Muhammed Kaltuk

Muhammed Kaltuk is a choreographer and dancer and is regarded as one of the most distinctive voices on the contemporary dance scene. Having grown up in the Basel area in a conservative Turkish family, he found his own artistic expression at an early age through hip-hop and street dance. He made a name for himself in the Swiss hip-hop scene at a young age. At the age of 22, he gained his first experience in theatre and recognised in it the opportunity to develop his own artistic language and to engage with social issues.

At the age of 25, Kaltuk completed his training at the Higher Vocational School for Contemporary and Urban Stage Dance (HF ZUB) in Zurich. It was there that he developed his unmistakable style: a fusion of hip-hop, street styles, contemporary dance and traditional forms of movement. At the heart of his work lies the development of movement material drawn from the individual expression of the dancers with whom he works.

His pieces are characterised by emotional intensity, powerful visual language and an exploration of social, political and personal issues. By combining various street styles with contemporary dance, Kaltuk reaches a cross-generational audience – particularly people who often feel under-represented in traditional theatre contexts.

In 2017, he founded the Company MEK, which he continues to lead artistically to this day. His productions have been staged at venues including the Kaserne Basel, the Dampfzentrale Bern, the Tanzhaus Zürich, the Düsseldorf Festival, the Lucerne Theatre, the St Gallen Theatre, Gauthier Dance and the Ballett Theater Basel. Guest performances and festival appearances have taken him to London, Milan, Istanbul and the Czech Republic. He also collaborates with local communities in Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania and Egypt.

Muhammed Kaltuk has received numerous awards for his work, including the Prize for Best Choreography at the International Solo Dance Theatre Festival in Stuttgart in 2020 for the solo piece ‘FivE’. In 2026, he was awarded the Choreography/Dance Prize by the Canton of Basel-Landschaft.

From the 2026/27 season onwards, Muhammed Kaltuk will take on, in addition to leading the MEK Company, the role of Artistic Director and Chief Choreographer of the dance department at the Musiktheater im Revier (MiR) in Gelsenkirchen, under the name TanzGelsenkirchen.