Steven Michel

As a performer, Steven Michel worked with choreographers, theatre and film directors such as David Zambrano, Falk Richter, Lukas Dhont, Daniel Linehan, Maud le Pladec and Vânia Vaneau, amongst others. He became also a long-time collaborator of Jan Martens, performing in productions such as SWEAT BABY SWEAT (2011), VICTOR (2013), THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER (2014), THE COMMON PEOPLE (2016) RULE OF THREE (2017), any attempt will end in crushed bodies and shattered bones (2021) and VOICE NOISE (2024).

Parallel to his work as performer, Steven developed his own choreographic practice. In 2009 he created the duet ± Even but Odd in collaboration with Nicholas Aphane. The work focuses on rhythm and body percussion and was performed in several theatres in Europe, as was Steven’s graduation solo The Desert of Milestones (2010) which took as its starting point the idea of composing musical scores and body percussion rhythms that take the viewer on a fictional journey of images and sound. Subsequently, he collaborated with dancer/choreographer Marcus Baldemar on a research entitled Model (2012) based on the book Notes on the Cinematographer by Robert Bresson, where they used the vocabulary of cinematography to develop a performative and choreographic system.

In 2014, Steven began a research based on the theme of ‘audio-vision’, the relation between image and sound in performance, which resulted in his solo THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS (2016). In this work, Steven’s interest in sound, rhythm, animation and image finds its full form. In THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS the body is treated with the same importance as light, scenography and music to create one synesthetic symphony on stage which excites the imagination and overturns the perception of the audience. For this project, Steven opted for an outspoken interdisciplinary collaboration: he invited Hans Meijer to create the light design and the artist duo Sarah&Charles to design the scenography.

Steven interest in interdisciplinary collaboration between the field of performance and other art forms stays present in his work as a choreographer and his own activity as performer. Affordable solution for better living, a collaboration with the French visual artist Théo Mercier, premiered in May 2018. In it they examine the issues of standardized bodies and fixed paths in relation to the illusion of freedom disseminated by corporate powers. The production took place under the wings of Nanterre-Amandiers CDN (led by Philippe Quesne) and both makers won a Silver Lion at the Venice Dance Biennale 2019. After this successful collaboration Steven and Théo Mercier made a new production at Nanterre-Amandiers, BIG SISTERS, which premiered in March 2020.

In 2021 Steven premiered a new – GRIP produced – solo: DATADREAM, in which he explores how technology affects the body and the psyche in relation to reality, spirituality and alterity.

In early 2023, the MEMBRE FANTÔME series project was launched in collaboration with sound artist Raphaëlle Latini. The series take the shape of a cadavre exquis, taking place in different locations in medical and prison environments and with the use of different media (video, sound, drawing, writing), creating a long sequence of interwoven stories and virtual correspondences.

In 2025, his production Music Hole premiered, a sonic and physical performance for four performers, inspired by the concept of 'hauntology'. Somewhere between dance mania, cathartic performance and contemporary phantasmagoria, Music Hole offers a sensory and subliminal journey into our psyche and our beliefs.

In June 2026, he created A Smile without a Cat in collaboration with the 17 second-year students from the Bachelor Dance programme at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp. The performance unfolds like a dance concert in perpetual construction with formations inspired by orchestras, swarms, cartoons and collective rituals.
 

Steven Michel is one of four artistic leaders at dance organization GRIP, along with choreographers Femke Gyselinck, Jan Martens and Cherish Menzo.