Sasha Waltz & Guests

Juan Kruz Diaz de Garaio Esnaola was born in 1966 in Legazpi, in the Spanish part of the Basque Territories. He studied Early Music at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de San Sebastián and at the Academie voor Oude Muziek Amsterdam. Following his education as a countertenor, he changed over to dance. He has worked with, amongst others, Pieter C. Scholten, Emio Greco, Arthur Rosenfeld, Luc Dunberry and Lloyd Newson in DV8 Physical Theatre’s »Enter Achilles«. He has taken part in various internationally acclaimed films as a dancer, actor and choreographer. He has worked with Sasha Waltz since 1996. Not only did he dance in the pieces »Allee der Kosmonauten«, »Zweiland« and »Na Zemlje«, he is also responsible for their musical conception and in part for their composition. From 1999 to 2005 he was a member of the dance ensemble of the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, where he could be seen in the choreographies »Körper«, »17-25/4» »noBody«, »insideout« and »Impromptus« by Sasha Waltz. Since March 2005 he is a member of Sasha Waltz & Guests and dances in the choreographies »Dido & Aeneas«, »Gezeiten« and »Medea« by Sasha Waltz, as well as in Luc Dunberrys »Don’t we», for which he signed the music as well. He was assistant choreographer of Sasha Waltz in »Roméo et Juliette«, music by Hector Berlioz, for the Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris, which premiered in October 2007 at the Opéra Bastille. He dances in and is the project director and artistic assistant of »Jagden und Formen (Zustand 2008)» by Sasha Waltz & Guests and Ensemble Modern on music by Wolfgang Rihm. He also works as repetiteur and rehearsal director for Sasha Waltz & Guests. Furthermore, he creates his own pieces: »The rest of you« (2000) together with choreographer Luc Dunberry, »My Dearest ... My Fairest« (2000) with Australian musician-performer Joanna Dudley, whose solo piece »He taught me to yodel« he directed as well. He was the instigator of »d'avant« (2002), project for which he invited the choreographers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Damien Jalet and Luc Dunberry to collaborate, and for which he also developed the musical concept. In October 2004, together with Joanna Dudley and Rufus Didwiszus, he premiered »Colours may fade with friction read instructions carefully store in a cool and dry place no side effects«. In 2007, in cooperation with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, he directed, choreographed and danced in the choreographic concert »4 Elemente – 4 Jahreszeiten«. He was invited to take part in »Zon-Mai« (2007), the first installation at the Cité nationale de l’histoire de l’immigration at the Palais de la Porte Dorée, Paris, by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Gilles Delmas. His latest creation »Ars melancholiae« had it’s world premiere in February 2008 at the Radialsystem V, Berlin, and brings him further in his quest of bringing together voice and movement. Juan Kruz Diaz de Garaio Esnaola is in demand around the world as a teacher and is a regular guest lecturer at the Folkwang Hochschule Essen.