Born in 1990, Denis Okatan works in the performing arts, moving between theatre, performance art, dramaturgy, and queer grotesque. After completing a Bachelor of Arts degree in German Studies and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Bonn, he pursued cultural work before setting his sights on stage art as his creative goal. He then worked as a performer and dramaturg in the independent scene and at the municipal theatre on projects including the Sommerblut Kulturfestival, Dutch Design Week, the physical theatre company Kimchibrot Connection, Schauspiel Essen, Tanzhaus NRW, the Oval Office Bar at Schauspiel Bochum, the HundertPro Festival at Ringlokschuppen Ruhr, and most recently the Physical Performance Festival in Seoul, South Korea.

Okatan has been studying physical theatre at the Folkwang University of the Arts since 2023 and is a scholarship holder of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes (German National Academic Foundation). This year, he studied with Miles Greenberg as part of the Pina Bausch visiting professorship.

The artistic themes that find expression in his own and collectively created works include the search for rebellious queer embodiment and bizarre extravagance, empowerment against a working-class background and the art of seduction. Okatan is particularly interested in the symbiosis of provocation and sensitivity, pop culture and literary finesse, and elegance and vulgarity.