„Dance is nothing but a skilful way of being in the world.“
Alexandra Waierstall, is a Düsseldorf (Germany) based choreographer, born in England and raised in Cyprus, practicing for over 15 years internationally. Her conceptually and physically detailed, investigations are expressed through choreographies, installations and film works crafting sounds, texts, images and the moving body. She approaches choreography as a vehicle for developing new skills and knowledge for living together, connecting bodies, life-forms, and environments: an act of empowerment, a way to reinvent our world anew. Key concepts in her practice include the relationship to time, memory, presence and embodiment rooted in an ongoing dialogue with highly attuned dancers as collaborators. She advocates for a form of radical attentiveness, across different contexts including theatres, galleries, museums, publications and in public spaces.
Internationally, she has presented works at Dia Art Foundation in Beacon, New York, Musée du Louvre – FIAC, Sadler’s Wells, Dansenshus Oslo, Mousonturm, Crossing Festival Beijing, Fringe Festival Shanghai, International Festival Seoul, Dansenshus Stockholm, Forum Mundial Sao Paolo, De Pont Museum of Contemporary Art, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Bauhaus Museum Dessau amongst others. Alexandra Waierstall has choreographed the companies National Dance Company Wales and tanzmainz. Her choreographic work has been selected and supported by networks such as Aerowaves, Modul Dance, IDEE – Initiatives in Dance through European Exchange as well as Chin-A-moves.
Alexandra Waierstall moved to The Netherlands in 1998 to study at the EDDC (European Dance Development Centre) in Arnhem. In 1999 she was selected from the university to continue as one of the students in Düsseldorf, where she received her BA in performance and Choreography in 2002. In 2006 she received her MA in Choreography from the Artez Arnhem. Since 2006 she has been invited to give workshops, lectures and be part of evaluation committees at universities.
Alexandra Waierstall’s work has been co-produced by tanzhaus nrw since 2007. In 2014 – 2016 Alexandra Waierstall was Factory Artist at the tanzhaus nrw in Germany and in 2017-2019 she is Discovery Artist at Pavilion Dance South West in Bournemouth, England.
Her work has received funding from the Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes NRW, the Kulturamt der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf, the Kunststiftung NRW, the Nationales Performance Netz (NPN) Koproduktionsförderung Tanz aus den Mitteln der Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur, the Ministry of Culture of Cyprus, the Fonds Darstellende Künste, DIEHL+RITTER/TANZPAKT RECONNECT, and the Stiftung Van Meeteren.
In 2016 Alexandra Waierstall was nominated for the Kurt Jooss-Preis, City of Essen. She received the City of Düsseldorf North Rhine-Westphalia award for Most Promising Artist in 2013. In 2012 she was a finalist for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.
Together with her father visual artist Horst Waierstall, she run and maintained TheArtSpace – a project space for movements of thought within the different artistic disciplines until 2016 in Düsseldorf, where they curated about 70 artists. Furthermore, she is a co founder of the annual interdisciplinary dance festival NO-BODY in Nicosia Cyprus.