Johann Kresnik

Johann "Hans" Kresnik (born 1939) is an Austrian dancer, choreographer, and theater director working in the tradition of German Tanztheater (dance theater) who is known for his politically charged approach to dance.

Johann Kresnik was born on 12 December 1939 in Sankt Margarethen, in the municipality of Bleiburg in the South Austrian state of Carinthia. It has been said that at the age of three he witnessed the shooting of his father—then serving in the Wehrmacht—by Slovenian partisans. He began his professional life working as a toolmaker, and his career as a performer began almost accidentally when he got a walk-on part at the Graz opera house in the late 1950s. Not long afterwards, unwilling to undertake required military service in Austria due to his antiwar views, he moved to Germany, where he has lived ever since. Although he had a background in gymnastics, he only began serious dance training when he moved to Cologne in 1962, where he studied with Leon Wojcikowski and Aurel von Miloss.

By the time he left Austria, Kresnik had joined the Austrian Communist Party, and he took part in numerous political demonstrations in Germany during the 1960s. He was involved with Marxist activism in Cologne and became acquainted with the German Marxist philosopher Ernst Bloch in Cologne's chess club.

In Cologne, Kresnik developed his skills quickly and worked as a principal dancer for the Cologne Opera from 1964 to 1968. When George Balanchine brought his Nutcracker ballet to Cologne with the New York City Ballet, he was a guest artist for the company. During this period, he also worked with Agnes de Mille and Maurice Béjart.

From 1968 to 1978 he was the ballet master and lead choreographer for the Bremer Tanztheater in Bremen. From 1980 to 1989, he was active in Heidelberg as a choreographer and director. He returned to Bremen for the period 1989 to 1994, and then beginning in 1994 worked for three years at the Volksbühne Berlin and as choreographer at the Burgtheater, Vienna. For five years beginning in 2003 he led the Choreographic Theater of Bonn.

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