Jefta van Dinther

Jefta van Dinther is a choreographer and dancer who works between Stockholm and Berlin. His work is characterized by a rigorous physical approach and always implies a staged research of movement itself. The body lies at the core of his practice – always embedded within a complex interplay of light, sound, and material. At the center of his artistic inquiry stands the human condition: our relation to society, community, and environment, as well as to other forms of life – animal or non-human entities. Van Dinther’s performances often inhabit metaphysical or otherworldly spheres and engage with themes such as illusion and perception, visibility and invisibility, synaesthesia, darkness, labour, sexuality, the uncanny, affect, voice, and image.

Since 2008, Van Dinther has created eighteen evening-length performances – ranging from intimate solo works to large-scale productions for renowned companies. His performances have been presented in theatres, art spaces, and site-specific contexts around the world. These include “AUSLAND” (2024), “REMACHINE” (2023), “Unearth” (2022), “On Earth I’m Done: Islands” (2022) and “Mountains” (2021) for Cullberg Ballet, “The Quiet” (2019), “Plateau Effect” (2019) for Staatsballett Berlin, “Dark Field Analysis” (2017), “Protagonist” (2016) for Cullberg Ballet, “As It Empties Out” (2014), “Plateau Effect” (2013) for Cullberg Ballet, “THIS IS CONCRETE” (2012), “GRIND” (2011), “The Blanket Dance” (2011), “Kneeding” (2010), “The Way Things Go” (2009), and “IT’S IN THE AIR” (2008).

In addition, Van Dinther has created choreographies for film, video, concert, and theatre. In 2012, he received the Birgit Cullberg Grant from the Swedish Arts Grants Committee. His work “GRIND” (2011), which was also presented at HAU Hebbel am Ufer, was awarded the Säde Prize for Best Lighting Design in Finland and won three prizes at the Favoriten Festival Dortmund in 2012. For “Plateau Effect”, Van Dinther received the Swedish Theatre Critics’ Award in 2013. Van Dinther teaches choreography internationally at various institutions and training programs. From 2012 to 2014, he was Senior Lecturer and Artistic Director of the Master’s Programme in Choreography at Uniarts Stockholm. Since 2024, he has been a member of the advisory board of the Inter-University Centre for Dance (HZT) Berlin. In 2022, he founded the workspace DIORAMA in Berlin-Rummelsburg.

HAU Hebbel am Ufer, a long-term partner institution of Jefta van Dinther, will present in November 2025 the retrospective “A Queer Divine Dissatisfaction”, developed in collaboration with the choreographer. The programme will bring together a selection of his seminal works from the past two decades. As part of this occasion, his new production “Mercury Rising” will also celebrate its world premiere on the stage of HAU2.