Dominique Mercy

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Dominique Mercy is a French dancer and choreographer born in 1950 in Mauzac, France. He began dancing at six and trained in classical ballet. He danced with the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux (1965) and joined Ballet Théâtre Contemporain (1968). At a 1972 festival, he met Pina Bausch, who invited him to join Tanztheater Wuppertal in Germany in 1973. He left the company briefly in 1975 and 1978 to start Le Main in Paris with Malou Airaudo and others, and he also worked with Carolyn Carlson. He eventually returned to Tanztheater Wuppertal and remained a member until 2018, performing many lead roles and solos in Bausch’s works, including Orfeo ed Euridice and Iphigénie en Tauride.

After Pina Bausch’s death in 2009, Mercy and Bausch’s assistant Robert Sturm were elected unanimously by the company to lead, serving as co-artistic directors from 2009 to 2013. Mercy also taught at Folkwang University of the Arts from 1988 to 2009. He has a daughter, Thusnelda Mercy (born 1977), who is also a dancer with Tanztheater Wuppertal.