Director, choreographer, actor and photographer Wim Vandekeybus was born on June 30th, 1963 in Herenthout (Belgium). Brought up in a rural environment as a son of a veterinarian, Vandekeybus was often in contact with animals in their natural environment. These experiences had a great emotional impact on him. Animals, their movements, their instinctive reactions and their trust in their own physical power are often integrated into his performances. He began his studies in psychology in Leuven, but did not complete them, irritated, as he says himself, by the surplus of ‘objective science’. His interest in the complex relationship between body and spirit remained. A workshop with the Flemish theatre director and playwright Paul Peyskens brought him into contact with theatre. He followed some dance courses (classic, modern, tango) and took up film and photography. In 1985 he auditioned for Jan Fabre. Vandekeybus was taken and during two years he travelled the world with the "The Power of Theatrical Madness", playing one of the two naked kings. While touring with Jan Fabre he met painter/photographer Octavio Iturbe in Madrid, who later became an important artistic collaborator. In 1986 he withdrew for several months in Madrid with a group of young, inexperienced dancers to work on his first production and founds his company Ultima Vez (Spanish for ‘last time’). In June 1987 "What the Body Does Not Remember" premièred at the Toneelschuur in Haarlem (the Netherlands). The dancing in "What the Body…" was powered by the music of Thierry De Mey and Peter Vermeersch. With tempestuous energy and strength the performers made daring leaps, launched themselves into the air and smartly intercepted each other’s falls. Bricks were thrown above each other’s heads. Every gesture had to stick to an absolutely precise timing; the performers put their trust in and surrendered to their instincts. Although the première was received with scepticism, the performance was soon being presented on international stages. In 1988, Wim Vandekeybus received the Bessie Award in New York for this production, which was credited “a brutal confrontation of dance and music: the dangerous, combative landscape of What the Body Does Not Remember.”

Since "What the Body…" Wim Vandekeybus has created nearly twenty performances with changing international casts and has made nearly as many film and video productions. From his very first performance music has been an important stimulus for his productions. He has commissioned works from, among others, Peter Vermeersch, Thierry De Mey, David Byrne, Marc Ribot, Charo Calvo, Eavesdropper and David Eugene Edwards. In 1989, after a residency at the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine d'Angers, he created "Les porteuses de mauvaises nouvelles". For this creation Wim Vandekeybus received his second Bessie Award. The Weight of a Hand (1990), an on-stage confrontation of actors and musicians, was based on the choreographic material of the first two productions. In that same year Wim Vandekeybus also created - with Walter Verdin and Octavio "Iturbe" - the dance video "Roseland", placing the choreographic material of his first two works in the remarkable setting of a dilapidated Brussels cinema. "Immer das Selbe gelogen" (1991) was a sensitive portrait of 89-year old German variety artist Carlo Verano and of Vandekeybus' friendship with the man. While the first performances are characterized by a lack of coherence or storyline, more narrative and theatrical elements crawl into his creations: texts, literary, mythological and philosophical references.

In June 1992 Wim Vandekeybus and Walter Verdin directed La Mentira, a dance video based on "Immer das Selbe gelogen", recorded at deSingel in Antwerp, and in the rough and deserted landscape around Granada in the south of Spain.
For "Her Body Doesn’t Fit her Soul" (1993) Wim Vandekeybus collaborated with non-seeing dancers for the first time: blindness becomes a metaphor for the submission of the body to its instincts, for vulnerability and the fragility but also the strength of the body. The short film "Elba and Federico", also directed by Wim Vandekeybus, was part of the performance. From this moment onwards film became a constant value in Vandekeybus’ work. From 1993 until 1999 Wim Vandekeybus is artist in residence at the KVS (Royal Flemish Theatre) in Brussels. A film - shot in Morocco - and short stories by Paul Bowles and Milorad Pavic, formed the theme for "Mountains Made of Barking" (1994).

In 1995 Wim Vandekeybus made "Alle Größen decken sich zu" (1995), a theatre piece based on the life of his friend Carlo Verano, who had died in the eantime.
During that same year Wim Vandekeybus also revived his debut choreography "What the Body Does Not Remember". "Bereft of a Blissful Union", a large-scale piece which brought together on stage twelve dancers and twelve musicians, incorporating film and acting sequences, followed in 1996. The music for the performance was composed by Peter Vermeersch and George Van Dam and executed by X-Legged Sally and The Smith Quartet. The short film "Dust", based on a scene from "Mountains Made of Barking" and part of the performance "Bereft of a Blissful Union" in video format, as well as the short-film "Bereft of a Blissfull Union" were later released separately.

