An artist at the zenith of his career—his appointment as Kammertänzer [dancer-laureate] in October 1999 represents but a further highlight in a biography that reads like a dancer's wish list: in 1986, while still a student of Prof. Martin Puttke at the Berlin State Ballet School, he won the Prix de Lausanne d'Or, one of the most coveted prizes for young dance students. After graduation, he proceeded directly to a solo engagement at the Comic Opera in Berlin—a great exception even in GDR times, since the prevailing rule for recent graduates strictly called for them to put in their years of service in the corp de ballet before they could turn to solo work. Here, Seyffert encountered the founder of the GDR dance-theater, the choreographer Tom Schilling. The latter worked out with him a multifarious repertoire of diverse roles, in which Seyffert continues to this day to enthral his audience with expressive character development and breathtaking technique. His youthfully playful interpretation of Romeo, the humorous Match—a relationship duel on the tennis court—or Sleeping Beauty, in which he sweeps over the stage like a whirlwind as the evil, androgynous Carabosse: Seyffert's multifaceted powers of representation appear to know no bounds. And in abstract roles, as well—in François Raffinot's Au delà, for instance—he shines with his refined, almost acrobatic-like technique, and an extraordinarily powerful, expressive stage presence.
Outside the opera, Gregor Seyffert works closely together with his father Dietmar, a choreographer and professor for choreography at the Ernst Busch College Berlin. In 1990, the latter created for him the 37-minute solo God's Clown. The piece thematizes the trials and tribulations of the dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, who spent the last 30 years of his life sunk in the fogs of derangement, and shows his desperate struggle against insanity. It lets Seyffert venture far beyond his physical and psychological limits. And the duo Seyffert/Seyffert—together with the company Gregor Seyffert & Compangnie, founded in 1996—has continually had brilliant success with this solo both in Germany and abroad. In 1996, they were invited to represent Germany's cultural contribution at the Olympic Games in Atlanta. In 1997, Gregor Seyffert received the Prix Benois de la Danse/Unesco—the Oscar of dance, which crowned him as the world's best dancer. In October 1999, Berlin Culture Senator Peter Radunski awarded him the title of Kammertänzer—the highest honour that can be bestowed on a dancer in Germany.
Gregor Seyffert's expressiveness, his readiness to push his physical and emotional boundaries, his ability to meld into the role, and the extraordinary vividness with which he embodies his characters are all essential components of his artistic quality, and make him one of the most outstanding dancers of his generation.

Schuhmann Festival 2004: "Das Paradies und die Peri"
Irmgard Knechtges-Obrecht
Interview mit Gregor Seyffert und Gottfried Helnwein
Am 29. März 2004 führte Irmgard Knechtges-Obrecht in Düsseldorf ein Gespräch mit dem Tänzer und Choreografen Gregor Seyffert sowie dem Künstler und Bühnenbildner Gottfried Helnwein über die Planungen und Anfangsarbeiten zur Inszenierung von Robert Schumanns Oratorium Das Paradies und die Peri im 8. Internationalen Schumannfest.

www.helnwein-theater.com

A DANCER'S LIFE
Deutsche Welle
Gregor Seyffert
The life of a professional dancer is a life of extremes. Take Gregor Seyffert from Berlin, for example. In recent years, he's won all the awards the dance world has to offer, including the coveted Prix Benois, which he received in 1997 as dancer of the year. Seyffert's appeal rests not only on his almost acrobatic technique, but also, and above all, on the emotional expressivity of his interpretations. But all this success has its price, and leaves little time for private moments. We watch Gregor Seyffert at his morning training sessions, on tour, at guest appearances, at rehearsals and on stage. We have interviews with Seyffert's colleagues, choreographers and family, and of course with the dancer himself.

http://www.transtel.tv/history/dp001856.htm

The clown of god“ has it’s roots in the last public performance of the legendary Russian dancer Vaslav Nijinsky (1888-1950) in 1919 and traces the torturous course of the brilliant dancer’s life trough fame, fear, lethargy and insanity. It describes his suffering and the time he spent in the St. Moritz psychiatric hospital where, gradually losing his sanity, he wrote his diary and gave his last ever public performances at the Swiss Suvretta House with the pianist Bertha Asseo.
„The Clown of god“ shows Nijinsky’s last desperate struggle against his incurable illness, before memory, strength and the spark of life were extinguished.
„This dance strives to explore the terrible limit of human existence. How appalling it must be for victims, and those who suffer with them, to have to watch as, in a physiologically intact, young, strong and beautiful body, the central control system goes awry and the functions of the brain become biomechanically uncoupled from the body.
Insensibility, aimlessness, fear, persecution mania, distraction and lethargy are the mad external manifestations of these terrible internal mental processes. How does this illness start? Why is it incurable?
Doctors, scientists and we, the ‘clowns of god’, have no answer. This performance is dedicated to Waslaw Nijinsky, the legend of dance.“

http://www.gregor-seyffert.de/Seyffert/2IndexStart.htm

Gregor Seyffert was a member of the Tanztheater at the Komische Oper Berlin for 13 years. As star dancer and first soloist he interpreted the collected leading roles of great classical and contemporary dance.
Gregor Seyffert earned numerous international prizes and awards with his absolute technical perfection and his unique characterisation of roles.
Gregor Seyffert was presented with the UNESCO Prix Benois de la Dance as the World's Best Dancer in 1997. It was the first time that a German dancer had been awarded this coveted prize, known as the "Oscar of ballet".
Television performances and world-wide tours have taken Gregor Seyffert through all of Europe, as well as Asia, North America and Central America.
The Berlin Minister of Culture endowed Gregor Seyffert with the honorary title of Berlin Dancer-Laureate in September, 1999.
In Spring 2002 Gregor Seyffert have been appointed to the Artistic Director of the State Ballet School of Berlin.
In March 2003 Gregor Seyffert have been awarded with the German Dance Prize 2003, founded by the German Association of Dance Education.

http://www.gregor-seyffert.de/Seyffert/2start.htm

http://www.ballett-intern.de/tanzpreis.html

Gottfried Helnwein and Hans Kresnik - Documentation of the collaboration between choreographer Hans Kresnik and his German dance company, and artist Gottfried Helnwein, including Macbeth, Oedipus, Pasolini, Marat and Sade.
Arts: Performing Arts: Dance: Ballet: Reference

http://www.homestead.com/gottfriedhelnwein/kresnik.html

http://www.helnwein-theater.com/index.html

http://www.helnwein-museum.com/index.html