Michael Zandl grew up in a small village in the Austrian Alps. His introduction to acrobatics and movement were made through exploring a variety of outdoor sports.
After completing his degree in Agricultural Sciences in Vienna Michael gathered the courage to take a leap of faith and auditioned at Codarts Circus Arts in Rotterdam. During his studies Michael focused on the disciplines hat- manipulation and Cyr wheel. His graduation act
was awarded several prizes, such as the Marc Jonkers Prijs. Right after school, he had the honor to work in many big companies such as Scapino Ballet Rotterdam.
In 2017 he started to put his long-standing ambition of creating a full-length solo performance into action. Armed with a car and some fundings, he invested it all in creating the piece ‘Janus’, which was touring several years throughout Europe.
Since 2021 Michael is working as a house choreographer at Korzo Theatre in Den Haag. His first creation of this collaboration, ‘Sawdust Symphony’, was created collectively with Kolja Huneck and David Eisele and premiered in September 2021. Since then, ‘Sawdust Symphony’ has played over 60 times throughout Europe and is still touring. Michael is interested in exceeding common circus references, he likes to work with ‘real’ objects which are not commonly associated with circus. Technical intricacies and special effects are at the rendezvous of his shows. Using objects as points of departure, he works by creating specific scenes and contexts to develop a language through these objects.
The complexities of the professional field pushed the maker to be very resourceful. Building the scenography and props by himself is a full-fledged part of the creation process. Understanding the technical needs and specifics of the work is intertwined with the creative development of the pieces.
Michael likes to work with the absurd in combination with abstraction. He has a passion for absurd situations and subtle humor. He finds these tools a powerful source of expression.
Next to his stage creations he is working on a series of interactive art installations called ‘Pieces of a Mind’ where he stages different personal experiences and invites the audience to directly interact with the objects.