About
Fernando Suels Mendoza

Fernando Suels Mendoza was born in Venezuela in 1968. In 1987, he began his dance studies in Caracas with José Ledezma, completing his training at the Instituto Superior de Danza and the Danzahoy dance school. During this period, he participated as a dancer in productions directed by choreographers José Ledezma, Luis Viana, and Luz Urdaneta.

From 1991 to 1995, he studied dance and earned his degree as a professional dancer at the Folkwang Universität der Künste in Essen, Germany. During this time, he worked, among others, with the German choreographer and dancer Susanne Linke. After completing his studies, he was selected to participate in the “Postgraduate Program” under Professor Jean Cebron, also at the Folkwang University in Essen.

Fernando Suels Mendoza was a solo dancer with the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch from 1995 to 2018. He participated in the creation of 14 of Pina Bausch’s works and performed numerous roles in pieces from the repertoire. In 1998, Fernando Suels took part in the creation of a second version of Pina Bausch’s Bluebeard’s Castle, produced by the Aix-en-Provence International Festival of Lyric Art in co-production with the Théâtre du Châtelet, under the musical direction of Pierre Boulez.

For many years, he has shared his experience and knowledge with new generations of dancers during rehearsals or UTOPINA repertoire workshops. In 2016, Fernando Suels Mendoza was part of the rehearsal direction team for the transmission project of Pina Bausch’s Für die Kinder von gestern, heute und morgen at the Bavarian State Ballet.

In 2019, during the addition of Pina Bausch’s Iphigenie auf Tauris to the repertoire of the Semperoper Ballet in Dresden, he transmitted the roles of Pylades and Scythian to ballet members. In 2022, at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, he served as rehearsal director for Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring. He was also engaged for a revival of the piece, with the premiere scheduled for January 2026.

Additionally, last year, Fernando Suels Mendoza participated in rehearsals of The Rite of Spring with students from the School of Dance at Taipei National University of the Arts (Taiwan) as a member of the rehearsal direction team. The premiere took place in December 2024.

Alongside his activity as a dancer with Tanztheater Wuppertal, Fernando Suels taught modern/contemporary dance both in Europe and beyond. Notable institutions include Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch (Wuppertal, Germany), Conservatoire Supérieur Musique et Danse de Lyon (France), Tampa City Ballet (Florida, USA), Accademia Nazionale di Danza (Rome, Italy), Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (Antwerp, Belgium), Semperoper Ballet (Dresden, Germany), École Du Nord (Lille, France), Kibbutz Gaaton (Israel), National School of Dance (Athens, Greece), Universidad de Antioquia (Colombia), and Taller Nacional de Danza (San José, Costa Rica).

Since 2018, Fernando has pursued an independent career as an artist, choreographer, dancer, and dance teacher, while continuing to perform as a guest with Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. He choreographed and danced in the production Al Igual Que Tú with the flamenco company Eva Yerbabuena in Seville, Spain, and was recently a guest teacher and choreographer at Tampa City Ballet in the United States.

He also danced in the 2025–2026 production Don Giovanni / Requiem by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, staged by Kirill Serebrennikov, which premiered on April 27, 2025, at the Komische Oper Berlin, Germany.

He is currently involved in the ongoing project Antigone by Sophocles, directed and choreographed by Alan Lucien Øyen (Administrator of Winter Guests, Norway), commissioned by Fondazione Teatro di Roma, with a premiere scheduled for July 22, 2025, at Teatro Argentina in Rome, Italy.

In the field of film, he has participated in productions by Pedro Almodóvar, Wim Wenders, and Peter Lindbergh, among others. In 1998, Fernando danced in A Meeting Between Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto and Pina Bausch as part of the Pina Bausch Festival in Wuppertal.