Biography Antonin Rioche

Antonin Rioche is a director, choreographer, and visual artist born in Angers. Now based in Paris, he founded Funny People, a production company through which he develops and produces his choreographic and artistic work. He studied at Ballet Junior of Geneva, where he explored works by choreographers such as Roy Assaf, Marina Mascarell, Alexander Ekman, Hofesh Shechter, and Barak Marshall. Continuing his career as a freelance dancer, Antonin collaborated with renowned artists and companies including Olivier Dubois, Sasha Waltz & Guests, Michael Keegan-Dolan, Theo Clinkard, and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. His debut solo piece Ohboy! created during the Eastman Summer Intensive 2017 was an international success and therefore marked a significant career milestone and the short film adaptation received several awards at international film, fashion, and dance festivals. From 2018 to 2024, he was an artist in residence at KorzoTheater in The Hague, where he created works such as The Others, Finally a Sign of Life, Huidhonger, Glitter, Ohgirl! and We Are Doing Great. His work has toured across the Netherlands and internationally, in collaboration with leading institutions including Netherlands Dance Theater, Holland Dance Festival, Mart Foundation, CCN Créteil, and Orsolina28. Blending realism with surrealism, Antonin’s work creates immersive experiences that resonate on multiple sensory and emotional levels. His creations reflect contemporary culture by merging philosophy and imagination to craft narratives that connect both universally and intimately.

Funny People is a Paris-based production company founded by choreographer and director Antonin Rioche. It develops and produces choreographic, theatrical and visual works that move between dance, theatre and cinema.

Funny People has worked with and received support from Korzo Theater, Nederlands Dans Theater, Conny Janssen Danst, Dansateliers, Danslokaal 8, MART Foundation, Orsolina28 Art Foundation, Centre chorégraphique national de Créteil et du Val-de-Marne, Blackmountain, SEAD, Codarts dance company, Holland Dance Festival, Voorlinden, Nederlandse Dansdagen, De Singel, Le Temps d’Aimer la Danse, Gdański Festiwal Tańca, Scène 55 – Mougins, Dansomètre, Fluxum Foundation and more.

Why Funny People? “It’s not about comedy. It’s about a way of looking at life. To me, there is something both ironic and tender in that name. Vulnerable, contradictory people. Characters who could be anyone. You. Me. It is that tension between the ridiculous and tenderness that fascinates me. Those imperfections that make us deeply human and connect us to one another. That is what I try to set in motion with every creation.”

— Antonin Rioche

Team

Antonin Rioche
Artistic & General Director
Martijn Schipper
Business Director & Producer
Loes Schakenbos
Technical Director & Light Designer
Jorg Schellekens
Sound Designer
Alex Avgud
Photographer
Ève-Marie Dalcourt
Performer & Rehearsal Director
Tom van de Ven
Performer

Alongside a wider network of performers, designers, composers, producers and artistic collaborators.