Dance has meant so many different things to me. It simply is my path in life – transformative, therapeutic, liberating, peaceful, exhausting, disruptive, confrontational. Most times it’s pure bliss, sometimes truly dreadful, but always the tool to get a better understanding of what I carry within.
Yan Leiva received his dance training at the State Ballet School in Berlin and the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts, also in Berlin. He was a dancer with Base Berlin and with the Leipzig Ballet. Most recently, he was a member of the ensemble at Opéra de Lyon, where he worked closely with Ioannis Mandafounis on the piece “Komm und birg dein Antlitz” in 2020. In addition, he has performed in numerous choreographies by Pina Bausch, William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, Russell Maliphant, Ivan Perez and Mario Schröder, among others.