Tian Gao
Tian Gao, born in Wuhan, China, received her professional training in Chinese folk dance from 2005 to 2015. She began her training at the Wuhan Music Conservatory and studied at Minzu University of China from 2011 to 2015. She then completed a master's degree in dance composition/interpretation at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen from 2016 to 2018, for which she was awarded the Dance Prize of the Josef and Else Classen Foundation.
After graduating, she began working as a guest dancer with the company Sasha Waltz & Guests in the summer of 2018. From August 2022 to December 2024, she was a permanent member of the ensemble and has also been working as a rehearsal director since 2024. In addition, she has collaborated with renowned institutions and artists such as the Staatsballett Berlin, Laborgras, Michael Laub/Remote Control Productions and Paper Tiger Theater.
As a choreographer, she began her collaboration with the Podium Festival in 2022, where her first full-length work, River/江/Fluss, premiered in Esslingen in May 2022 and was performed at Tanzhaus NRW in September 2022.
In addition to her artistic work, she has led several workshops and research projects in China and Germany. In 2021, she received the Dis-Tanz-Solo scholarship for her research on »Dramaturgy in Dance«. Her findings were published in the Journal of Beijing Dance Academy on Dance Studies Vol. 1 of the Chinese National Academy of Arts.
In the summer of 2024, she was the initiator and tutor of the educational and cultural exchange project »In C in China«, a collaboration between the Goethe-Institut China and Sasha Waltz & Guests.
