Dance -
Wayne McGregor appointed Artistic Director of the Dance Department
The decision was made by the Board of Directors, chaired by Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, for the years 2025 and 2026.
Wayne McGregor new Artistic Director
Wayne McGregor will be the Artistic Director of the Dance Department of La Biennale di Venezia for the two-year term 2025/2026. The decision was made by the Board of Directors, chaired by Pietrangelo Buttafuoco. Wayne McGregor was appointed Director of the Dance Department by the preceding Board of Directors in 2020, an appointment that was to expire after the 18th International Festival of Contemporary Dance to be held in Venice from July 18th to August 3rd.
“Wayne McGregor – stated the President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco – was successful in building a far-reaching project for Biennale Danza, wielding a remarkable sensibility that looks with attention to the younger generations on the world stage. Seeing him at work in the past weeks, studying his prodigious imagination and his efforts as a Maestro in the exclusive school that is the Biennale Danza College, allowed me to understand that his work deserves more time to consolidate practices and visions that are important to our institution. Wayne McGregor and I, in the name of a new fact of art, have agreed to meet in Venice once again, and so I am pleased to announce that he has been reconfirmed for the two-year term 2025-2026”.
According to Wayne McGregor, “it has been a great honour and creative pleasure curating the last four years of Biennale Danza. During this time we have been able to grow the dance festival into a three week international event inviting and commissioning extraordinary artists and companies from six continents who have thrilled and inspired our broadening audiences. Continuing our mission over the next two years to invest in new contemporary dance talents, platforming their voices through Biennale College and our bespoke developmental programmes I look forward to working with the brilliant Biennale team to drive forward an evolving and powerful vision for dance today.”
On June 15th this year, Sir Wayne McGregor was knighted by His Majesty King Charles III “for his pioneering contribution to the field of dance”. He premiered a new work, Deepstaria, with Company Wayne McGregor on June 21st at Montpellier Danse Festival, closely followed by the New York debut of his Olivier-award winning Woolf Works at the Metropolitan Opera House, with guest of honour Alessandra Ferri, for whom the piece was originally conceived, becoming part of the repertory of the American Ballet Theater.
November 2024 sees McGregor bring Margaret Atwood’s post-apocalyptic vision to the stage in the three-act ballet MADDADDAM, making its European premiere at The Royal Opera House in London (commissioned by the National Ballet of Canada and by the Royal Ballet).
Biographical notes
Born in Stockport (Great Britain) in 1970, Sir Wayne McGregor CBE is a British choreographer and director. He is Artistic Director of Studio Wayne McGregor, a creative network that expands the frontiers of the intelligence of the body through dance, design and technology.
Since 2006, Wayne McGregor has been Resident Choreographer at the Royal Ballet, the first choreographer from a contemporary dance background to be invited into the role.
McGregor is regularly commissioned by, and has works in the repertories of, the most important dance companies in the world, including Paris Opera Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, La Scala Ballet, American Ballet Theater, Bolshoi Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, and Australian Ballet.
McGregor is in demand as a choreographer for the theatre (Old Vic, National Theatre, Royal Court, Donmar), lyric opera (La Scala, The Royal Opera, English National Opera. Scottish National Opera film (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Legend of Tarzan, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Sing, Mary Queen of Scots, The Outrun), and music videos (Radiohead, The Chemical Brothers). ABBA Voyage, the revolutionary concert that launched the Swedish pop sensations back onstage in an outstanding avatar performance in 2022, choreographed by McGregor, will continue through 2025.
Sir Wayne McGregor studied Choreography at Bretton Hall, University of Leeds. McGregor is Professor of Choreography at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music, and President of Elmhurst Ballet School. He is Vice President of the Roundhouse, London, an Ambassador for The Arts Foundation, UK and is a Patron of The Place, London. He has Honorary Doctorates from The Royal College of Art, London, Plymouth University, University of Leeds, University of Chester, and UAL and is part of the Circle of Cultural Fellows at King’s College London. In 2017 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the British Science Association.
McGregor's work has earned him a multitude of awards including four Critics' Circle National Dance Awards, two Time Out Awards, three South Bank Show Awards, two Olivier Awards, a Prix Benois de la Danse and two Golden Mask Awards. In 2011 McGregor was awarded a CBE for Services to Dance, and in 2021 he was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Prix de Lausanne.
