Franko Schmidt

Franko Schmidt was born in Germany in 1970. He first trained and worked as a professional chef for six years. From 1993 to 1995, he studied dance at the Schule für Tanztheater under Bernd Kühn in Hamburg (Germany), followed by studies at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen (Germany) from 1995 to 1998. He then joined Jean Cébron's masterclass for one year. In 1998, he became a member of the Mark Sieczkarek Company in Essen. A year later, he was awarded a DAAD scholarship to study at the Limón Institute in New York (USA), where he also performed as a guest dancer with the Limón Dance Company. From 2000 to 2001, he was a guest performer with Tanztheater Basel (Switzerland) under the direction of Joachim Schlömer, before joining the Folkwang Tanzstudio in Essen (Germany), where he danced from 2001 to 2004 under Henrietta Horn.

Since late 2004, Franko Schmidt has been a permanent member of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch.

Throughout his career, he has performed works by choreographers including Susanne Linke, Henrietta Horn, José Limón, Mark Sieczkarek, Bernd Kühn, Manuel Quero, Gabrio Gabrielli, Sanna Myllylahti, Eun Me Ahn, Joachim Schlömer, Zoltan Dani, Tim Etchells, Dimitris Papaioannou and Pina Bausch.

Numerous guest performances have taken him across Europe and to countries such as Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Japan, South Korea, Iceland, Brazil, India, the USA, Egypt, Taiwan, Russia, Canada and Israel.

In addition to performing, Franko Schmidt also works as rehearsal director for Pina Bausch’s pieces and is actively involved in staging them for other companies on behalf of the Pina Bausch Foundation. This includes, among others, the transmission of Kontakthof to the Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris/ Palais Garnier (France).

His teaching career began during his student years in Hamburg. He is currently training director at Tanztheater Wuppertal and has taught as a guest lecturer at the Folkwang Hochschule Essen (Germany), the Folkwang Tanzstudio (Germany), and the Tanztheater of the Staatstheater Kassel (Germany). He has led workshops at institutions including Universidad Veracruzana in Xalapa and Centro Cultural Los Talleres in Mexico City (Mexico), the Kyoto Art Center in Japan, the Istanbul Festival in Turkey, Danza Universitaria in San José (Costa Rica), the Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg (Luxembourg), and the Shanghai Theatre Academy in China. Further teaching engagements have taken him to Florence, Rovereto and Rome (Italy).