Photo by Rahi Rezvani.

Biography

Choreographer, Morpheus' Dream

Marco Goecke completed his ballet training in 1988 at the Heinz-Bosl-Stiftung ballet academy in Munich as well as at the Royal Conservatoire of the Hague, where he received his diploma in 1995. Engagements followed at the Berlin State Opera and Theater Hagen. In 2000, Marco created his first choreography, Loch. There followed several choreographies for Noverre-Society with dancers from Stuttgart Ballet, and an invitation to New York Choreographic Institute. In 2003, Marco won the Prix Dom Pérignon in Hamburg with the piece Blushing. In the years that followed, he received numerous commissions for international companies such as Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, The Norwegian National Ballet, Pacific Northwest and Staatsballett Berlin.

In the 2005/2006 season, Marco was appointed Choreographer in Residence at Stuttgart Ballet and in this season, he created his first narrative ballet, The Nutcracker, which was later filmed for the ZDF theatre channel. From 2006 to 2012, Marco held the post of Choreographer in Residence at the Scapino Ballet Rotterdam. Since the 2013/2014 season, he has been Associate Choreographer at Nederlands Dans Theater and between 2019 and 2023, he was Artist in Residence with Gauthier Dance//Dance Company Theaterhaus Stuttgart and held the position as Artistic Director of Staatsballett Hannover.

Over 90 of Marco’s works are performed around the world, including Tel Aviv, Sao Paulo, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, The National Ballet of Canada, Bayerisches Staatsballett, Finnish National Ballet, Stanislavski Theatre, Ballett Zürich, The Deutsche Oper am Rhein and Wiener Staatsoper.

Marco has received several international awards, including the Culture Prize of the State of Baden-Württemberg in 2005, Nijinsky Award in Monte Carlo in 2006, Choreographer of the Year in the critics’ survey by the magazine tanz in 2015, Dutch dance prize Zwaan as well as the Italian prize Danzadanza for the best choreography of the year in 2017. This award was for the full-length work Nijinski, which he created in 2016 for Gauthier Dance in Stuttgart.

His most recent successful works include the full-length piece A Wilde Story based on the live and work of the author Oscar Wilde for Staatsballett Hannover and In The Dutch Mountains for Nederlands Dans Theater created in 2023.