Dorothea Rust

Dorothea Rust studied modern dance in Zurich and Bern between 1979 and1983 (rhythmic gymnastics and expressive dance based on the Laban technique, Graham technique, Cunningham and Limon technique, improvisation, classical ballet, eutony according to Gerda Alexander, voice training/singing lessons, etc.)

She then moved to New York, where she studied postmodern dance and performance between 1983 and 1991. The free improvisations across genres and the immediate process of composition and choreography developed through this transdisciplinary collaboration were formative. She also worked in New York with choreographer Deborah Gladstein, with whom she toured the world between 1984 and 1990. In the 1980s and 1990s, she performed with musicians and dancers such as Hildegard Kleeb, Malcolm Golstein, Margit Schenker, Jeremias Schwarzer, Charlotte Hug, Omri Ziegele and Eva Karczag. From 1994 to 1997, Dorothea Rust trained as a teacher of the Alexander Technique (ACAT) in Zurich and New York. Between 1999 and 2003, she studied Fine Arts and from 2004 to 2006 in MAS Culture/Gender Studies, both at Zurich University of the Arts.

Rust also works as a curator for, among others, The Longest Day, 16 Hours of Non-stop Outdoor Performances (2004–2008 co-curatorship with Peter Emch; since 2014 with Irene Müller) and GNOM new music Gruppe für Baden (2009–2015). In December 2019, she organized for the first time, together with Irene Müller, The Longest Night — The Longest Night[13], 16 hours of uninterrupted performances at the Kunstraum Walcheturm Zurich.

Since 2000, Dorothea Rust has exhibited at Performance Biennale DEFORMES in Chile, ZAZ Festival in Israel, Live Art Festival Bangalore in India, Performance Art Center in Toronto and Momentum 5 Platforma Performance -Art in Brussels. In 2016, she received the Swiss Performance Prize.