Gauthier Dance//Dance Company Theaterhaus Stuttgart is a young, dynamic company of 16 highly individual, versatile artists, directed by the dancer, choreographer and musician Eric Gauthier. Set up in October 2007, the company established itself in the German dance scene with record speed and has long since become an international brand. The repertoire includes works by Gauthier himself as well as famous contemporary choreographers such as Mauro Bigonzetti, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Marie Chouinard, Sharon Eyal, Andonis Foniadakis, William Forsythe, Itzik Galili, Jiří Kylián, Lightfoot/León, Hans van Manen, Marcos Morau, Ohad Naharin and Sasha Waltz. In addition to the performances at its home base Theaterhaus Stuttgart, the company is busy touring to international dance cities including Toronto, New York, Tel Aviv, Venice, Amsterdam, St. Petersburg, Monaco, Québec City, Montréal, Berlin and Chicago. Gauthier Dance//Dance Company Theaterhaus Stuttgart was the German Highlight in the yearbook of the specialist magazine tanz 2022. The two artists in residence are Marco Goecke and Hofesh Shechter.

Parallel to its growing fame, Gauthier Dance has intensified collaborations with international star choreographers – most notably with artists in residence Marco Goecke (January 2019 to summer 2023) and Hofesh Shechter (since summer 2021). Even during the pandemic the company proved pretty unstoppable and launched an encouraging initiative that attracted a great deal of attention even beyond the dance world. In winter and spring 2021, 16 choreographers, 16 videographers and 16 composers created a solo for each member of Gauthier Dance. The Dying Swans Project was available free of charge on the Theaterhaus Stuttgart YouTube channel and in the 3sat media library. The response was overwhelming and even German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier informed himself about the project in a live chat with Eric Gauthier.
The season 2020/21 also saw the premiere of the concept evening Swan Lakes, offering four novel takes on the ballet classic, with new creations by Marie Chouinard, Marco Goecke, Hofesh Shechter and Cayetano Soto. Gauthier Dance's most spectacular production to date followed in 2022. In The Seven Sins, Aszure Barton, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Sharon Eyal, Marco Goecke, Marcos Morau, Hofesh Shechter and Sasha Waltz each transformed a mortal sin into a dance piece – a tableau of fiendishness that caused an international sensation. The 2022/23 anniversary season continued the success story. 15 YEARS ALIVE celebrated the company’s birthday in style, revisiting favourite pieces from the repertoire, complemented by the short film premiere Return by Hofesh Shechter. Shortly before the end of the season, Gauthier Dance landed a real summer hit with Hofesh Shechter's high-energy choreography Contemporary Dance 2.0, which scored especially with young audiences. The outlook for the 2023/24 season also gives plenty of reason for optimism, with the two standout bills ELEMENTS and ANTHOLOGY as well as RENAISSANCE, the first own stage production of the Gauthier Dance JUNIORS.

What's more, the Gauthier Dance Mobile format has brought contemporary dance to youth centres, hospitals or to old people's homes right from the very start. In 2022, Theaterhaus and Eric Gauthier opened a new chapter in the outreach programme – with the Gauthier Dance JUNIORS//Theaterhaus Stuttgart and the initiative MOVES FOR FUTURE.

Eric Gauthier
Artistic Director
Gauthier Dance//Dance Company Theaterhaus Stuttgart
Gauthier Dance JUNIORS//Theaterhaus Stuttgart
COLOURS International Dance Festival


It only took Eric Gauthier a few years to make it from charismatic soloist of the Stuttgart Ballet to high-profile international choreographer and artistic director of one of Germany's most successful companies. Not least due to his tremendous networking skills, star choreographers and exciting talents from all over the world regularly collaborate with Gauthier Dance – first and foremost the artists in residence Marco Goecke (January 2019 to summer 2023) and Hofesh Shechter (since summer 2021).

