Choreographer Ihsan Rustem was born in London, where he trained at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance.

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Ihsan is the Resident Choreographer for the NW Dance Project in Portland, Oregon USA, where he has created ten works for the company.

In 2020 he co-founded the Swiss based dance company Cie. La Ronde, together with fellow choreographer Cathy Marston. The first production ‘8’ will have its premiere in April 2020, followed by a Swiss wide tour within the Steps Festival.

Further collaborations include the Nederlands Dans Theater 2, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, National Ballet of Chile, Ballet Moscow, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago 2, Istanbul State Ballet MDT, Tanz Luzerner Theater, Konzert Theater Bern, Whim W’Him Seattle, Ballett Augsburg, Thuringer Staatsballett, Theater St Gallen, Staatstheater Braunschweig Tanztheater, Kazan State Opera and Ballet, Koblenz Ballet, Ballet Regensburg, Repertory Dance Theater Utah, Würzburg Ballet, Siberian State Ballet,  Salt Contemporary Dance USA, Moving Arts Cincinnati, Ballare Carmel, Arts Umbrella Dance Company Vancouver, National Youth Dance Company, Palucca Hochschule Dresden, The Rambert School, Codarts and ZHdK. He was a featured choreographer for Russia’s popular TV show ‘The Bolshoi Ballet’.

Nederlands Dans Theater named Ihsan as one of their Up & Coming Choreographers for the 2018/19 season.

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His work for the NW Dance Project has been recognised with numerous accolades. State of Matter won the 2012 Sadler’s Wells Global Dance Contest as well as the Public Prize at the 25th International Competition for Choreographers Hannover, and Carmen received Dance Magazine’s 2017 Readers’ Choice Award for Best Collaboration. Rustem was also the 2014 recipient of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s International Commissioning Project.

In 2021 he joined the Jury of the prestigious Prix de Lausanne.

From 2000-2014 Ihsan Rustem was a dancer with the Ballet Theater Munich, Introdans, State Theater Bern Ballet, Tanz Luzerner Theater and Adventures in Motion Pictures. He originated roles in creations by Wayne McGregor, Hofesh Shechter, Alexander Ekman, Matthew Bourne, Stijn Celis, Patrick Delcroix, Cayetano Soto, Felix Landerer, Cathy Marston and worked with choreographers Mats Ek, Jiri Kylián, Paul Lightfoot / Sol Leon, Hans van Manen and William Forsythe, amongst others.

He is the former Artistic Director of the Dance Art Studio Ballettschule Luzern.

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Ihsan lives in Zurich, Switzerland.