Jefta van Dinther is no stranger to Munich. In 2025, his largest work to date, AUSLAND, will be presented in the Westgalerie of Haus der Kunst. Walter Heun, artistic director of TANZWERKSTATT EUROPA, reflects on 15 years of collaboration with the acclaimed Swedish-Dutch choreographer.

It was during my first season in 2009/2010 that I first encountered Jefta van Dinther at the Tanzquartier Wien. For the second edition of our artistic-theoretical parcours SCORES #2 - touché, he presented KNEEDING with Frédéric Gies and Thiago Granato. In this trio, many elements were already in place that would characterize Jefta's work, although no language had yet been found for them in theory. It was up to my dramaturge, Sandra Noeth, and Krassimira Kruschkova, head of the theory department at Tanzquartier, to formulate the first interpretations of his work, as was often the case during those years of my artistic directorship. In the online media library of the Tanzquartier that we established, it later read: “KNEEDING is a choreography for three men. In his performative study of the centrifugal forces of body and mind, Jefta van Dinther focuses on the organization of choreography, examining the relationships of internal processes in the body and how these processes manifest and become visible—and vice versa. Are the movements predetermined, or is it the emotions? Is it about an obvious exterior or the immaterial reality of imagination? Can these be separated, and is the human body even responsible for its movements? Or is it our environment that molds our bodies into what we are? In short: How do the inner and outer worlds condition each other mutually? In this tension, KNEEDING negotiates the choreographic between physicality and psychology, between immediacy and distance, between kneading and needing.”

Since then, I have had the privilege of accompanying Jefta in his extraordinary development as an artist, choreographer, and performer. His next work, The Blanket Dance, was co-produced by Tanzquartier and became part of the regular program, where he created a highly idiosyncratic physical-spatial event with numerous objects on stage, about which the three artists stated: “THE BLANKET DANCE engages a burgeoning curiosity about touch and the question of how form itself can be content. We observe how touch produces movement and how this movement reveals unexpected affinities, images, and meanings.”

My intention here is not to classify Jefta's work within performance theory or art history. I want to highlight how this artist has continually surprised me over 15 years of collaboration, opening up new possibilities for the content, physycality, choreography, and the form of engagement with the observing/participating/interacting audience in dance.

The actual spark for me came with GRIND in 2011. While the idiosyncratic body language in KNEEDING and the interaction with objects in THE BLANKET DANCE developed calmly before the viewers' eyes, in GRIND, body, space, and time violently collapsed in and upon each other. In the brilliant lighting concept of Minna Tiikkainen and the intoxicating music of David Kiers, Jefta van Dinther’s body and a light bulb swung by him like a lasso whirled through space, creating new light-filled realms that constantly reconstituted. Jefta's body gained an intensity reminiscent of the hard-hitting actions of Lalala Human Steps, Ultima Vez, or DV8 Physical Theatre in the 1980s. However, this intensity arose from an eruptive inner power, possessing an animalistic quality that seemed otherworldly. The beat and the rotating light spaces completed the ecstatic dance of human and inorganic materials.

A year earlier, we had already been able to present In the Air at TANZWERKSTATT EUROPA in Munich, a duet on two trampolines that shifted the perception of choreography from a horizontal perspective while simultaneously making its repetitive patterns and the individuality of the performers visible and tangible in their subtly syncopated synchronicity. Mette Ingvartsen, who conducts her own research on the relationship between body, object, space, and choreography, had created and performed this work with him. Together, they revealed the human and naturally given body with incredible intensity in its emotionality and motor skills, dissolving any distance the observer might have experienced “in the air.” Mette Ingvartsen and Jefta van Dinther are, for me, the artists who, aware of the critique of choreography and the performative act of the 2000s, make radical new proposals regarding the body, movement, and the reflection on the agreements we engage in through performance—often previously referred to as “theatre.”

A central element in Jefta's work is the exploration of the physical boundaries of the body from its inner organs. He examines his vulnerability and strength by developing movements that are both powerful and fragile. The animated and animating bodies of his performers resemble beings from another world while simultaneously striking at something primal, eruptive, organic, and vegetative within humanity. One observes and becomes part of it. The dancers are not just individuals but act as part of a greater whole. This non-analyzable yet physically tactile community enhances the emotional depth of his pieces, allowing the audience to experience the relationships between the performers and the space in a very immediate way. His works invite viewers to explore the complexity of human movement and the interactions with the environment, leaving a lasting impression on the audience. All of this was already inherent in the early works but has developed into a grand form that sustainably influences dance.

Nearly his entire oeuvre has been seen in Munich, and in workshops, his research on movement impulses directly from the inner organs and on the physical power of the voice could be experienced. His works have gained dimension—partly due to multiple collaborations with Cullberg — conquering the major stages of the world and, through installative durational performances, also the institutions of visual arts. Recently, Unearth was presented in Munich. It makes sense that the International DANCE Festival Munich and the Haus der Kunst now provide Jefta van Dinther with an artistic home through AUSLAND, and I am delighted to contribute to this.

By Walter Heun

AUSLAND is presented by International DANCE Festival München in cooperation with Haus der Kunst and TANZWERKSTATT EUROPA

JEFTA VAN DINTHER:
Jefta van Dinther is a choreographer and dancer, known for his rigorous physical approach. At the heart of his work lies the question of what it means to be human—explored through our relationships with society, the environment, and other life forms. His performances delve into illusion, synesthesia, darkness, sexuality, and the uncanny.

Credits:

AUSLAND is a production by Jefta van Dinther | Co-production: Tanz im August Berlin / HAU Hebbel am Ufer and Dansens Hus Stockholm | Funded by: Hauptstadtkulturfonds Berlin | With the kind support of Kraftwerk Berlin and the Tresor Foundation | In cooperation with Berlin Atonal@

Jefta van Dinther is funded by: TANZPAKT Stadt-Land-Bund with the support of the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion, and Swedish Arts Council.

The film Dark Field Analysis by Jefta van Dinther and Max Vitali, performed by Juan Pablo Cámara and Roger Sala Reyner, is co-produced by HAU Hebbel Am Ufer Berlin and Dansens Hus Stockholm. Supported by the NATIONAL PERFORMANCE NETWORK - STEPPING OUT, funded by the Minister of State for Culture and Media within the framework of the initiative NEUSTART KULTUR. Assistance Program for Dance.