Håkan Mayer began his dance career at the Royal Swedish Ballet School in 1971 and joined the corps de ballet at the Royal Swedish Ballet nine years later. In 1986, he started freelancing and worked with some of the most prominent figures in modern dance, including Per Jonsson, Kenneth Kvarnström, and Birgit Cullberg. Simultaneously, he developed a passion for historical dance, engaging with Baroque and Gustavian dance at Confidencen and Drottningholm Palace Theatre. During the 1980s, he also performed leading roles in several televised ballets.
Mayer made his choreographic debut at Drottningholm with Himmelske Händel, directed by Benny Fredriksson and featuring Anne Sofie von Otter and Barbara Bonney in the lead roles. Conducted by Reinhard Goebel, the production marked an artistic milestone in Mayer’s career. Since then, he has choreographed around 40 productions, primarily opera but also theatre and musicals. He has worked at all major Swedish opera houses and city theatres, as well as internationally at venues such as Det Kongelige Teater, Národní divadlo, Stavovské Divadlo in Prague, and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.
Since 2014, Mayer has been active as a dance developer in Region Värmland