At the same time, top companies worldwide have taken Gauthier's works into their repertoire, amongst others the Staatsballett Berlin, the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Ballet, the Stuttgart Ballet, Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, Het Nationale Ballet Amsterdam or the Ballet Nacional de Cuba. His tongue-in-cheek insider spoofs Ballet 101, Ballet 102 and ABC became international gala hits, danced by the likes of Roberto Bolle, Johan Kobborg, Xander Parish and Victor Caixeta. His latest creation, the touching pas de deux Les Adieux for Iana Salenko and Marian Walter, was premiered in April 2023 at the Ukraine charity gala Ballet for Life by Iana Salenko in Berlin. Gauthier is also known for his forays into other genres, for example with choreographies for the stage show of panda rapper Cro, the cinema hit Mackie Messer – Brecht's Threepenny Film (2018) or the Grand Show ARISE at the Friedrichstadtpalast Berlin (2021). His directorial debut in a musical theatre production with La Fest, commissioned by the Stuttgart State Opera, is scheduled for the 2023/24 season.
Moreover, Gauthier can now also be seen in front of the camera – as the presenter and dance expert of the SWR documentary series Dance Around the World, which takes the television audience to the world's great dance cities. The first season presents the dance scenes in Tel Aviv, St. Petersburg and the Netherlands. The second season with the episodes London, Cuba and Montréal started in summer 2023 and will be available in the ARD media library from autumn 2023.
Personal kudos for Eric Gauthier include the German Dance Prize »Future« 2011 in the category Choreography as well as two titles in the yearbook of the specialist magazine tanz, as a Great Hope 2016 and in the category Groundbreaking 2022.

As if the meteoric rise of his company weren't enough, Gauthier has now also made a name for himself as a festival maker: In the summer of 2015, the premiere edition of COLOURS International Dance Festival, conceived by Gauthier and produced by Theaterhaus Stuttgart, took the public, the media and the dance world by storm. With an expanded programme in Stuttgart's city centre and an even more prestigious artistic line-up, the biennial event is now one of the most important dance festivals in Europe.
Another initiative by Eric Gauthier received particular international recognition: The Dying Swans Project. The 16 solos provided 64 artists with work during the pandemic and resulted in 16 visually stunning video clips, available for a year on the Theaterhaus Stuttgart YouTube channel and in the 3sat and ZDF media libraries. Awards include two Golden Prague Television Awards 2021, the Premio Mario Pasi 2021 of the Italian specialist magazine Danza&Danza as well as a nomination for the Rose d'Or Award 2021 in the Arts category. Even the German Federal President became aware of The Dying Swans Project. Ever since an exchange via Instagram chat, he has kept in touch with Gauthier, most recently when Gauthier Dance performed during his state visit to Canada in April 2023.

As the son of a leading Alzheimer's researcher, Eric Gauthier has acquired an awareness for social issues early on. The Gauthier Dance Mobile format has brought contemporary dance to youth centres, hospitals or to old people's homes right from the very start. At the beginning of 2022, Theaterhaus and Eric Gauthier opened a new chapter in the outreach programme – with the Gauthier Dance JUNIORS//Theaterhaus Stuttgart and the MOVES FOR FUTURE initiative under the patronage of football star Jürgen Klinsmann.
Eric Gauthier was awarded the Order of Merit of the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg and is a member of the board of trustees of the Alzheimer's Foundation Baden-Wuerttemberg.




BALLETT MASTER and DANCERS

Cesar Locsin Ballet Master
Born to dance: Cesar comes from a family of dancers from the Philippines. He started his ballet training with lessons by his grandmother and aunt and continued his education with scholarships from the CCP Dance School in Manila and the San Francisco Ballet School. Following stints with the Ballet Philippines, Jeune Ballet de France, Ballet Gulbenkian, Aterballetto and the Staatsballett Karlsruhe, he joined the Ballet of Deutsche Oper am Rhein in 2004. He soon became one of the most distinguished dancers in the company and also made his debut as choreographer with Fourmis (2017) for the Young Moves programme. In summer 2020, Cesar finally changed sides – as ballet master with Gauthier Dance.


