Brigel Gjoka

Brigel Gjoka, choreographer teacher and professional stage dancer.

His artistic work engagements have taken him around the world to more than 31 countries.
Brigel was born in Albania and trained in Tirana Ballet School 1997-2004. He was a member of Cannes Jeune Ballet during his studies 2004- 06 at the Ecole Superieure de Danse de Cannes-Mougins.
In 2006 he was engaged by the Ballet De L’opera National Du Rhin, where he had the opportunity to perform different roles and work with choreographers from the international dance scene. Wanting to expend his vision, he joined Staatstheater Mainz in 2009 for one season, then joined the Nederlands Dans Theater in 2010.

In January 2011 he became member of the The Forsythe Company, where he participated in new creations by William Forsythe and also performed a wide range of Forsythe’s repertory until the closure of the company in 2015. As a unique experience also in 2015, he was part of “Life in Progress,” the farewell world tour of Sylvie Guillem, traveling and performing Forsythe’s DUO2015 around the world.

Together with Riley Watts, he was awarded the ‘’Leonide Massine’’ Prize in the Positano premia la danza, Italy, as Dancer of The Year on The Contemporary Dance Scene in September 2015.

He has choreographed Evo-Revolution for the Cannes Jeune Ballet (2009), the installation Front to Confront with Leggere Strutture Company, supported by Tonino Lamborghini (2012), SWTH for Maggio Danza Italy and RECRECiT for Kwang Tung Dance Company Malaysia (2013). SYNC with Hector Solari for Staatstheater Passau and BMW (2013), Eksod with Leggere Strutture Italy (2014) and Among Fog for National Academy of Performing Arts Karachi (2015), where he participated in the International Dance & Theater Festival Karachi, and DELEGATET for the Theater Vorpommern Germany (2016).

September 2016 at the Philadelphia Musuem of Art, Museum as Score he performed DUO2015 from W.Forsythe at the Eighth Annual Anne d’Harnoncourt Symposium.

Since January 2014 he has been Artistic director of the Art Factory International Bologna.

Since 2015 he is Artistic Curator of Albanian Institute New York and correspondent of the Institute in Berlin, Germany.
As a lecturer and teacher, Gjoka has worked in Italy, Switzerland, France, China, Denmark, Greece, Albania, Germany, Malaysia, China, Singapore, Australia, and Japan. He teaches dance and choreography workshops based on his own work and inspired by the long rich investment of William Forsythe and The Forsythe Company.