Henrietta Horn takes over as artistic director of the Folkwang Dance Studio

After 18 years, there is a change in artistic leadership at the Folkwang Dance Studio (FTS). Rodolpho Leoni, Folkwang Professor of Modern Dance and Choreography, led the FTS from 2008 to 2026. From October 2026, Henrietta Horn, Professor of Contemporary Dance at Folkwang University, will take over the role. She will thus once again head the FTS; together with Pina Bausch, she served as artistic director of the Folkwang Dance Studio from 1999 to 2008.

Henrietta Horn
Henrietta Horn studied elementary dance at the German Sport University Cologne. She subsequently completed a degree in stage dance at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen. From 1999 to 2008, Henrietta Horn shared the artistic directorship of the Folkwang Dance Studio with Pina Bausch. During this period, she created numerous choreographies for the ensemble, whilst the company also undertook international touring engagements. She continued to work as a solo dancer both during and after her time at the Folkwang Dance Studio; she also created new works for theatres and institutions, both nationally and internationally (including London, Taipei, Damascus, Beirut, La Paz and Jakarta). 
In 2013, she was commissioned to reconstruct *Le Sacre du Printemps*, choreographed by Mary Wigman in 1957, which was performed at the theatres in Osnabrück and Bielefeld, as well as by the Bavarian State Ballet in Munich. In 2017 and 2019, she once again reconstructed works by Mary Wigman, two dances of death: *DANSE MACABRE* (1917/21 and 1926) and *DIE FEIER* (1927/28). 
Henrietta Horn has received numerous prestigious awards for her choreographic work, including the ‘North Rhine-Westphalia Women Artists’ Prize’. In 2017, the magazine ‘Dance for you’ named Henrietta Horn Best Choreographer for her reconstructions.
In 2015, she accepted a post as visiting professor at the TNUA in Taipei, Taiwan; since 2021, Henrietta Horn has been Professor of Contemporary Dance at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen. 
In 2023, she was elected to the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
In October 2026, she will once again take on the artistic directorship of the Folkwang Dance Studio as well as the directorship of the Institute for Contemporary Dance.