Luis Sayago Ballet Master
Born in Venezuela, Luis studied both ballet and electrical engineering before dedicating himself entirely to dance. After first engagements in his hometown Caracas, Luis moved on to Europe. Following stints with the Spanish IT Dansa Jove Companya and the abcdancecompany in St. Pölten, he was a member of Kevin O´Day´s and Dominique Dumais´ Ballet of Nationaltheater Mannheim for 13 years. In 2014, he embarked on a freelance career as dancer, choreographer and lecturer in the Rhine-Neckar region. He regularly cooperated with Unterwegstheater as well as projects such as ARTORT or HD moves in Heidelberg. From the 2019/20 season, Luis will be ballet master of Gauthier Dance.


Bruna Andrade
The native Brazilian began her dance training in Rio before moving on to the Mannheim Academy of Dance, thanks to a scholarship of the Birgit Keil Dance Foundation. Birgit Keil, both head of the Academy and Artistic Director of Staatsballet Karlsruhe, saw her potential and made her a member of her company. Bruna danced her way up to the top, and was appointed First Soloist in the season 2012/13. She did not only shine in the title roles of MacMillan´s Romeo and Juliet, Cranko´s The Taming of the Shrew and Peter Wright´s Giselle, but also in the highly virtuoso Forsythe piece The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude. The highlight of her career so far: in 2014, Bruna was awarded The German Theatre Prize THE FAUST as Best Performer Dance.


Rina Pinsky
Educated at the well-known Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts in Givatayim, Rina is a true child of the dance country of Israel. Her career has been rather unusual, though. She became a member of the only national company not exclusively dedicated to contemporary dance. At the Israel Ballet, she rose to the position of principal and danced leading roles in ballet classics such as Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker or Balanchine’s Serenade. The company's extensive repertoire nevertheless gave her ample opportunity to work with star choreographers like Sharon Eyal, Andonis Foniadakis and Itzik Galili. Rina is looking forward to meeting many of them again when she joins Gauthier Dance in the 2023/24 season.


Anneleen Dedroog First Artist
A Belgian, Anneleen started her dance education at the Balletschool Marijke Clijsters. In 2003 she decided to study at the Royal Ballet School of Antwerp. From there she was engaged at Dantzaz Konpainia, a young contemporary dance company in San Sebastián, Spain. She danced works by Sophie Antoine, Itzik Galili, Eric Gauthier, Hilde Koch, Jone San Martin, Kudo Satoshi and Lukas Timulak. Her talent was spotted by Eric Gauthier during a gala – and this is how she was engaged for the Dance Company Theaterhaus Stuttgart in September 2011. The part of the evil Queen in Mauro Bigonzetti's Alice won her wide critical acclaim.


Karlijn Dedroog
Karlijn's decision to dance professionally was made in Stuttgart – when she saw her cousin Anneleen on stage with Gauthier Dance. After that, everything happened very quickly. She trained at the Royal Ballet School in Antwerp and started her career with Dantzaz Konpainia in San Sebastián. The legendary springboard for young talent also worked perfectly for Karlijn. A year later, in 2018, she moved to the leading company of her home country – the Royal Ballet of Flanders under the direction of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. There she danced her way through the complete stylistic spectrum, from Merce Cunningham and Sharon Eyal to Sleeping Beauty and Spartacus. In autumn 2022, she will become, literally in her case, part of the Gauthier Dance family.


Barbara Melo Freire
The Brazilian left her home city Rio de Janeiro at the age of 13 for a scholarship at the State Ballet School in Berlin. Her extensive repertoire includes works by William Forsythe, Christian Spuck, Mauro Bigonzetti, Benjamin Millepied, and Xin Peng Wang. As early as 2005, she won a prize at the Tanzolymp Berlin. In 2012, she was awarded the Bajazzo as Best Female Dancer of North Rhine-Westphalia. Barbara was a soloist with Theater Rostock, the Mecklenburg State Theatre in Schwerin and most recently with Theater Dortmund. She joined Gauthier Dance at the beginning of the season 2016/17. Her virtuoso, high-spirited dancing makes her the ideal partner in Eric Gauthier´s humorous pas de deux Ballet 102.


