Jefta van Dinther
Jefta van Dinther (SE/DE) is a choreographer and dancer working between Stockholm and Berlin. His work is characterized by a rigorous physical approach and always implies a staged research of movement itself. The moving body is the core of his practice but belongs to and interacts with a body of light, sound and materials. Central in his work is the question of what it means to be human, examined through its relation to society, community and environment but also to other forms of life such as the animal and other non-human entities. Van Dinther’s performances reach out into metaphysical or otherworldly realms and deal with notions of illusion, the visible and the invisible, synaesthesia, darkness, labour, sex, the uncanny, affect, voice and image.
In 2022 he premiered Unearth during the festival Tanz im August in Berlin and the second part on the diptych On Earth I'm Done, entitled Islands, for the Swedish company Cullberg. The first part of the diptych, Mountains, premiered in 2021. In 2019 he premiered the performance The Quiet and remounted Plateau Effect for Staatsballet Berlin. Currently on tour are also Dark Field Analysis (2017), as well as GRIND (2011). His other works include Protagonist (2016), As It Empties Out (2014), Plateau Effect (2013), THIS IS CONCRETE (2012), The Blanket Dance (2011), Kneeding (2010), The Way Things Go (2009) and IT'S IN THE AIR (2008). Jefta van Dinther has also created the choreography for and dances in the the music-video Monument (2015) by Robyn & Röyksopp. Jefta was Associated Artist with Cullberg between 2019-2022.
In 2012 van Dinther was awarded with the Birgit Cullberg Grant from the Swedish Arts Grants Committee. Van Dinther received the Swedish Theatercritic’s Danceprize 2013 for Plateau Effect, which was also selected for the Swedish Biennial of Performing Arts 2015. GRIND was awarded the Säde prize in Finland for best lighting design and received three prizes during Favoriten Festival in Dortmund, 2012.
Van Dinther graduated from the Amsterdam School of the Arts (MTD) in 2003 and was thereafter engaged as a dancer and worked with several choreographers. Van Dinther teaches choreography at various international centers and educational programs. He was appointed Senior Lecturer and Artistic Director at the MA program in Choreography at DOCH (University of Dance and Circus in Stockholm) between 2012–2014.
In 2022 he premiered Unearth during the festival Tanz im August in Berlin and the second part on the diptych On Earth I'm Done, entitled Islands, for the Swedish company Cullberg. The first part of the diptych, Mountains, premiered in 2021. In 2019 he premiered the performance The Quiet and remounted Plateau Effect for Staatsballet Berlin. Currently on tour are also Dark Field Analysis (2017), as well as GRIND (2011). His other works include Protagonist (2016), As It Empties Out (2014), Plateau Effect (2013), THIS IS CONCRETE (2012), The Blanket Dance (2011), Kneeding (2010), The Way Things Go (2009) and IT'S IN THE AIR (2008). Jefta van Dinther has also created the choreography for and dances in the the music-video Monument (2015) by Robyn & Röyksopp. Jefta was Associated Artist with Cullberg between 2019-2022.
In 2012 van Dinther was awarded with the Birgit Cullberg Grant from the Swedish Arts Grants Committee. Van Dinther received the Swedish Theatercritic’s Danceprize 2013 for Plateau Effect, which was also selected for the Swedish Biennial of Performing Arts 2015. GRIND was awarded the Säde prize in Finland for best lighting design and received three prizes during Favoriten Festival in Dortmund, 2012.
Van Dinther graduated from the Amsterdam School of the Arts (MTD) in 2003 and was thereafter engaged as a dancer and worked with several choreographers. Van Dinther teaches choreography at various international centers and educational programs. He was appointed Senior Lecturer and Artistic Director at the MA program in Choreography at DOCH (University of Dance and Circus in Stockholm) between 2012–2014.
Photo: Nina Andersson