Biography

Christoph Winkler was born in Torgau/East Germany, originally studied classical ballett until the fall of the wall and then choreography at the prestigious School for Drama Ernst Busch. He has been working as an independent choreographer in Berlin since 1998 and received an invitation to the German Dance Platform in 2002 and 2004, to Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis in Paris 2003 and ImPulsTanz Vienna in 2003 with an adaptation of the piece "Hinter den Linien” for the Dance Theater Ensemble Vienna. From 1999 until 2006, he was artist in residence at the Tanzfabrik Berlin e.V.
In 2003, he was awarded a residency in Nancy (F) and an excerpt of "Homo Sacer” was broadcast by Arte in the second edition of "Dance Celebration” in Lyon 2004 under the artistic curation of Angelin Preljocaj. "The Last Duet” in 2006 formed a turning point in his work, featuring prima ballerina Bettina Thiel with permission of the National Ballett Berlin and Ingo Reulecke, one of the most important protagonists of the Berlin independent contemporary dance scene and now professor at the Ernst Busch School of Drama.
The following year, Winkler began for the first time to work with B-boys and hip-hop dancers in "Tales of the Funky” - a piece about hip-hop, commerce and casting shows. This series of collaboration with various forms of urban dance has continued to this day with pieces such as "Saal A” (2008) and "A Taste of Ra” (2009). In 2007, he founded BERLIN GOGOS - Agency for Contemporary GoGo Dancing, which has since spawned various formats and presentations.
In 2008, Winkler also began a new series of work with "Posed”, which fundamentally questioned the basic concept and context of the performing arts. This series continued in 2009 with the concentrated research piece "Eine Geschichte - A Story”.
Since 2009, Winkler has increasingly been invited to give workshops and work abroad with resident companies: "Toronto Files” - developed for the ensemble of the Toronto Dance Theatre in 2009, a residency for the development of "Taking Steps” in Montréal by invitation of the Goethe Institute Montréal, "True Style” - produced in collaboration with the group ëd physical theatre in St. Petersburg and presented in Moscow as part of the Intradance festival, as well as a workshop for young local performers in Alexandria, Eqypt, all in 2010.
This year, he began the series "Böse Körper - Evil Bodies” with a large group piece in April. The series has continued with a solo on Andreas Baader and another on the literary character Maldoror.