Ben J. Riepe studied dance and choreography at the Folkwang-Hochschule in Essen. After graduating, he worked as a dancer for Pina Bausch and V.A. Wölfl/NEUER TANZ. Besides working with his own company (founded in 2004) he works as a guest choreographer and teacher. He has created choreographies for many international companies (e.g. Malaysian Kwang Tung Dance Company, Folkwang Tanzstudio of Essen, Korea National Contemporary Dance Company of Seoul). In 2008, as one of 6 artists from Europe, he participated in a creative exchange project with Chinese choreographers (within the framework of China-A-Moves). In 2015 he took part in the European projects Identity.Move! and Modul Dance.

He is the recipient of numerous scholarships and awards (in 2009, 2012 and 2015 he received the “Spitzenförderung” scholarship, and 2009, the award for young artists from the NRW region /Förderpreis für darstellende Kunst des Landes NRW). As an educator, Ben J. Riepe consults the work of young choreographers and conducts workshops in movement and improvisation for both dancers and artists in the performing arts. Currently Ben Riepe is Affiliated Artist at PACT Zollverein, Essen.

In recent years his practice has focused on exploring the relationship between choreography and visual arts, especially installation, performance art, LIVE-ART and sound installations.

In art he is interested in working with the ephemeral: questions of presence and absence, subject and object. His long-term artistic quest has provided the framework for a number of works – stage, installation and video – that have been repeatedly presented in Europe and Asia.