ongoing collaboration with the P.A.R.T.S. academy in Brussels and regularly gives workshops worldwide. In 2012–13, he was the Valeska-Gert-guest professor for dance and performance at the Institute for Theater Studies of the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

. In 2012 he started participating in Motion Bank, a project initiated by The William Forsythe Company and

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

. Hauert is resident artist at Charleroi Danses and associated artist at Kaaitheater Brussels.

Awards

* 1998: winner ''Prix d'auteur'' and ''Prix Jan Fabre'' at the Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis for ''Cows in Space'' * 1998: winner ''Werkjahrespreis des Kantons Solothurn'' * 2005: winner Swiss Dance and Choreography Prize for ''modify'' * 2008: nominated for the Prix de la critique (Wallonie-Brussels) in the category Choreography for ''Accords'' * 2013: nominated for the

Dora Awards The Dora Mavor Moore Awards (also known as the Dora Awards or the Doras) are awards presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), honouring theatre, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moore ...

, Toronto, in the category Outstanding Choreography for ''Pond Skaters'' (creation for

) * 2013: winner Current Dance Works Prize at the Swiss Dance Awards for ''From B to B'' * 2013: winner Dance Prize of the Canton of Solothurn * 2014: nominated for the Tribute to the Classical Arts Awards, New Orleans, in the category Outstanding Contemporary Dance Presentation for ''Like me more like me''

Works

Choreography for ZOO

* 1998: ''Cows in Space'' * 1999: ''Pop-Up Songbook'' * 2000: ''Jetzt'' * 2001: ''Do You Believe in Gravity? Do You Trust the Pilot?'' * 2002: ''Verosimile'' * 2003: ''5'' * 2004: ''modify'' * 2004: ''Drum & Dance'' * 2005: ''More or Less Sad Songs'' * 2006: ''Walking Oscar'' * 2006: ''Parallallemande'' * 2007: ''puzzled'' (created with Zefiro Torna) * 2008: ''Accords'' * 2009: ''Solo for EKL'' (in ''Korean Screens'') * 2010: ''You've changed'' * 2011: ''From B to B ''(co-created with Ángels Margarit) * 2011: ''Like me more like me (''co-created with Scott Heron) * 2012: ''Danse étoffée sur musique déguisée'' * 2013: ''MONO''

For other organisations

* 1991: ''Juppe'' ("Rotterdam in Beweging" festival) * 1996: Solo for "Thé dansant" series at Plateau in Brussels * 1997: ''Hobokendans'' (for company Pierre Droulers) * 2000: ''Milky Way'' (for P.A.R.T.S) * 2002: ''Hà Mais'' (for Alma Txina, co-production ZOO) * 2004: ''Lobster Caravan'' (for P.A.R.T.S) * 2005: ''Fold & Twine'' (for The

) * 2007: ''12/8'' (for P.A.R.T.S) * 2010: ''Il Giornale della necropoli'' (for the Zürcher Ballett) * 2010: ''Regarding the area between the inseparable'' (for P.A.R.T.S) * 2012: ''One moving as many moving as one'' (for

) * 2013: ''Pond Skaters'' (for

) * 2014: ''Notturnino'' (for

Dance Company)

Films

* 2000: ''Space In'' (directed by Aliosha Van der Avoort) * 2010: ''La Valse'' (directed by

)

References

Sources

# Rosita Boisseau, ''Panorama de la danse contemporaine'', Ed. Textuel, 2006, p. 248–255 # Philippe Le Moal (red), ''Dictionnaire de la danse'', Ed. Larousse, 2008
biography on the website of VTI

biography on the website of Swiss Arts Selection

biography on the website of Alkantara festival

Melissa Marotto, "Dance = Time + Space", ''Kaleidoscope'', 2011

Swiss Dance Awards website

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hauert, Thomas Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Bucheggberg District Contemporary dance choreographers Belgian choreographers Belgian male dancers Belgian dancers Codarts University for the Arts alumni