Marc Bogaerts

Marc Bogaerts is a Belgian choreographer and artistic director whose practice extends across ballet, contemporary dance, theatre, film, circus and mass spectacle. Born in Belgium in 1951, Bogaerts spent a formative decade in New York before establishing himself as a leading figure in European dance and interdisciplinary performance. Based in Berlin, he has created work across more than twenty countries, refusing the boundaries that typically separate dance disciplines.

Among his significant commissions was *Gemini*, created for the Royal Ballet of Flanders, which demonstrated his ability to work within classical ballet structures while bringing a contemporary sensibility. His institutional roles have included chief choreographer at the Hans Otto Theater Potsdam and artistic director and chief choreographer of Deutsches Fernsehballett MDR from 2011 to 2012, positions that allowed him to shape large ensembles and broadcast work.

Bogaerts's distinctive contribution lies in his development of large-scale interdisciplinary productions that join dance with sport, circus, public ceremony and youth participation. Rather than treating these as separate ventures, he has developed choreographic methods that move fluidly between them. His work for film includes choreography for *The Great Globe*, *Si le Monde* and *Novalis, die blaue Blume*, as well as numerous filmed and broadcast performances that expand choreography beyond the stage.

His career demonstrates an unusually broad definition of what choreography can be—not confined to a single venue, genre or body of dancers, but rather a practice of structuring movement and spectacle across the full range of contemporary cultural forms.