Side Steps

Spotlight

Daphnis Kokkinos

When I ask Daphnis Kokkinos how he would like people to think of him, he answers proudly: “as part of a team, a collective body.” It is less a statement than a way of working. He joined Tanztheater Wuppertal as a dancer in 1993 and has remained there ever since, growing inside a structure built on trust and shared responsibility. From 2002, he worked closely with Pina Bausch as her assistant, later becoming rehearsal director, a role that places him between past and present, caring for the repertoire while welcoming new dancers into the company’s demanding emotional landscape.

Alongside performing, Kokkinos has consistently invested in education. In 2020, he returned to Athens to lead the National School of Dance, where he himself once trained. Over five years, he focused on opening the institution outward: refurbishing the historic building while exploring new premises, increasing performances in theaters and in public spaces, internationalising the admissions committee, launching the Young Choreographers program, and organising trips across Europe so students could form professional bonds early on.

With his term now completed, Kokkinos is once again fully committed to Tanztheater Wuppertal. He tours internationally with works including Sweet Mambo, presented at Sadler’s Wells this February and at the Wuppertal Opera House in June. He is also artistic director of a new revival of Kontakthof at the National Theatre of Greece, performed by an all-Greek ensemble aged 21 to 55. “What endures,” he says of this work, “is the presence of people and their everyday lives on stage, revealing their desires, their insecurities, their longing for intimacy and love.” For Kokkinos, that presence is never singular. It is family, collectivity, and the quiet labour of carrying the legacy of Bausch forward.

Nicolas Vamvouklis

Sweet Mambo in London, Sadler’s Wells, 11–21 February; www.sadlerswells.com