Be van Vark Born 1965/ based in Berlin, choreographer and teacher.
The range of her choreographic work is characterised by a passion for bringing together different people and styles, for moving both one and hundreds of people, and for developing projects for the stage as well as for public spaces. She works in established theatres and OFF theatres as well as museums, in urban spaces as well as in nature.
On 2 October 2018, she was awarded the Cross of Merit on Ribbon by the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier for her work. The laudation gets to the heart of her work (and the systemic relevance of culture in general) - it says: "Be van Vark shows that culture is not an elitist luxury activity, but belongs to the existence of every human being".
Here are a few stations and reference projects:
In 1994 she founded the van Vark company (until 2002).
Since 2002 she has been working with the concept "tanztheater-global", which she developed and which brings together amateurs with professional performers. To date, more than forty projects have been realised internationally within this framework.
Since 2011, she has been chairwoman of the association "Tänzer ohne Grenzen e.V." (Dancers without Borders). In 2021, she created the dance film "Nur der Augenblick zählt" (Only the Moment Counts) with seven dancers and older people with and without dementia.
From August 2022 - May 2023 she is working with "Tänzer ohne Grenzen e.V." with the Kulturlandbüro on a production for 22 villages in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Since 2016, she has been working with the Genshagen Foundation in the "Nomadic Laboratory" format, with which she initiates international transcultural dance projects. This work will continue in 2021/2022 with the project "Neighbours".
2011-2018 she choreographed large stage pieces with up to 300 performers for the education projects of the Brandenburg State Orchestra.
Since 2012, she has worked closely with the Bürgerstiftung Halle as part of the "Max macht Oper" programme. The work "Little Poem for Big Stutterers" was an award-winning project in the "Children to Olympus" competition of the Kulturstiftung der Länder. The work will continue with a new project in July 2022.
In 2017- 2021, she realised intergenerational dance projects with over 100 dancers at the Halle/ Saale Opera House in cooperation with the Halle Civic Foundation "Eine Stadt tanzt".
From March to August 2021, she worked on the project Salvage . Funding from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media in the NEUSTART KULTUR programme, aid programme DIS-TANZEN of the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland (umbrella organisation for dance in Germany) enabled her to archive and deal with her creative history. This work will be continued and deepened from February 2022 thanks to further funding.
She is active as a lecturer at the Braunschweig University of the Arts (3/2022, at the University Mozarteum Salzburg ( 11/2021), at the Berlin University of the Arts_Career College (since 2018 ) and at the Zurich University of the Arts (3-10/2021), among others.
In the winter semester 2020/21 she held the Berthold Brecht Guest Professorship of the City of Leipzig at the Institute of Theatre Studies. The appreciation, presentation of the scenic project and a discussion evening with Dr. Vito Pinto will take place in April 2022.
Information on current projects at:
