Thomas Lehmen, born in Oberhausen, is a freelance choreographer, dancer and teacher. From 1986 to 1990, he studied at the School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam, where he learned from Pauline de Groot, Steve Paxton, Ishmael Houston Jones, Mark Tompkins, Z'ev and others.
From 1990 to July 2010, he lived in Berlin. Here he developed numerous solos, group pieces and projects, including ‘distanzlos’, ‘mono subjects’, ‘Schreibstück’, “Funktionen”, ‘It's better to...’ and ‘Lehmen lernt’, which are performed worldwide. He teaches workshops in various formats at universities and independent studios at national and international level.
In addition to visiting professorships in Giessen, Hamburg and Berlin, he held a professorship at Arizona State University in 2010 and 2011, subsequently producing further works, including ‘Schrottplatz’ (Scrap Yard) and ‘Bitte...’ (Please...). From 2013 to 2017, he toured three continents on his motorbike with the project ‘A Piece for You’. Since 2017, he has been working in Oberhausen again and, since 2019, has been director of the Kunsthaus Mitte in Oberhausen and Tanz-Arbeit Oberhausen.
The publications ‘Schreibstück’ (book and score for three groups in canon form) and ‘Funktionen-Toolbox’ (communicative choreographies aimed at emergent results) attracted sustained international attention and spawned numerous variations.
His recurring interests include the development of artistic formats and structures, communications and people who reflect on their environment and shape it through creative relationships. His approaches feature conceptual methods and forms of representation that incorporate linguistic elements. Stylistically, intellectual depth and insistent consistency are often paired with accessibility and humour. In the physical dance component, he works with individual articulations, relationships between dancers and dance dialogues, among other things. The dance technique work takes into account European, North American and Asian principles. To this end, he studied classical ballet, contact improvisation, expressive dance, post-modern styles, kung fu, iaido, sport and craftsmanship.
