Biography
Alexandra Bachzetsis (°1974) is a performance artist and choreographer based in Zürich. She was trained at a variety of institutions which brought her in contact with different aspects of artistic practice: the Züricher Kunstgymnasium, the Dimitrischule in Verscio, the Performance Education Program at the STUK arts center in Leuven (Belgium), and DasArts, the Advanced Research in Theatre and Dance Studies centre in Amsterdam. During her training years, she also started to work as a dancer in contemporary dance/performance contexts, collaborating, among others, with Sacha Waltz in Berlin and with Les Ballets C de la B in Ghent, where she worked with Christine De Smedt and Koen Augustijnen. As a choreographer and (sometimes solo) dancer/performer, she has authored and co-authored 'Perfect' (Antwerp, 2001), 'Showing' (Berlin, 2002), 'Karen Eliot' (in collaboration with Eva Meyer-Keller and Uta Eisenreich, Zürich, 2003), 'Show Dance' (Brussels, 2004), ‘Best Of’(in collaboration with Anat Stainberg, Amsterdam 2004), 'Murder Mysteries' (in collaboration with Danai Anesiadou, Amsterdam, 2004) 'Gold' (Zürich, 2004), 'Secret Instructions' (in collaboration with Julia Born, Amsterdam, 2004), 'Handwerk' (Amsterdam 2005), 'Undressed' (Zürich 2005), 'Musical' (Gent 2006), 'Mainstream' (in collaboration with Yan Duyvendak, Zürich 2007) and 'ACT' (in collaboration with Lies Vanborm and Tina Bleuler, Dresden 2007). Her main interests pertain to the representation of femininity and the mass-cultural infatuation with the female body on the one hand, and issues of a rather more analytical (i.e. self-reflective) nature on the other; these concern the many methodologies of choreographing and performative behavior, as well as questions of codification and 'translation' – of one language (e.g. that of film, television, videoclips) into another. In 2007, she was awarded the Migros Kulturprozent Jubilee Award. In that same year she also co-founded ‘Company’ together with Lies Vanborm and Tina Bleuler.