Marguerite
Donlon

Benois de la Danse nominee

Marguerite Donlon was born in County Longford, Republic of Ireland. After a childhood of traditional Irish dance, she began her ballet studies with Anica Dawspn and Dorothy Stivens at the late age of 16.

She became a solo dancer with the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 1990; before that she was a member of the English National Ballet under Peter Schaufuss. During this time she worked with and was coached by many world-renowned artists, including Natalia Makarova, Rudolf Nureyev, Sir Kenneth Mac Millan and danced pieces from Maurice Bejart, William Forsythe, Bill T. Jones, Meg Stuart and Jiri Kylian.

Since becoming ballet director and choreographer of the Saarlandisches Staatstheater, otherwise known as Donlon Dance Company, in 2001, the company has established themselves with success in Saarbrucken and have also been invited to festivals in such places as Berlin, Luxembourg, Brussels, USA, Ireland and South Korea and produced two dance films for ARTE. 

In addition to her work in Saarbrucken, Marguerite Donlon has choreographed for many other companies around the world. She has created ballets for the Vienna State Ballet, Netherlands Dans Theater NDT IL the Stuttgart Ballet and the Komische Oper Berlin as well as two works for Hubbard Street Dance Company, Chicago, USA. The latter work was commissioned together with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pinchas Zukerman and the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, performed at the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles.

Marguerite Donlon also directed two plays from Samuel Beckett, Words and Music and Act without words 7, which were commissioned by the National Theatre of Luxembourg and performed at the Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen. Marguerite Donlon is working as a professor at the Hochschule fur Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt a. M. Her installation and video work is an important part of her creative language. She has created several works such as the films Lokus and Kitchen Dance-Berlin and installations including Hitomi@Home, Bubbles overhead and Strange Encounters. With her innovative style, her Irish humour and her use of different art forms, Marguerite Donlon has established herself and the company in the dance scene of Germany and abroad.

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