While Cherkaoui’s initial pieces (Rien de Rien, Foi, Tempus Fugit) were made as a core member of the Belgian collective Les Ballets C. de la B., he also made work that both expanded and consolidated his artist vision: Ook (2000) with Nienke Reehorst and the mentally disabled actors of Theater Stap, D’avant (2002) with Damien Jalet and dancer-singers of the Sasha Waltz & Guests company and zero degrees (2005) with Akram Khan. Between 2006 – 2009, during his stint as associate artist at Het Toneelhuis in Antwerp, he extended his exploration of the equations between self and otherness through Sutra (2008), his dialogue with the warrior monks of the Shaolin Temple and Dunas (2009) alongside flamenco bailaora, Maria Pagés, and Play (2010) with kutchipudi danseuse Shantala Shivalingappa.

In 2010, with the founding of his company Eastman in Antwerp, Cherkaoui began a new phase in his trajectory, marked by the multiple-award-winning Babel, co-choreographed with Damien Jalet and designed by Antony Gormley. TeZukA (2011), his homage to Osamu Tezuka, the founding father of modern manga and Puz/zle (2012) followed.

He continues to work with a variety of theatres, opera houses and ballet companies from the world (Dutch National Ballet, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Paris Opera Ballet). Cherkaoui also received much international acclaim for his choreography in Joe Wright’s feature film Anna Karenina (2012).