About

Aru Ray Tormann is a Berlin-based artist working across choreography, dramaturgy, and curation. With a background in political philosophy and contemporary dance, their practice moves along the fringes of artistic and theoretical research, questioning the paradigms that define each sphere of knowledge. Aru considers art-making a form of knowledge production and is particularly interested in how this knowledge can manifest in the body, in community, and in the ways we relate to time and space. Against this backdrop, Aru’s work unfolds not only in studios or on stages but also in, or in proximity to, public and non-theatrical spaces – generating conversations between bodies, landscapes, histories, and the politics of space and community.

Aru’s research-focused work has been supported by numerous residencies (Uferstudios Berlin, HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts, among others) and research grants (including support from the Berlin Senate, Fonds Darstellende Künste, and Dachverband Tanz). In both their artistic and organizational practice, Aru prioritizes care and works toward sustainable structures and methods in the performing arts.

Aru is a co-founder of two collectives. Celestial Bodies is a traveling platform for artistic exchange and research across performing arts practices that was founded in 2018. Within its framework, Aru regularly co-curates near-annual international research laboratories and has conceptualized and edited publications emerging from the collective process. More recently, in 2023, Aru co-founded LIK, a collective for dramaturgy, curation, and coordination that focuses on flexible, care-centered, and needs-oriented process design across all levels of artistic production. Currently, LIK is committed to researching non-binary dramaturgies and building a platform for non-binary artists.

As a facilitator, Aru moves between their artistic worlds and constellations, devising dance workshops and masterclasses (Dansverkstæðið Reykjavík, Escuela Superior de Música y Danza de Monterrey, among others) that bring together improvisation techniques, movement research, and instant composition, as well as research labs on dance dramaturgy (Dansverkstæðið Reykjavík, ESPACIO EXPECTANTE Monterrey, UNE Oaxaca). Together with their collectives, they teach workshops and seminars at the MA level (Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, Iceland University of the Arts, Akademie für Darstellende Kunst Baden-Württemberg).

Within various contexts, Aru moderates events (Performing Arts Market, 2025), speaks on panels (International Theatre Institute, 2024), and gives keynote speeches (Conflict & Care, 2023).

Aru holds a Master’s degree in Performing Arts from the Iceland University of the Arts (2019), and a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences from University College Maastricht (The Netherlands) and Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico), obtained in 2016.