Alan Lucien Øyen is one of Norway’s most internationally acclaimed choreographers, writers, and directors – known for seamlessly merging dance and theatre into emotionally charged, visually striking productions. Founder of the company winter guests, he has built a career defined by bold storytelling, genre-defying stagecraft, and collaborations with some of the world’s leading institutions. His works are celebrated for their human intimacy as much as their scale, making him one of the most sought-after voices in contemporary performance today.

Alan Lucien Øyen was born in Bergen, Norway, and developed a passion for the stage from an early age. He practically grew up behind the scenes at Bergen’s Den Nationale Scene theater, where his father worked as a dresser, watching countless performances in his childhood. At 17, he began formal dance training under ballet master Peter Tornev, then attended the State School of Art in Oslo, graduating as a dancer in 2001. This late start in ballet did not hinder his development; on the contrary, it fueled his unique perspective as an artist who would soon blend multiple disciplines.

After completing his training, Øyen performed with several leading contemporary dance companies. He joined Norway’s national contemporary dance ensemble Carte Blanche in Bergen, and later moved to Cologne, Germany to dance with Amanda Miller’s Pretty Ugly Dance Company in 2005. During these early years as a dancer, his interest in choreography and theatre-making grew quickly. He premiered his first choreographic work in 2004 – an experimental solo piece tellingly titled excerpts of citation without context, which already hinted at his fascination with narrative and the “over-exposure of information” in modern society.

In 2006, at only 28 years old, Øyen established his own company, winter guests – a groundbreaking interdisciplinary troupe that brings together dancers, actors, writers, designers, and technicians to create original productions. With winter guests he began touring theatrical dance works in English on the international stage, quickly earning a reputation for genre-blurring storytelling and emotional depth. Since 2009 he has collaborated closely with the British playwright Andrew Wale, who co-writes many of the company’s scripts and has been integral to developing winter guests’ distinctive voice.

His theatrical breakthrough came with Coelacanth (2013), an epic 5½-hour production co-written with Wale and performed by winter guests. This ambitious work won Norway’s prestigious Hedda Award for Best Original Stage Text, and was also nominated for Best Play and Best Director. It exemplified his hallmark approach: merging dance with rich textual storytelling in a way that challenged conventional genre boundaries.

Since 2013, Øyen has been house choreographer with the Norwegian National Ballet. This role has allowed him to explore hybrid, large-scale mainstage works, often realized with technically complex scenography by long-term collaborator Åsmund Færavaag, combining actors and dancers in bold new stage languages.

By the mid-2010s, his creativity and reputation had attracted the attention of major international companies. He has since created landmark works including Bon Voyage, Bob (2018) for Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch – as one of the first guest choreographers invited to the company after Pina Bausch’s death; Cri de cœur (2022) for Paris Opera Ballet – a nearly three-hour ballet interweaving spoken drama and dance; Rusalka (2019) at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen – his operatic directorial debut; and The Hamlet Complex (2018) at the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet – a bold reimagining of Shakespeare that mixed ballet, actors, and children. His association with Tanztheater Wuppertal has continued beyond Bon Voyage, Bob: in 2022 he remounted Bausch’s own Sweet Mambo, which is still touring internationally, and in 2025 he premiered Antigone, created in collaboration with iconic current and former members of the company – a major production now touring successfully and set to continue for years ahead. His productions often feature renowned performers, including the legendary actress Liv Ullmann in The American Moth (2021).

Øyen is celebrated for his inventive fusion of artistic forms and his deeply human storytelling. Working across dance, theatre, text, opera, and film, he has coined a hybrid style that defies easy categorization. Spoken dialogue and everyday gestures coexist with virtuosic movement, producing what one critic called “surprising tableaux” that give shape to “the dreams and anxieties that secretly haunt us all.” Emotional truth lies at the core of his vision. Whether creating contemporary dance, a play, or a cinematic piece, he infuses his work with an intense dramatic drive and psychological nuance. He draws inspiration from high art, pop culture, personal anecdotes, and chance encounters, weaving these into narratives that feel at once epic and intimately relatable.

Throughout his career, Øyen has earned significant recognition for his contributions to the performing arts. He has won numerous awards as a choreographer, director, and playwright, including the Hedda Award and the Wilhelmsen Opera & Ballet Prize. His invitation to create for Tanztheater Wuppertal – as the company’s first guest choreographer in decades – was itself a rare honor bestowed only on the world’s foremost dance-makers.

Today, Alan Lucien Øyen stands as a prolific and visionary figure at the forefront of contemporary dance and theatre. He has already created an extraordinary body of work that has expanded the boundaries of what stage performance can encompass. From Oslo to Paris and Wuppertal to New York, his imaginative productions have captivated audiences and inspired a new generation of interdisciplinary artists. Remaining as active and passionate as ever, he continues to take on new commissions worldwide. Yet even as his renown grows, Øyen retains the experimental spirit and humanistic focus that defined his early career, resulting in performances that leave a lasting emotional imprint.

Alan Lucien Øyen

Artistic Director
+47 922 858 49
alan@winterguests.com

ORNELLA SALLUM

Network and Touring
‭+44 742 6921 254‬
ornella@winterguests.com

MARTIN FLACK

Managing Director
+47 934 594 70
martin@winterguests.com

Tora De Zwart Rørholt

Producer with syvmil.no
‭+47 416 343 64‬
tora@winterguests.com