Born: 1991, Doetinchem (Netherlands)
Education: RijnIJssel, Arnhem and Codarts, Rotterdam
Experience: The Dutch Junior Dance Division; Korzo; Introdans (2015 and 2020/2021)
Awards: BNG Bank Prize 2016 – Excellent Talent

The Turkish-Dutch Rutkay Özpinar thought for a long time that he couldn’t do anything. Now he knows that he is a creative person with a knack for mathematics who speaks an exceptional number of languages. This enables him to connect and even merge different worlds.
Rutkay studied dance at RijnIJssel in Arnhem and Codarts University of the Arts in Rotterdam. He then danced with De Dutch Junior Dance Division, among others, where he discovered his talent for choreography. Since 2014 he has been making choreographies under the wings of the Korzo maker house in The Hague. That makes him one of the youngest choreographers in our country.
After a number of short creations, including the prize-winning Grip (BNG Bank Prize 2016 and a nomination for the first edition of the Haagse Piket Kunstprijs), about the inner struggle with oneself and the expectations of the outside world, in 2019 Korzo invited him to create a artistic research into his own roots. He explored the sensual and powerful Oryantal (belly dance), the heavy and repetitive Halay and the narrative and harmonic Zeybek, resulting in the choreography His. This creation was also shown in Introdans’s HubClub.
In the 2020/2021 season, Rutkay can be seen as a guest dancer in the choreography Rave by Karole Armitage, in the family performance Confetti.