Garazi Perez Oloriz First Artist
Garazi Perez Oloriz was born in Spain and received her training at the Dance Conservatory in Pamplona and at the Institut del Teatre in Barcelona. From 2007 until 2009 she was a member of Dantzaz Konpainia in San Sebastián where she danced works by Itzik Galili, Christophe Garcia, Hilde Koch and Thierry Malandain. In September 2009 she joined Gauthier Dance where, right in her first season, she performed in the title role of Christian Spuck`s widely acclaimed ballet POPPEA//POPPEA. At the beginning of her second season she debuted as choreographer with Rouge Lippen Fish (2010) in the Gauthier Dance production Out of the Box II. With her piece Naked Eyes from the production Out of the Box III she got invited to the international competition for Choreographers in Hannover 2012. In the same year Garazi Perez Oloriz got nominated from the magazine tanz in their yearbook as best dancer. By now her repertoire embraces choreographies by Eric Gauthier, Alejandro Cerrudo, Paul Lightfoot & Sol León, Jirí Kylián, Stephan Thoss, Cayetano Soto, Alexander Ekman and Mauro Bigonzetti.


Izabel Szylinska
As the daughter of a dancer and choreographer, Izabela literally grew up in the studio. In 2008, she completed her training with the Polish National Ballet School in Warsaw with a very special distinction: the Prize of the Best Graduate of Ballet Schools in Poland. She danced for four years at the Polish National Ballet! There she performed in all pieces of the classical and contemporary core repertoire. In 2014 Izabela reinvented herself. She moved to New York, drawing inspiration from her work with the cutting-edge choreographers Karole Armitage and Emery LeCrone. Following her stint with the renowned BJM – Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, Izabela will bring her experience to Gauthier Dance from the season 2019/20.



Sidney Elisabeth Turtschi
While she was stilling training at the Ballet School of Basel Theatre, Sidney´s great talent earned her the Study Award Dance of Migros-Kulturprozent 2011 & 2012 and the Cultural Advancement Award for Young People Basel-Stadt 2013. From the season 2013/14 to 2017/18, she was a member of both Richard Wherlock´s Ballet Theatre Basel and, for two years, of the independent company Carta Blanca Dance. Sidney danced in pieces by, amongst others, Stjin Celis, Johan Inger, Ed Wubbe, Richard Wherlock, Alexander Ekman, Alejandro Cerrudo and Hofesh Schechter – almost exclusively artists who also feature in the Gauthier Dance repertoire. The signs are good for Sidney´s start in Stuttgart in autumn 2018!


Andrew Cummings
Trained in the UK, active as a dancer all over Europe: Andrew attended the Knightswood Dance School of Scotland and the famous Elmhurst Ballet School before taking up engagements across the continent, first with Heinz Spoerli`s Zurich Junior Ballet, then the Greek National Ballet under Renato Zanella and the dance company of Theater St. Gallen. In the 2016/17 season, Andrew became a freelancer and danced numerous leading roles in a wide range of productions, amongst others in Cottbus, Lübeck and Linz, the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, Frankfurt and Graz Opera, the Komische Oper Berlin and the Salzburg Festival. In January 2020 Andrew joined Gauthier Dance as a guest dancer.


Giovanni Visone
Giovanni trained in Florence, at the school and the junior company of Balletto di Toscana. In the 2015/16 season he moved to Germany, first to the Delattre Dance Company Mainz, then to the Staatsballett Hannover for six years. He remained in the ensemble after Marco Goecke succeeded Jörg Mannes und danced in pieces by Jiří Kylián, Andonis Foniadakis, Medhi Walerski, Nadav Zelner and Hans van Manen. His engagement in Stuttgart from the 2022/23 must have been meant to be. After all, many of the choreographers he worked with in Hanover create for Gauthier Dance, too, first of all Artist in Residence Marco Goecke. Giovanni has also been very successful as a choreographer himself, winning prizes at the SOLOCOREOGRAFICO Frankfurt 2020 festival and the International Competition for Choreography Hanover 2022.


