He was born on 10 March 1976 in Antwerp, Belgium, of a Flemish mother and a Moroccan father. After being talent-spotted, he participated as a dancer in variety of shows and television programs. At the age of 19 he won his first prize for his solo performance that included a mixture of vogueing, African dance and hip-hop motifs, at the national dance competition initiated by Alain Platel. Later on he started studies at P.A.R.T.S., the danceschool run by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. Here he got to know techniques of such choreographers as William Forsythe, Pina Bausch and Trisha Brown. During these studies, Cherkaoui also worked together with hip-hop and modern jazz dance companies.
Career
Cherkaoui debuted as a choreographer in 1999 with Andrew Wale in the contemporary musical Anonymous Society. But he gained a broader acknowledgment with his work at les ballets C de la B with such pieces as Rien de Rien, Foi and Tempus Fugit. Whilst working there he undertook several other projects, including D’avant with artistic partner Damien Jalet and zero degrees with Akram Khan. He has also collaborated with abundance of theatres, opera houses and ballet companies, like Geneva Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet in New York. From 2004–2009 Cherkaoui was the associate artist at the Toneelhuis theater in Antwerp. There he produced such works as Myth and Origine. In 2009, he won the KAIROS Prize. After premiering Sutra in 2008, working around the world and collaborating with various artists, he founded his own in own company in January 2010 called Eastman in Antwerp, resident at deSingel International Arts Campus. He went on continuing his work and in the spring of 2010 Cherkaoui won his first Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production for Babel together with choreographer Damien Jalet and Antony Gormley. In 2012 he gained his second Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production for Puz/zle. In 2015, he directed his first full-length theatre production Pluto in Tokyo and was movement director for Hamlet at the Barbican Centre in London. In 2015 he also launched a new production called Fractus V for his company Eastman. Since 2015, Cherkaoui is the artistic director at the Royal Ballet of Flanders, where they have seen such works of his as Fall, Exhibition and Requiem. Cherkaoui is an associate artist at Sadler's Wells, London.
Original works
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui's work can be divided chronologically in five periods: Debute, Les Ballets C. de la B., Toneelhuis, Eastman and Royal Ballet Flanders/Eastman.
In 2014 Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet were the first to win the UnitedHumans Award for Mutual Respect. This award is granted to individuals, associations or organizations that applies mutual respect, sincere friendship and equality in dignity to life in a sustainable or a leading and remarkable way or having en effective impact on society.
