Walter Heun
The dance producer and dance organizer Walter Heun began his career in 1985 as the director of
Tanztage München and cofounder of the DANCE ENERGY choreographers’ collective. He founded JOINT ADVENTURES as a dance and theater production firm in 1990. This same year, he also initiated and coordinated both the BRDance Festival, which marked the first time that contemporary dance from Germany had been presented nationwide, and a symposium entitled “On the Educational Situation for Contemporary Dance in Germany".
Walter Heun has been active since the late 1980s as initiator, member and artistic director of various national and international institutions for the performing arts and especially for contemporary dance. These activities began when he co-founded, conceived and served as managing director of TANZTENDENZ MÜNCHEN e.V., an association which was the central rehearsal and production venue for Munich’s dance scene from 1987 to 1993. He later initiated and realized the founding of DANCE NETWORK EUROPE of the EUROPEAN NETWORK FOR THE RESEARCH OF CONTEMPORARY DANCE (1994 to 2000).
To encourage exchange in the genres of dance, performance art, movement and image theater, he founded the NATIONAL PERFORMANCE NETWORK (NPN), with DIGITAL EQUIPMENT as its sponsor, in 1999 Within the framework of the NPN, and with support from the federal government’s commission for culture and media and from the ministries of culture and art of the several German states, JOINT ADVENTURES has encouraged guest performances in Germany since 1999. With funds from the federal government’s cultural foundation, the NPN has also worked within the framework of Tanzplan Deutschland to support national and international co-productions since 2005.
Walter Heun first organized TANZWERKSTATT EUROPA in Munich in 1991. This event, which has recurred annually since its founding, combines workshops in many different styles of dance and an international performance program. Idem currently ranks among the best-known European dance events.
Walter Heun served as a contributor of ideas and as artistic director at luzerntanz, the choreographic center at luzernertheater, from 1999 to 2004. He was also a member of the Executive Committee of the INFORMAL EUROPEAN THEATRE MEETING (1992 to 1994) and the EUROPEAN NETWORK OF INFORMATION CENTERS FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS (1994 to 2000), and also served as artistic advisor and program planner for various festivals (International Dance Festival of North Rhine-Westphalia 1996, artistic director Heinz Spoerli; Ideen des März, Munich, 1993 to 1997, Bavarian Theater Academy in Prince-Regent Theater).
Furthermore, Walter Heun is the co-founder and co-organizer of DANCE PLATFORM GERMANY, which has recurred at two-year intervals since 1994. Dance Platform Germany presents new creations in the genre of German contemporary dance. To date, Dance Platform Germany has taken place in Berlin (1994), Frankfurt (1996), Munich (1998), Hamburg (2000), Leipzig (2002), Düsseldorf (2004), Stuttgart (2006) and Hannover (2008). The city of Nuremberg is scheduled to host idem in 2010.
His own productions, co-productions, and the issuance of a publication entitled “Tanzplattform Deutschland” (1994 to 1998) round out the extensive array of activities in which Walter Heun engages himself in the field of the performing arts. Thanks to his excellent ties to the international performing arts scene, Walter Heun has decisively contributed in the past, and continues to do so today, to the advancement and support of contemporary dance on the national and international levels.
Walter Heun will take over the management of Tanzquartier Wien at the beginning of the season 2009/2010.
Contact: Walter Heun, JOINT ADVENTURES,
E-mail: walter.heun (at) jointadventures.net
Phone +49 (0)89 1 89 31 37-0