Eric Gauthier

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.

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 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.