Philippe Kratz

Choreographer
Philippe Kratz was born in Leverkusen in 1985. He came into contact with dance theatre through the teacher and choreographer Suheyla Ferwer and was from then on fascinated by everything that moves people. He received his professional training from 2002 at the École supérieure de danse du Québec in Montreal, Canada and at the Staatliche Ballettschule Berlin. After graduating, he danced at the Ballett Dortmund. In 2008 he accepted Cristina Bozzolini's invitation to join the Aterballetto in Reggio Emilia, Italy, and danced in works by Ohad Naharin, Johan Inger, William Forsythe, Hofesh Shechter, Cristiana Morganti and other choreographers. He began creating smaller works for the Aterballetto ensemble as early as 2010, including for example Lettres d'amour (2012) and SPRING (2013). SENTieri, premiered in 2014, was performed in excerpts at the Vienna State Ballet in 2016 and at Teatro alla Scala in Milan in 2020. His first commissioned work for Aterballetto was L'eco dell'acqua (2015), created for 16 dancers and based on Goethe's 1779 poem Gesang der Geister über den Wassern. The work Phoenix was created in 2017 for nine dancers and became a turning point in Kratz's career as a choreographer. He based the work on a concept that shaped the development process through theme-based improvisations. The new composition by the Italian composer Borderline Order, which was co-produced by Philippe Kratz, also played a special role. In the 2018 duet "O", he performed for the first time himself in one of his choreographies alongside Ivana Mastroviti. The work was awarded first place at the 32nd International Competition for Choreography the same year and earned Kratz an artistic residency at the Australian Dance Theatre in Adelaide. The choral work cloud|material premiered in 2019 at the Oriente Occidente Festival in Rovereto, Italy. Kratz was inspired to create this work by writings of Bauhaus textile artist and weaver Anni Albers. In 2014 and 2017, the magazine TANZ awarded Philippe Kratz as a "bearer of hope". The Italian magazine Danza&Danza named him Choreographer of the Year in January 2020. In addition to his choreography to get to become at the Bayerisches Staatsballett, he is creating a work for La Scala at the invitation of Manuel Legris on themes from Egyptian mythology; the premiere is planned for February 2023.

(Information as of 2022)