Reut Shemesh, born and raised in Israel, works in contemporary dance, experimental film, and photography. Her work often explores the theme of uniforms across various social groups. She holds a B.A. from the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Arnhem (NL) and a postgraduate degree from the Academy of Media Arts (KHM) in Cologne (DE).
Her creations have been showcased at Kampnagel Hamburg, HELLERAU Dresden, Art Cologne, Tanzhaus Zürich, Suzanne Dellal Center Tel Aviv, the Jewish Museum in Berlin, Theatre Lab NYC, STUK Theater Leuven, and Korzo Theater in The Hague. Her works have been presented at international festivals and have received numerous awards. In 2016, she won the Cologne Dance and Theater Prize for her work LEVIAH and was named “Hoffnungsträgerin 2019” by tanz magazine.
In April 2019, she created ATARA during a residency at K3|Tanzplan Hamburg, which was later invited to Tanzplattform Deutschland 2020. From 2020 to 2022, Shemesh was a “Factory Artist” at tanzhaus nrw Düsseldorf. In October 2021, HELLERAU Dresden presented a collection of her pieces and video work under the title “Portrait: the Choreographer Reut Shemesh.”
Her research project WITNESS opened the Impulse Theater Festival 2019. She has also created commissioned works for Theater Oberhausen (“Bad Mothers”, 2022). Currently, she is touring various European cities with ULTRA, a co-creation with the Belgian production house fABULEUS, exploring masculinity in youth. In May 2024, she premiered the production ESTHER a piece about Youth & Uniforms as part of the explore dance – Netzwerk Tanz für junges Publikum at Fabrik Potsdam. Her commissioned work ANACONDA for the dance ensemble at the theater in Giessen will premiere in April 2025.
Shemesh has been working as a guest teacher at various academic institutions, including the Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences (HSD), the ZZT, and the University of Cologne. She is a recipient of top funding from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for 2024-2026 and received four-year project funding from the city of Cologne for 2021-2024. Reut Shemesh lives in Cologne.
As a woman, artist, mother, and migrant, Shemesh often infuses her personal experiences into her work.
Hoffnungsträgerin des Jahres 2019/ promising artist, tanz magazin 2019
‘The eternal dichotomy of the modern man is captured in this all-important image. Inside, everyone is divided, but precisely that connects us ULTRA hard.’
– Jasmien van de Beek, VETO Magazine, 17.11.2023 (ULTRA)
‘(…) Gola 4th Movement (is) an energetically charged game, full of beauty and exercion.‘
– Isabel Manka Fuest, Rheinische Post, 8.11.2022 (GOLA 4th Movement)
‘Exciting and worth seeing, the choreographer Reut Shemesh (…) succeeds in expressing the unspeakable and the taboo in this hour-long evening almost without words: in repetitive rhythms, gestures of power and powerlessness, with large, beautiful images.‘
Dorothea Marcus, WDR Scala, 21.3.2022 (Bad Mothers)
‘It’s as if this brilliant performance suddenly conjures a deeply sad core of the carnival that upends our traditional knowledge.‘
Martin Krumbholz, Süddeutsche Zeitung, June 2019 (COBRA BLONDE)
‘Shemesh is not only a choreographer but is also well versed in experimental film and even poetry – which was clearly reflected in the language of the performance‘
Christian Oscar Gazsi Laki, Westdeutsche Zeitung, May 2019
Photography © Almut Elhardt