Vaclav Kunes
choreographer, dancer, artistic director of 420PEOPLE Dance company
In 1993 he graduated from the Dance conservatory in Prague, Czech Republic.
For 11 years, he was a member of the Nederlands Dans Theater where he worked with Jiří Kylián, Ohad Naharin, William Forsythe, Paul Lightfoot, Mats Ek, Nacho Duato, Johan Inger, Andre Gingras or Hans van Manen to name a few. In 2004 he became a freelance artist, danced many years with Saburo Teshigawara and for one of his works, Scream and Whispers he was nominated for Dancer of the Year 2005 award in Cannes. He was guesting at various gala events with Roberto Bolle, Sylvie Guillem and others.
He worked as an assistant to J. Kylián with many companies around the world.
As a choreographer he worked for theatres in France, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, USA, Czech Republic and Japan.
In 2015 he was invited to perform in the creation of Solaris by Saburo Teshigawara, contemporary opera produced by Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris.
Since 2007 he is the artistic director at 420PEOPLE, group he co-founded with Nataša Novotná. Artistic mission was always focused on creativity and collaborations.
420PEOPLE invited many choreographers and dancers from around the world: Crystal Pite, Ohad Naharin, Saburo Teshigawara, Jiří Kylián, Talia Paz, Michael Schumacher, Jo Strömgren, Ann Van der Broek. In 2017 they collaborated with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and his Eastman group on a new work called Nomad.
420PEOPLE also coproduced two dance films with Jo Strømgren Kompani: Closed which was premiered at the Berlinale Festival in 2017 and The Accident in 2021.
In recent years he has created several works in Japan in collaboration with Yamamoto Ballet Company and with OPTO File group of ex-dancers from Nederlands Dans Theater, currently based in Japan. In 2016 it was La Mantovana, then REEN was performed at the New National Theater in Tokyo. In 2017 he created a piece Echo with full orchestra playing Dvořák’s Symphony from The New World as an opening of a new theater in Ota. That same year he created work Recall which was then touring Japan in 2018.
In 2018, 420PEOPLE has moved into their new home-venue in Prague, the La Fabrika Theater. Vaclav’s first work there, The Watcher, with live music by award winning rock band Please the Trees, is still on the repertory there until today and it has been performed at the GONG hall during the Colours of Ostrava music festival for an audience of 1500 people. La Fabrika then coproduced a “pièce d’occasion”, dance cabaret evening also with live music, dancers, actors, singers and a puppet called One and Done.
In 2018 and 2021 Vaclav was a jury member of the Czech national TV series StarDance, one of the most watched TV programs in the country.
In March 2019 he created choreography for a new Czech musical ‘Mandrake flower’ and later that year he was the Associate choreographer to Cherkaoui on the creation of the opera Alceste at the Bayerische Staatsoper in München. In 2020 Vaclav created two dance films: ORĪGĪ (as a part of the EU project CLASH!) and The Flammable Machines – the Audition with renowned Czech film director Jaroslav Brabec.
Most current works are: stage play Beauty and the Beast (dir. Daniela Špinar) with the drama dept. of the National Theater in Prague with dancers and acrobats and two full evening dance works: EVOLUTION for Bühnen Halle Ballett and EVER with 420PEOPLE. All on display in the 2023-2024 season.
In 2022 Vaclav started new concept called 42+people focused on creating dance works for dancers above the age of 42 years. The first work, duet WHERE, created and performed together with Helena Arenbergerova was highly successful and earned them both the Thalia Award nominations for best performance, Helena then receiving it in 2023.
420PEOPLE performed in venues in France, Spain, Sweden, Poland, Germany, South Korea, Russia, Slovakia, Serbia, Cyprus, Mexico, Italy, Finland, Holland, Norway, Japan and U.K.
Source and more information: https://www.vaclavkunes.org/
