Gerda König studied psychology at the University of Cologne. Her intensive involvement with the medium of dance began in 1991. After working with the Mobiaki ensemble and the Paradox Dance Company, she founded the DIN A 13 tanzcompany in 1995, which is now one of the world's leading mixed-abled dance ensembles. From the beginning, her choreographic career has been characterised by the vision of using the movement quality of "other bodies" to develop new aesthetic approaches to a contemporary dance language.
As artistic director and dancer of the ensemble, she has staged numerous full-length productions that have toured international dance festivals in Europe, North and South America. She shares her many years of experience in the artistic work of dancers with and without physical disabilities in various commissioned choreographies. choreographies, e.g. in the USA, South Africa and Ethiopia.
In 2005 she initiated the project "Dance meets differences" to create an exchange between cultures through dance and to establish new mixed-abled companies in different continents. Since 2005, in collaboration with the Goethe Institute, she has created co-productions with regional and international artists in Ethiopia, South Africa, Brazil, Kenya, Ghana, Senegal, Venezuela, Sri Lanka and Israel.
Since then, her choreographic research approach and her artistic work have been characterised by a continuous artistic exploration of cultural realities, traditions, politically conditioned and socially shaped circumstances. This gives her choreographies an unmistakable signature. In the context of the Dance Platform Germany 2006, Gerda König was appointed by the International Theatre Institute (ITI) as an important representative of contemporary dance in Germany.