As a guest choreographer for the Israeli Batsheva Dance Company, Wim Vandekeybus created "Exhaustion from Dreamt Love." The piece premièred at the Opera of Tel Aviv in 1996. For the first time since "The Power of Theatrical Madness", he worked again with Jan Fabre in 1997. "Body, Body on the Wall…." is a solo written and directed by Jan Fabre for Vandekeybus, integrating a short film. With Ultima Vez Wim Vandekeybus made "7 for a Secret never to be told" in 1997. "Silver", a video adaptation of one of the scenes of the performance was released in 2001. In 1998 Wim Vandekeybus and Franz Marijnen, stage director and artistic director of the Royal Flemish Theatre, worked together on "The Day of Heaven and Hell", a performance about the life and work of Pier Paolo Pasolini. Franz Marijnen withdrew during the rehearsal period and Vandekeybus continued alone.

"In Spite of Wishing and Wanting", a performance with male dancers only and with music by David Byrne, premièred in 1999. The performance incorporated the short film "The Last Words", based on two surrealist short-stories by Julio Cortázar. A dance video adaptation, shot on location at the Vooruit (Ghent), the Hippodrome of Watermaal-Bosvoorde and in the streets of Ferrara (IT) was released in January 2002. The decease of his father strongly influenced “Inasmuch as Life is borrowed...” (2000). Life and death become the central themes of the performance and short-film “Inasmuch…” that is part of it. Marc Ribot composed the music. "For Scratching the Inner Fields" (2001) Vandekeybus works with an exclusively female cast and the Flemish author Peter Verhelst. In 2002 "What the Body Does Not Remember" was revived in the frame the 10th edition of the KLAPSTUK Festival in Leuven.

Inspired by the author Djuna Barnes, the young German actress Nicola Schössler directed Wim Vandekeybus in the solo ‘s "NACHTs" in the frame of the laboratory project De Stokerij (KVS/de bottelarij) during that same year. Also in 2002, Wim Vandekeybus was asked by dancer and choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui to create a solo for him in the frame of Le Vif du Sujet (SACD / Festival d’Avignon 2002). Starting point for it was the short story "The Circular Valley" by Paul Bowles. It premièred at the Festival d’Avignon. A full evening version, integrating a film by Wim Vandekeybus, followed in January 2003.

"Blush" (2002) was the start of a new collaboration between Ultima Vez and the KVS. The music for the performance was created by the American singer-songwriter David Eugene Edwards (16 Horsepower, Woven Hand). For the texts, Wim Vandekeybus continued his collaboration with Peter Verhelst. In 2005 a dance film adaptation of "Blush", shot at different locations in Brussels and Corica, was released. Also for "Sonic Boom" (2003), a co-production of Ultima Vez and Toneelgroep Amsterdam, Peter Verhelst writes the text. On stage Vandekeybus confronts three actors of the Dutch repertory company and eight Ultima Vez performers. "Sonic Boom" was selected for the Dutch-Flemish Theatre Festival 2003. "PUUR", a creation for 13 performers - amongst whom the 79-year old Flemish actor and playwright Tone Brulin - premièred during the Singapore Arts Festival in May 2005.

In 2002 a workshop with youngsters in the frame of the Brussels’ literature festival Het Groot Beschrijf was the starting point for a series of projects with children and youngsters, lead by Wim Vandekeybus. "Bericht aan de Bevolking/Avis à la Population" (2002) is followed by "Viva!" (2004), "Rent a kid, no bullshit!" (2005) and "Bêt noir" (2006), based on the adaptation of the Oedipus myth by Jan Decorte. Next to "Spiegel", the composed evening 20 years Ultima Vez, Wim Vandekeybus also created "Quiebro" in 2006, a guest-choreography for 16 dancers of the Spanish dance company Compañia Nacional de Danza (artistic direction Nacho Duato). He also was one of the seven choreographers invited by the Flemish production house Victoria to create a choreography for a professional stripper in the frame of their project "Nightshade".

In April 2007 "Here After", the dance film adaptation of "PUUR" (2005), premièred. The Flemish-Dutch house deBuren will present "Gallop", a photo exhibition of Wim Vandekeybus’ travels through Chile and Morocco, location hunting for his first feature film. After the world première in the KVS (the Royal Flemish Theatre) in November 2007, Ultima Vez started the international tour of the new creation "MENSKE" (2007). In the frame of the 20th anniversary of the company several special events were organised at the AB Concert Hall in Brussels (BE) and during the Festival Automne en Normandie in Rouen (FR) in the autumn of 2007.