Be­lend­jwa Pe­ter is a Con­go­lese-Bri­tish-Ger­man ar­tist wor­king ac­ross Ger­man the­at­re, mu­sical the­at­re and dan­ce.

Born in Möncheng­lad­bach, Ger­ma­ny, and ra­ised in Bir­ming­ham, UK, Be­lend­jwa first tra­ined in Mu­sical The­at­re at the Arts Edu­cati­onal Scho­ols Lon­don be­fore stu­dy­ing Phy­sical The­at­re at the Folk­wang Uni­ver­si­ty of the Arts. The­ir work brings to­get­her ac­ting, mo­vement and mu­sic, mo­ving fre­ely bet­we­en con­tempo­rary the­at­re, mu­sical the­at­re and dan­ce. 

Sin­ce jo­ining the en­semb­le of Düssel­dorfer Scha­us­pi­el­ha­us in the 2022/23 se­ason, Be­lend­jwa has wor­ked with di­rec­tors inc­lu­ding Ki­rill Se­reb­renni­kov, Ro­bert Wil­son, André Kacz­mar­czyk, To­shiki Oka­da, Ber­na­det­te Son­nenbich­ler, Ro­bert Ger­loff and Ro­ger Von­to­bel. They ha­ve per­formed le­ading ro­les inc­lu­ding Cliff Brads­haw in Ca­baret and Emil Tisc­hbe­in in Emil und die drei Zwil­linge, along­si­de pro­duc­ti­ons such as Der Schne­es­turm, Mo­by Dick, Ho­me­of­fi­ce and Die unend­li­che Gesc­hic­hte (The Ne­veren­ding Sto­ry). The­ir work has be­en pre­sen­ted at the Salz­burg Fes­ti­val, Tha­lia The­ater Ham­burg, De­uts­ches The­ater Ber­lin, Mu­sikt­he­ater im Re­vi­er and on in­terna­ti­onal to­urs.

Along­si­de the­ir work as a per­former, Be­lend­jwa de­velops ori­ginal mu­sical the­at­re pro­jects that exp­lo­re iden­ti­ty, mig­ra­ti­on, me­mory and be­lon­ging thro­ugh mu­sic, mo­vement and sto­rytel­ling. The­ir so­lo mu­sical Mu­in­da has be­en pre­sen­ted at Scha­us­pi­el Dort­mund, Düssel­dorfer Scha­us­pi­el­ha­us, Zürcher The­ater Spek­ta­kel and The­aters­chiff He­ilb­ronn. Sin­ce 2025 they ha­ve al­so per­formed with Lo­la Land Dan­ce En­semb­le Düssel­dorf. As a cho­re­og­rapher they ha­ve cre­ated work for Düssel­dorfer Scha­us­pi­el­ha­us, Scha­us­pi­el Dort­mund and Scha­us­pi­el­ha­us Bo­chum, and are cur­rent­ly ex­panding the­ir prac­ti­ce in­to dra­matur­gy thro­ugh a col­la­bora­ti­on with Ley Ak­pi­nar at Tanz­ha­us NRW.

*Pho­to by Tho­mas Rabsch