Johannes Wieland

Johannes Wieland (born 20 November 1967 in Berlin, Germany) is a choreographer, teacher and dancer.[1]

Johannes Wieland
Wieland in 2008
Born (1967-11-20) November 20, 1967
Berlin, Germany
Occupationchoreographer, teacher, dancer

Biography

Johannes Wieland received his early dance training under Ellys Gregor in Berlin, the ballet academy of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, with John Neumeier at the Hamburg State Opera and the Amsterdam School of the Arts where he earned his BFA. His dance career took him back to Germany, the State Theatre of Brunswick, Germany, followed by the Berlin State Opera. Here he worked with numerous guest choreographers, among them Roland Petit and Maurice Béjart. He then joined the Béjart Ballet Lausanne as a principal dancer and also toured extensively with the company. Ready for a radical change, Wieland next moved to New York City, where he was awarded a scholarship to the NYU Tisch School of the Arts, earning his MFA in Contemporary Dance and Choreography in 2002. His company, johannes wieland, was founded that same year and debuted with his original work tomorrow at the Joyce SoHo theater. Praised as 'a spectacular exploration of relationships', by Anna Kisselgoff of The New York Times,[2] this was one in the body of the startlingly powerful, terse strange pieces Wieland began creating for his company, prompting Dance Magazine to cite him as one of "25 to Watch" in 2003.[3] In addition to heading his own company, Wieland is artistic director and choreographer of the resident dance company of the State Theater of Kassel in Germany. He was also associate artistic director of Paradigm in New York and is a guest choreographer and teacher in schools and companies in Europe and North America. He is a permanent resident of the United States and divides his time between New York and Germany.

Work

Wieland guides his dancers to achieve 'unpredictable, improbable feats and configurations' employing his riveting movement vocabulary which exhibits his architecturally driven understanding of bodies and space.[1] The performers equally serve as conduits for the emotional atmosphere in the perilous landscape of contemporary urban life that Wieland meticulously, exhilaratingly, uninhibitedly explores in his works. The result is a richness of unconventional, explicit ideas presented with baffling technical agility and visually arresting images by his company.

As part of his integrated approach to performance art, Wieland has evolved a rigorous developmental process to explore various situations of causality. This intense process fosters an intimate and innovatingly fruitful relationship between the performers, composers, designers and other collaborating artists and institutions involved in Wieland's works. Wieland's work also often incorporates video, text, photography, original sound scoring,[4] set designs of an installation character. As part of his outreach initiative in Kassel, Wieland regularly holds open rehearsals and classes, pre- and post- performance talk-backs with the audience as well as inviting a roster of innovative choreographers to create pieces on his company.

Awards, honors and grants
  • 16th International Choreographic Competition in Hanover, Germany, semi-finalist, 2002
  • 25 to Watch; Dance Magazine, 2003
  • Hubbard Street Choreographic Competition Winner, Chicago, 2004
  • Kurt Jooss Award, Germany, 2004
  • Goethe Institut, 2004, 2005, 2006
  • Harkness Foundation for Dance, 2004
  • Choo-San Goh & H. Robert Magee Foundation, 2004
  • Greenwall Foundation, 2004, 2005, 2006
  • The Guglielmo Ebreo Competition semi-finalist, Italy, 2006
  • Poseidon Services, 2006
  • Trust for Mutual Understanding, 2007
  • Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, 2007,2009
  • The William J. Cooper Grant, 2009
  • NYSCA, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2011

Collaborations

References
  1. "An Invisible Director Gets Physical". The New York Times. 13 November 2005. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
  2. "A Dash of Von Furstenberg and Splashes of Emotion". The New York Times. 11 October 2004. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
  3. "25 to watch". Dance Magazine. January 2003. Archived from the original on September 4, 2004. Retrieved February 27, 2012.
  4. "Johannes Wieland, New York". The Financial Times. 12 July 2010. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
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