Frank Willens is a dancer/choreographer/performer based in Berlin since 2003. Originally from California, he studied dance at UC Berkeley, and on that end of the world worked with the avant-garde ballet company Kunst-Stoff in San Francisco, danced in the first English-language adaptation of the French rock opera Notre Dame de Paris in Las Vegas, and toured with Paul McCartney as dancer and dance captain throughout the U.S., Japan, and Europe. Upon arriving in Europe, he delved deeply into the contemporary dance world and has collaborated with a wide multitude of choreographers and creators including Meg Stuart, Tino Sehgal, Boris Charmatz, Christine Gaigg, Maria Scaroni, Peter Stamer, and Susanne Kennedy as well as countless collaborations in Berlin’s free dance scene. He was an integral part of the creation of Tino Sehgal’s seminal documenta 13 work This Variation and produced Tino’s ensuing work Yet Untitled for the Venice Biennale in 2013. His own works are visceral, physically dynamic, unpretentious, vulnerable, and generous, deeply questioning how we work, how we exchange, and what it means to take ownership of our presence on stage in front of an audience and in the world. His works have been presented in Tanz Im August, Theater der Welt (under the direction of Matthias Lillienthal), the Transform Festival in Leeds, the Ponderosa TanzLand Festival, and at the Manchester International Festival, for example. His group piece Radiant Optimism was presented at ImPulsTanz in 2019. He tours extensively in the works/events of Boris Charmatz (10.000 Gestes, Danse de Nuit, 20 Dancers, Manger, A Dancer’s Day) and was a member of the ensemble at the Volksbühne in Berlin as well as a solo-performer in the production Am Königsweg from Elfriede Jelinek under the direction of Falk Richter at Schauspiel Hamburg. He played the main role in Christine Gaigg’s Rote Sonne at Volkstheater last year, was seen in Susanne Kennedy’s production of Einstein on the Beach, and he’s currently a member of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch under the direction of Boris Charmatz.
26.05.2023
