Rima Pipoyan
Choreographer | Director | Performer | Educator
Rima Pipoyan is an internationally recognized Armenian choreographer, director, and dancer, acclaimed for her strikingly original choreographic language and poetic storytelling through movement. Considered one of the pioneers of modern ballet and contemporary dance in Armenia, she has built a unique artistic voice that fuses ballet, contemporary dance, martial arts, and Armenian cultural heritage.
Pipoyan began choreographing at just 16, and since then her works have been presented at prestigious international stages and festivals across Europe, Russia, and beyond. She has created award-winning productions such as Woman Before Decision Making (2018), a solo performed in more than 30 cities worldwide, and What If (2019), premiered at the Venice Biennale during her residency as part of the Biennale College Choreographers. In 2022, her work Me, My non-Self and I was selected as part of Aerowaves Twenty22, placing her among Europe’s most promising contemporary choreographers.
Her choreographic career is marked by bold and diverse creations: from large-scale ballets like Sinful Passions (2015, Opera of Armenia) and Anatomy of Emotions (2023, Bern Ballet) to intimate solo and duet works performed internationally. Most recently, she premiered ICON (2025) in collaboration with Context Diana Vishneva, a one-act ballet lauded for its emotional depth and innovative movement language.
Beyond the stage, Pipoyan is deeply committed to education and the development of dance in Armenia. In 2017, she founded the Choreography Development Foundation, dedicated to supporting emerging choreographers and advancing contemporary dance. In 2020, she established and continues to lead the Modern Dance Department at the Yerevan State Choreographic College — the first of its kind in the region. Her efforts have created a lasting platform for future generations of Armenian contemporary dancers.
Her artistic residencies include the Akademie der Künste, Berlin (2016–17), La Biennale di Venezia (2019), and Villa Empain, Brussels (2021), Begehungen Festival, Chemnitz (2022), ConetxtAir, Plovdiv (2022), Tanzkongress, Germany (2022). She is also a Creative Armenia “East-West Resident” fellow.
Pipoyan’s works are celebrated for their aesthetic precision, philosophical depth, and fearless innovation. Through her performances, she explores identity, existence, and human emotion, inviting audiences into a world where body, thought, and spirit merge in constant transformation.
Rima Pipoyan 