Bio

Sebastian Abarbanell (he/they) is a dance artist from Berlin, Germany working as a dancer, performer, choreographer and teacher.
Born in Frankfurt (Main) in 1994 and raised in Berlin, they moved to London in 2012 to train at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance where they received a first class Bachelor of Arts in 2015 as well as the Sylvia Bodmer Memorial Fund for outstanding achievements in Choreological Studies.

Shortly after graduating, Sebastian relocated to New York City where they lived until 2019.
During their time in New York City, they worked with a variety of artists and companies including Andrea Miller’s Gallim Dance and Sidra Bell Dance New York, where they were a company artist between 2016 and 2019. With SBDNY Sebastian toured internationally and across the U.S. as a performer and choreographic assistant to artistic director and choreographer Sidra Bell.

As a solo artist, Sebastian has presented their work at international venues and festivals including Solo-Tanz-Theater Festival Stuttgart (DE), FIDCDMX in Mexico City (MEX), Spring Forward Festival in Dublin (IRE) MASDANZA on the Canary Islands (ESP), Gdansk Dance Festival in Poland (POL), Tanztheater Festival Erfurt (DE), Istanbul Fringe Festival (TR) and various venues in and around New York City (USA).
In 2018, he was awarded the 1st Prize and Audience Prize at contact.energy Tanztheater Festival Erfurt for his solo work parasites and his solo Tian received the award for Best Solo by an Emerging Choreographer at SoloDuo Festival in Cologne. At the 24th International Solo-Tanz-Theater Festival Stuttgart Sebastian was the recipient of the Residence Award at Theater Pforzheim with his solo work Home (what we lost).

In 2021 Sebastian celebrated the world premieres of two works. Their commission for Theater Pforzheim How it molds into the shape of their skin premiered online from 24 July until 15 August.
HOME is Sebastian’s first evening length solo production which premiered from 12-14 August at Uferstudios Berlin with three sold out shows. The production was co-produced by Apricot Productions and supported by Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
After its international premiere at FIDCDMX in Mexico City, HOME was presented once more at Uferstudios Berlin in March 2023, this time also performed by Alvin Collantes and has since toured to Milan (IT) and Dublin (IRE).
With HOME Sebastian is one of the Twenty23 artists of Aerowaves, a hub for dance discovery in Europe.

Sebastian has collaborated with multidisciplinary artist César Brodermann in various capacities. Most notably, they co-created two duet works, EXIT and As we get weaker together, in 2018 with performances at New Blue Dance Festival in Toronto, Canada and INSITU Site-Specific Dance Festival in Queens, New York.

Under the artistic direction of Raven Taisce White, Sebastian is a founding member of activist movement company BIRDHOUSE. As a lead artist within the company, they have been involved in numerous productions including their evening length creation of It fell between chairs. for which they directed the third of three parts.

Sebastian has taught for professional companies such as Sasha Waltz & Guests, Theater Pforzheim, Marigny Opera Ballet, MICHIYAYA Dance, BIRDHOUSE, and Sidra Bell Dance New York, and lead workshops and masterclasses at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, New Jersey Dance Theater Ensemble, Black Studio in Mexico City, and Underground Dance Centre in Toronto.
Sebastian has assisted Sidra Bell during various teaching and choreographic commission at institutions such as SUNY Purchase, LINES Dance Center, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Ball State University, and University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where they taught for 2 semesters.
Sebastian was on the faculty of the 2022 NYU Tisch Summer Dance Residency in Berlin under the direction of Pamela Pietro and they staged Sasha Waltz & Guests’ In C at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London.
Their class format VIBRANT BODY which they share with Soroa Lear is offered twice a week at Tanzfabrik Berlin.

In 2016 and 2017, Sebastian attended Springboard Danse Montreal under the artistic direction of Alexandra Wells. During the program, they had the opportunity to perform works by Ohad Naharin, LA TRESSE Collective, Fernando Melo, and Shumpei Nemoto.
At b12 Festival 2021 in Berlin Sebastian performed a new work by Marcos Morau, artistic director of La Veronal.

Sebastian has been involved in many projects as a freelance artist including photo and video shoots for Michael Kors, Interview Magazine, NYTimes Style Magazine, ABOUT YOU and OUT Magazine. They appear in music videos for OneRepublic, Merlot, Natti Vogel, Landon Elliott and Dustin Carlson, performed with Ariana & the Rose in her immersive show Light + Space and were featured in Jovan Todorovic’s short film You’re dead, America. During Paris Fashion Week 2019, Sebastian performed at the presentation of fashion brand Baserange and at the Berlin Fashion Week in the About You Fashion Show directed by Jay Revell.

Since November 2019, Sebastian is member of Berlin based company KDV Dance Ensemble under the direction of Kianí Del Valle and as of September 2021 they perform and work with Sasha Waltz & Guests touring internationally to venues incl. Brooklyn Academy of Music in NYC (USA), Kampnagel Hamburg (DE) and Romaeuropa Festival (IT).