Micha Van Hoecke Choreographer

Born in Brussels in 1944 to a Russian mother and a Belgian father, Micha van Hoecke began studying classical dance in Paris with Olga Preobrajenska. Equally keen on the cinema, he acted as an adolescent in the films of Yannick Andrei, Hervé Brombergé, Pierre Granier Deferre and Claude Lelouch (Les uns et les autres). In 1960, he entered Roland Petit’s dance company and then, in 1962, he joined Maurice Béjart’s Ballet of the 20th Century. Whilst there, he would be a dancer, a choreographer, and assistant to Béjart before becoming the director of Béjart’s École Mudra. From the 1970s onward, he devoted himself exclusively to the choreography of 20th century Ballet. With other dancers from the company, he founded the Chandra Group.
In 1981, he established the Ensemble Ballet Theatre with the best elements of the Mudra and moved into the Maison de la Culture in Tournai. In 1984, he and his company took up residence at the Wilson Centre in Rome. Micha van Hoecke has arranged numerous choreographic works for the Ensemble and he has collaborated with La Scala in Milan, the Teatro Verdi in Pisa, the San Carlo in Naples, the Montepulciano Festival, the Victor Ullate Company, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and the Athens Opera among others.
Since 1990, he has maintained a close working relationship with the Ravenna Festival where he made his directing debut in 1991 with Auber’s La Muette de Portici. From 1997 to 2002, he was the artistic coordinator and principal choreographer of the Teatro Massimo Ballet in Palermo. He has directed numerous productions at the Ravenna Festival (Carmen, Macbeth, Faust) and the Rome Opera (Aida, Carmina Burana). From 2010 to 2014, he was director of the Rome Opera Theatre Ballet.