After training as a dancer with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Gonnie Heggen, David Zambrano and Pierre Droulers, in 1998 the Swiss artist Thomas Hauert founded his own company ZOO in Brussels and created Cows in Space, which won an award at the Rencontres de Seine-Saint-Denis. Since then, he has created more than 15 pieces with ZOO, most often group pieces, including Verosimile, modify (Swiss Dance Prize 2005), Accords and MONO. In 2011 he created the duets From B to B with Àngels Margarit (Current Dance Works Prize 2013 in Switzerland) and Like me more like me with Scott Heron (nominated as “Oustanding choreography” in New Orleans). His piece for young audiences Danse étoffée sur musique déguisée premiered in 2012. Hauert has also created pieces for Alma Txina (Mozambique), the Laban Centre, P.A.R.T.S. (Brussels), the Zürich Ballet, Toronto Dance Theatre and Candoco Dance Company (London). Widely presented in Europe and beyond, his work develops from research on movement, with a particular interest in improvisation-based processes exploring the tension between freedom and constraint, individuals and the group, order and disorder. The relationship between dance and music is also central to his approach. In 2012-13, Hauert participated in the project “Motion Bank” by The Forsythe Company. He is also very involved in dance eduction and is the academic director of the new diploma in contemporary dance at the school La Manufacture in Lausanne.

http://www.zoo-thomashauert.be