Johanna Richter

About

Johanna Richter

“Before the mind decides to take a step, love has reached the seventh heaven. Wherever the dancing foot treads, there springs up in the dust a fountain of life.” (Rumi)

Her full-length interdisciplinary dance theater, with which her company of international actors and dancers has been able to generate a very diverse, cross-generational, and multicultural audience, especially through the years in residence at the Schauburg, is characterized by a common universal language beyond words.

Their choreographic style, developed through many years of working with actors, focuses less on abstract movement material and more on the search for the translation of human stories into the movement repertoire of the body. Essential becomes the place, the harmony with other performing arts (acting, dance, music), the dancing as well as playing personality with its special characteristics, and the larger narrative arc, which finds its expression in the full-length dance theater.

The dance theaters are explicit invitations for audiences that reflect the plurality of global society, and through the topicality of their themes they offer identification surfaces in the universal experience space of theater.

Artistic carrer:

  • Trained as a stage dancer at the Iwanson International for Contemporary Dance in Munich, followed by training stays in NY and further training with Rui Horta, Wim Vandekeybus, Jean Yves Ginioux and others.
  • Studies in theater and dance science at the LMU Munich.  Focus on Inner motivation and outer expression, Movement psychology and Movement Evaluation Graphics (MEG) A system for analyzing the movement process by Cary Rick and Claudia Jeschke.  M.A. on: The problem of choreography based on literary material using the example of Maurice Béjart’s “Les Chaises” after Eugène Ionesco.
  • Since 1991 freelance choreographer and dancer for stage, film and television in Germany and abroad, and multiple choreographic works in collaboration with various directors at the Münchner Kammerspiele, the Schauburg, the Akademietheater, the Metropoltheater, the Staatstheater Nürnberg, the Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel/Residenztheater, the Akademietheater, the Theater Augsburg, the Sophiensaelen Berlin and the LTT Tübingen.
  • Since 1994 permanent teaching position at the Otto-Falckenberg-Schule für Schauspiel in Munich in the subject movement with focus on dance (contemporary, modern, historical, partnering, improvisation).
  • Since 1998 member of the Munich Choreographers’ Association Tanztendenz München e.V.
  • Regular invitations for workshops on courtly dances, partner improvisation or physical expression of a dramatic figure at the Bavarian Theater Academy, the ZHDK Zurich, the School for Acting Hamburg, and the Conservatory Vienna.
  • Work as a movement coach of actors* for film and television productions.
  • Since 1999 working as a freelance choreographer in Munich: Repeated invitations to the international choreography competition in Hannover, to the solo choreography competition in Stuttgart, to No ballet in Ludwigshafen, to the 7th theater festival in Sarajevo in 2004 with the award for the most innovative theater concept for the production Meeting Point.
  • Several times received a production grant for full-length dance theater by the Cultural Department of the City of Munich, which were realized in co-production with the Schauburg and the Residenztheater.
  • From 2004 to 2017 Choreographer in Residence with his own company at the Schauburg Munich, with continuous presence of dance theater productions over several seasons.
  • Since 2017 touring with theater productions as a company.
  • Since 2021 cooperation with the Freilichtspiele Schwäbisch Hall and the Theater in Kempten.

Futhermore:

  • From 2009 – 2019 in the choreographer team with Volker Michl, artistic sponsorship under the title Helden-Projekt to pupils with migration background in collaboration with the association “mitSprache e.V” and co-production with the Schauburg.
  • Since 2016 annual artist-by-artist initiative in collaboration with Birgitta Trommler under the title HIER=JETZT- Platform for Contemporary Dance in Munich.