Jochen Ulrich (3 August 1944 – 10 November 2012)^[1][2] was a German choreographer and dancer.

Ulrich was born in Osterode am Harz. After studying at the Cologne Institute for Stage Dance^[3] from 1964 to 1967, Ulrich made his debut as a dancer at the Cologne Opera in 1967. By 1970, his choreographic works were already attracting national attention. In 1971, together with Helmut Baumann, Jürg Burth and Gray Veredon, he co-founded the Cologne Dance Forum and directed it from 1979.^[4] There, he fostered a number of young talented dancers from all over Europe, including the later choreographer Richard Wherlock.

In 1970, he won the Berliner Kritikerpreis.^[2][5]

From 2000, Ulrich was director of ballet at the Tyrolean State Theatre in Innsbruck. There he created the ballet Caravaggio [de], which described the life and work of the Italian painter. Intendant Rainer Mennicken [de] brought him to Linz in 2006, where he achieved great success among others with Dennis Russell Davies and the Bruckner Orchester Linz.

His style distinguished itself in athletic-technical extensions of the dance impulses.

In November 2012 he died in Linz at the age of 68 after a long illness.^[1][2][5]

• Dieter Blum, Peter Weiermair (ed.): Erotischer Tanz. Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, ISBN 3-9804523-4-4.
• Jochen Schmidt: Tanzgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts in einem Band. Mit 101 Choreografenportraits Henschel Verlag, Berlin 2002. ISBN 3-89487-430-9.
• Jochen Ulrich, Internationales Biographisches Archiv 39/2001 from 17 September 2001, in Munzinger-Archiv (Start of article freely available)

• Literature by and about Jochen Ulrich in the German National Library catalogue
• Seite zu Jochen Ulrich beim Deutsches Tanzarchiv Köln.
• Jochen Ulrich at IMDb
• Landestheater trauert um Jochen Ulrich. ooe.orf.at.
• Portrait Theater Linz