Bernhard Knauer
Born in Germany, Bernhard attended the Palucca School in Dresden before completing his dance training at The Royal Conservatory in The Hague. While there, he danced in works such as Indigo Rose by Jiri Kylian, Hammer by Jorma Elo, and other works by choreographers Nils Christe, Armando Navarro and Keith-Derrick Randolph. In 2005 Bernhard was invited to join the ballet of Theater Görlitz in Germany under the direction of Franz Huyer. He then performed in Innsbruck, Austria with the State Theatre of Tyrol dancing numerous soloist roles including Siegfried in Birgit Scherzer’s Swan Lake and the title role in Brel- le Grande Jacques. Bernhard joined the Dutch National Ballet for the 2008 season of Toer van Schayk and Wayne Eagling’s Nutcracker and Mouse King. He performed in Yuri Zhukov’s Pioneer Plaques 2009 and Hlín Diego Hjálmarsdóttir’s Caught In The Square as part of Zhukov Dance Theatre’s 2009 season in San Francisco.
Bernhard performed with Sydney Dance Company from 2010 until 2018, works included Rafael Bonachela’s 6 Breaths (2010-2011); we unfold (2010-2011); LANDforms (2011); The Land of Yes & The Land of No (2011); 2 One Another (2012-2015); Project Rameau (2012-2013); Emergence(2013 and 2015), Les Illuminations (2013-2015); 2 in D Minor (2014), Scattered Rhymes(2014), Frame of Mind (2015) and Triptych (2015). Frame of Mind won the 2015 Helpmann Award for ‘Best Choreography in a Dance Work’ and ‘Best Dance Work’.
He also performed in Emanuel Gat’s Satisfying Musical Moments (2010); Jacopo Godani’s Raw Models (2011 and 2014); Lisa Wilson’s Desire, Contemporary Women (2012); Larissa McGowan’s Fanatic as part of Contemporary Women in the Spring Dance Festival (2012) andDe Novo (2013 and 2015); Alexander Ekman‘s Cacti (2013 and 2015); Stephanie Lake‘s Elektra (2014); Gideon Obarzanek‘s L’Chaim! (2014); Andonis Foniadakis‘ Parenthesis (2014); Lee Serle‘s White Elephant (New Breed, 2014); Charmene Yap’s Do we (New Breed, 2014), Gabrielle Nankivell‘s Wildebeest (New Breed, 2014) and William Forsythe’s Quintett (2015).
Bernhard was a part of the 2013 collaboration with Kaldor Public Art Projects for the contemporary art exhibition 13 Rooms where Sydney Dance Company featured in Allora and Calzadilla’s Revolving Door.
He also toured North America, South America and Russia with the acclaimed 2 One Another, winner of the ‘Best Ensemble’ Award in the 2012 Green Room Awards and the 2013 Australian Dance Award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Choreography’ and ‘Outstanding Performance by a Company’.
Bernhard created a new work, Derived, for Sydney Dance Company’s New Breed 2015 season at Carriageworks.