Keso Dekker

Designer, author and historian Keso Dekker has created numerous works in the fields of art, fashion, design and dance. He designed sets and costumes for over six hundred theatre productions by dance and ballet companies worldwide. In the Netherlands, he worked with companies such as Dutch National Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, Scapino Ballet Rotterdam and Introdans.

Dekker’s close relationship with Hans van Manen, with whom he has been collaborating regularly since 1978, plays a central role in his career. In addition, Dekker has been creating set and costume designs for choreographer Alexei Ratmansky since 2012 – when he took on the stage design for all ballets in Dutch National Ballet’s Present/s programme and collaborated with Ratmansky for the first time.

Dekker received several awards for his works. He was awarded the Oeuvre Prize from the Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture in 2002 and the Prize from the Dutch Dance Days – for his great contribution to dance art in the Netherlands – one year later. In 2014, he won the European Taglioni Ballet Award in the category ‘Best European Ballet Desiginer’ for his designs for Massines Choreartium by the Bayerisches Staatsballett. He was named ‘God of Lycra’ by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Last update: 26-03-2024