Brigel Gjoka

The Albanian-born choreographer, dancer, performer and teacher Brigel Gjoka trained at the National Ballet School in Tirana, at the Ecole Supérieure de Danse de Cannes Rosella Hightower, and at Cannes Jeune Ballet. From 2006 onwards, he performed solo roles with leading companies such as Ballet de l'Opéra National du Rhin, Staatstheater Mainz and Nederlands Dans Theater. In 2011 Brigel joined The Forsythe Company, taking part in new works and performing a broad array of Forsythe’s repertoire. In 2015, he collaborated with William Forsythe on DUO2015, a revised version of Duo, dancing it worldwide as part of Sylvie Guillem’s farewell tour, Life in Progress. For that performance he was awarded the Leonide Massine Prize for contemporary dancer of the year at the 2015 Positano Premia la Danza in Italy. In 2016, he performed at the Paris Quartier d'Eté festival and at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Brigel has taught, danced and choreographed internationally for more than 18 years, performing in at least 33 countries. From 2014-2020, he was artistic director of the international contemporary-dance programme Art Factory in Bologna, Italy. He also collaborated with the Goethe Institut from 2013-2017 as an artist-choreographer, developing and promoting German dance culture around the world. He choreographed Front to Confront with Leggere Strutture Company, supported by Tonino Lamborghini; SWTH for Maggio Danza Italy, RECRECiT for Kwang Tung Dance Company, SYNC with Hector Solari for Staatstheater Passau and BMW, Eksod with Leggere Strutture, Among Fog and Hotel Propaganda for Karachi International Theater Festival, and DELEGATET for Théâtre Vorpommern.

Brigel’s collaboration with William Forsythe continues: since 2018 he has been dancing in Forsythe’s most recent piece, A Quiet Evening of Dance, in major venues worldwide, pushing his personal choreographic investigations ever deeper and further refining Forsythe’s style.

Brigel also runs dance and choreographic improvisation workshops at festivals, universities and companies in various countries, informed by his own artistic research and inspired by his 10-year collaboration with William Forsythe and The Forsythe Company. In 2019, Sadler's Wells London and PACT Zollverein Essen co-produced his latest piece, Neighbours, with Rauf “RubberLegz” Yasit.