As a young ballet dancer in his native Berlin, Weiland was abruptly thrown out of his first dance school for being too old. Doubtful that he was destined to dance—Wieland originally wanted to be a painter—he stayed in the field long enough to work with legendary choreographer Maurice Béjart. During his year in Béjart’s company, he started thinking about choreography as a way to have more control over his movements on stage. After suffering some personal losses, Wieland felt he needed a radical change and enrolled at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. It was here that Johannes formed his company and premiered in 2002 to a sold-out run at Joyce SoHo.