E N S E M B L E

CHRISTINE KONO

Photo: Thierry-Gründler

Christine Kono was born in California in the United States in 1946. In 1955 she began to study classical ballet with Igor Schwezoff and Harriet de Rea, followed by scholarships at Ballet Companies in San Francisco, New York and Chicago. From 1962 to 1971 she worked with George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Kazuko Hirabayashi, Anna Sokolow and Donald McKayle, dancing for the Pennsylvania Ballet Company and Eliot Feld's American Ballet Company.

Christine Kono arrived in Europe in 197I and danced at Tanzforum Köln for Kurt Jooss, Christopher Bruce, Glen Tetley and Jochen Ulrich. She graduated in 1981 with a master diploma for teaching dance at the Folkwang University in Essen. She was ballet master for Pina Bausch's Tanztheater Wuppertal from 1987 to 1994 and regularly taught The Forsythe Company in Frankfurt and Hellerau from 2007 to 2014.

Since 1999 she and Dimitris Kraniotis have been dedicated to researching the foundations of dance and movement, based on the teaching of Jerome Andrews. With Dimitris, she has created choreographic events that were presented in France, Germany and Greece.

She is currently guest professor at Ballet Preljocaj, Company Amala Dianor, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Hollins University Dance Master’s Summer Program and the Centre National de la Danse Paris.