Luca Pannacci
Italian-born Luca began his training at ballet schools in Bastia Umbria and Milan. He graduated from the Scuola di Ballo del Teatro dell´Opera di Roma and was immediately taken on by the Ballet of Opera Rome. The Italian capital was to remain his home for the following years, during six seasons with the Balletto di Roma, one of Italy´s leading contemporary companies. There he distinguished himself in modern interpretations of the great ballet classics, including Itamar Serussi´s Giselle and as Iago in Othello or Rothbart in Swan Lake, both by Fabrizio Monteverde. Most recently Luca danced with the Ballet of the Hanover State Opera under Jörg Mannes. He joined Gauthier Dance in the season 2019/20.


Shai Ottolenghi
Shai received an excellent classical and contemporary dance education – first in his native Israel at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, the Jerusalem Ballet School and the Thelma Yellin High School of Performing Arts, then at the Ballet School of the Theater Basel. After graduation, he was under contract for four seasons at the Ballett Dortmund under the direction of Xin Peng Wang. There he also appeared as a soloist, among others in choreographies by Wubkje Kuindersma, William Forsythe or Wayne McGregor. Most recently, he worked freelance in Cologne. In June 2023, his project Merchaw Michja (Lebensraum) premiered there, in which he also participated as a dancer and choreographer. Shai joined Gauthier Dance in the 2023/24 season.


Arnau Recorta Ortiz
Arnau laid the foundation for his dance career in his hometown of Barcelona. During his time with the Jove Ballet de Catalunya, he already showed great promise as a two-time finalist in the Youth America Grand Prix. He subsequently moved to Germany for his dance studies at the the Ballet Academy of the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree and six years in the Bavarian capital, most recently as a Heinz Bosl Foundation scholarship holder in the Bavarian Junior Ballet Munich, Arnau became a member of the first generation of Gauthier Dance JUNIORS at the beginning of 2022. Thanks to his excellent performance, Arnau became the first JUNIOR to join the main company as of the 2023/24 season.


Locke Edition Venturato
Australian-born Locke received a truly intercontinental education at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School in Melbourne and the Hamburg Ballet School, where he also gained experience on the big stage, for instance in John Neumeier's A Midsummer Night's Dream. His first engagement took him to the Aalto Ballet Essen, where he already appeared as a soloist, e.g. as Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty and in the ballet-rock fusion Rock around Baroque by artistic director Ben Van Cauwenbergh. In the 2022/23 season he was a member of the Tanzcompany at Tiroler Landestheater. There he danced, among others, in Lorca and The Great Gatsby by artistic director Enrique Gasa Valga. Locke joined Gauthier Dance in the 2023/24 season.


Chen-Chiang Wu
A real high-flyer! Born in Taiwan, Chen-Chiang studied dance at the National University of the Arts Taipei and the Hong Kong Academy for The Performing Arts. In addition to ballet and contemporary dance, he also trained in Chinese dance, acrobatics and martial arts. Even during his studies Shawn, as he calls himself, was showered with awards: Gold at the Taiwan Grand Prix IBC competitions in 2016 and 2017 as well as scholarships for the Escola de Dança do Conservatório Nacional Lisboa and The Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet New York. After two years of studies in Hong Kong, Shawn became a soloist with Theater St. Gallen under dance director Kinsun Chan. In the 2020/21 season, Shawn joined Gauthier Dance.


Shori Yamamoto
Born in Japan, Shori was trained at the Yamamoto Sanae Ballet School and the prestigious Hungarian Dance Academy in Budapest. His first engagement took him to the National Theatre Brno before his career really took off in Germany: He made a strong impression during his four years with the Kiel Ballet as well as in the three seasons he danced with Augsburg Ballet – in both companies he was awarded the Prize of the local Friends of the Theatre. Shori´s extensive repertoire now ranges from classical (Mercutio, Rothbart, Prince Siegfried) to contemporary, with pieces by renowned choreographers such as Trey McIntyre, Cayetano Soto and Ricardo Fernando. In autumn 2020, he became a member of Gauthier Dance, and has remained an audience favourite. His solo part in Eric Gauthier´s humorous ABC earned him a nomination as Dancer of the Year in the 2022 yearbook of the specialist magazine tanz.

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