Choreographer, director, performer

Marguerite was born in County Longford, Republic of Ireland. After a childhood of traditional Irish dance, Marguerite began her ballet studies with Anica Dawson and Dorothy Stevens at the late age of 16.
She became a solo dancer and choreographer with the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 1990; before that she was a member of the English National Ballet under Peter Schaufuss. During this time she worked with and was coached by many world-renowned artists, including Natalia Makarova, Rudolf Nureyev, Sir Kenneth Mac Millan, and danced pieces from Maurice Béjart, William Forsythe, Bill T. Jones, Meg Stuart and Jirí Kylián.

Since becoming ballet director and choreographer of the Saarländisches Staatstheater, otherwise known as Donlon Dance Company, in 2001, the company has established themselves with success in Saarbrücken and have also been invited to festivals in such places as Berlin, Luxembourg, Brussels, USA, Ireland and South Korea and produced two dance films for ARTE.

In addition to her work in Saarbrücken, Marguerite Donlon has choreographed for many other companies around the world. She has created ballets for the Vienna State Ballet, Austria, Netherlands Dans Theater NDT II , Stuttgart Ballet, Germany, and the Komische Oper Berlin as well as two works for Hubbard Street Dance Company, Chicago, USA. The latter work was commissioned together with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pinchas Zukerman and the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, performed at the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles.

Donlon also directed two plays from Samuel Beckett, “Words and Music“ and “Act without words 1“, which was commissioned by the National Theatre of Luxembourg and performed at the Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen.

Donlon‘s installation and video work is an important part of her creative langauge. She has created several works such as the films “Lokus“ and “Kitchen Dance-Berlin“ , and installations including “Hitomi@Home“, “Bubbles over head“ and “Strange Encounters“. With her innovative style, her Irish humour and her use of different art forms, Marguerite Donlon has established herself and the company in the dance scene of Germany and abroad.

Arnd Wesemann of Ballettanz Magazine recently wrote of her:

Marguerite Donlon is director of the Ballett des Saarländischen Staatstheaters, situated on the periphery and therefore all the more centre of innovation, simply because nothing like it has come from the centres in years. The cheeky Irish choreographer is tearing down the barriers between dance and bringing the „man from the street“ back into the theatre. Her work is far from all artistic ideology and simply incapable of boring her audience. Bridging the gap between classic and comic, avant-garde and Grand Guignol is so much fun that the fans of this former Peter Schaufuss and Deutsche Oper Berlin dancer accuse her of making her pieces too short. This is no ballet mouse turned choreographer but healthy common sense gone over into a humour attack in a profession that is usually not very detached from its own craft. That she’s no lone fighter in Saarbrücken but invites the most interesting choreographers to a double evening therefore feels more like a match and not a gala for the rejuvenation of ballet