Katarzyna Gdaniec was born in Gdansk (Poland). She dedicated herself to artistic gymnastics from the age of eight and won the Artistic Gymnastics European Junior Championships. She then studied at the Academy of Vaganova of St-Petersburg and at the National Ballet School in Gdansk. In 1983 she won the 1st Prize at the Gdansk National Dance Competition and the Prix de Lausanne. She entered Maurice Béjart’s Ballet du XXe Siècle in 1985 and remained with the company as principal dancer until 1992. As early as 1987 Katarzyna has been a choreographer ; after creating her first works for the “Young Choreographers” workshop organized by the Ballet du XXe Siècle, she has devoted herself entirely to choreography since 1992. The same year, she founded Compagnie Linga with Marco Cantalupo, which she has co-authored over forty choreographies for.