Heinz
Spoerli

Jury member of Benois de la Danse

Heinz Spoerli was born in Basel and trained as a dancer with Walter Kleiber. His first appointment was in his home town.

Soon thereafter he danced as a soloist with Todd Bolen-der in Cologne, with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in Montreal, at the Basel Theatre and the Grand Theatre de Geneve.

Spoerli's debut as a choreographer was Le Chemin in 1973, premiered at the Grand Theatre de Geneve. That same year he was appointed Ballet Director in Basel. Since then he has developed an extensive repertoire including both classical and contemporary works and has choreographed over seventy ballets for the Basel Ballet Company — among them such neo-classical and contemporary short pieces as Chas and Dead End. Added to this were new renditions of such beloved classical pieces as Giselle, The Nutcracker, La Fille mal gardee and Swan Lake. New works include dance epics such as A Midsummer's Night Dream and La Belle Vie.

Heinz Spoerli's choreographic engagements on the international stage include the Stuttgart Ballet, The Vienna Opera Ballet, The Paris Opera, The National Ballet of Helsinki, the Royal Swedish Ballet, the Chinese National Ballet and the Ballet of La Scala. Under his directorship, the Basel Ballet Company enjoyed numerous international guest appearances including Dresden, Berlin, Israel, China, New York, Chicago, and Minneapolis, Spoerii created Traume (Dreams) and Ippolito for Swiss, German and Czech television.

From 1984 onwards he was a regular guest choreographer of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, of which he was Ballet Director from 1991 until 1996. During this time he re-created Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, the Joseph Legend, the Goldberg Variations, Giselle, Firebird, A Midsummer's Night Dream, und Farben, die mitten in der Brust leuchten, and others. Since 1996, he has been Director of the Zurich Ballet, where he has created a series of new works: Aventures & Nouvelles Aventures, Nocturnes, Brahms Ein Ballett, … eine lichte, helle, schone Ferne, and … mied den Wind Heinz Spoerii is also an active jury member having participated in many international dance competitions, including Lausanne, Jackson (USA), and Moscow.

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