Among the most acclaimed figures in the history of the Romaeuropa Festival and one of the most prominent choreographers on the international scene, Sasha Waltz returns to the stage after many years as a dancer. For this return, she creates an extraordinary dialogue with Anastasia Kobekina, one of the most important cellists of her generation. At the centre of this unique encounter—fully in the spirit of Waltz’s celebrated projects intertwining music, dance, and space—are Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cello Suites. Kobekina has recently released a major new recording of the six suites. The two artists explore Bach’s music by bringing cello and body into an intense and sensitive dialogue, enriched by a new composition by American musician Bryce Dessner, founding member of The National. From this encounter emerges an intimate dance that allows the emotional depth of Bach’s music to be experienced from a completely new perspective.
Sasha Waltz is a choreographer, dancer, and director. She studied dance and choreography in Amsterdam and New York. Together with Jochen Sandig, she co-founded the company Sasha Waltz & Guests in 1993. She is also a co-founder of Sophiensæle (1996) and Radialsystem (2006) in Berlin. From 1999 to 2004, she was part of the artistic direction of the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz.
The exploration of innovative forms of interdisciplinary creation and performance is one of the central pillars of her artistic work. Her trajectory includes landmark choreographic works such as the Travelogue trilogy (1993/1995) and Körper (2000), as well as choreographic operas like Dido & Aeneas (2005), research and dialogue-based projects such as Dialoge 09 – Neues Museum, and more recent works like SYM-PHONIE MMXX (2022) and Beethoven 7 (2023), in which the fusion of choreography and music is a central element. On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of its first performance, in spring 2024 she staged Johann Sebastian Bach’s Johannes-Passion (BWV 245) as a universal and timeless narrative on the human search for truth, justice, and hope beyond its religious origins.
Alongside her artistic work, Sasha Waltz is committed to the transmission of choreographic knowledge and to promoting dance as a tool for social and political dialogue. In 2021 she developed In C, based on the composition by Terry Riley: a work that, beyond its national and international success, has become a participatory system with a growing global community. For her outstanding artistic achievements, she received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2011. Since 2013 she has been a member of the Akademie der Künste Berlin. In 2021, the French Ministry of Culture awarded her the title of Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres, the highest rank of the distinction. In 2024 she received the Deutscher Tanzpreis. In May 2025 she will be awarded the Helmut-Schmidt-Zukunftspreis, given to international figures distinguished by their commitment to democracy and the common good.
BACH CELLO DANCE
Anastasia Kobekina & Sasha Waltz
Music: Anastasia Kobekina
Dance: Sasha Waltz
Light design: Jörg Bittner
Dramaturgy: Jochen Sandig
