Liz King and the history of D.ID

Tanztheater Wien was founded by Liz King and Manfred Biskup in 1982 on the principle of collective input from its members and made a central contribution to initiate a new artistic movement in Vienna.

The work soon received invitations to major festivals and theaters across Europe including the Centre Pompidou, Deutsche Oper, Ars Electronica or Falco's iconic Rock me Amadeus world tour in 1986.

In the following two decades Liz King created over 30 pieces, with hits like Schwanensee Remixed, Hyde & Jekyll, West West, Heart's Reason and Concrete Runners.

When the group dispersed in the early 2000's their work was noticed widely, attracting more than 50.000 visitors for a single production and making it Austria's most seen dance company so far.

In 2005 Liz King moved from the buzzing life of leading a large company in one of Europe's big opera houses to a small village in Burgenland. Her vision was to establish a place for new choreographic culture off the beaten tracks of the existing urban models.

What started as a small community based project in the middle of nowhere on the dance map has since become a hub for artists from around the World who appreciate a state of the art production environment in a rural, relaxed and non-competitive setting.

Dance Identity has hosted more than 250 artists in residence, developed over 30 community projects made 40 productions and has been involved in 8 transnational projects with partners from 44 countries.

Dance Identity's annual international festival, the Burgenländische Tanztage has established itself as one of the regions main cultural and touristic events, attracting both local audiences and international programmers and performers. The festival is the Austrian presenting partner of Aerowaves, Europe's largest hub for emerging dance.