As a child and teenager, Winkler gained experience in martial arts, weightlifting, and breakdancing before studying ballet. He danced in MTV music videos and had jobs as a bodyguard and construction worker. In the early nineties, he performed regularly in underground techno clubs. He later went on to study choreography and began working as a freelance choreographer in 1998. Also a music devotee, Winkler founded the experimental music platform Klangkrieg Produktionen, which has released albums by innovative groups like Venetian Snares and Current Value. In 2007, together with the establishment Ehrliche Arbeit – freies Kulturbüro, Winkler founded the agency BERLIN GOGOS to represent and support contemporary dancers and improve their economic situations.

Winkler’s works deal with topics that reference issues currently discussed in society at large, but that also directly pertain to and affect the art form of dance. He has focused on themes such as copyright law (“Dance! Copy! Right?”, 2012), radicalism (“Baader – A Choreography of Radicalisation”, 2012), women of the political right (“RechtsRadikal”, 2013), the staging and performance of protest (“Das Wahre Gesicht - Dance Is Not Enough”, 2013), and the subjectivity of memory (“Abendliche Tänze”, 2013).

Winkler’s productivity hasn’t slowed since he embarked on his freelance career decades ago – in 2017, within three months, he premiered five new pieces: an ensemble project, two new solos, his first work for younger audiences, and his first collaboration with the Cantus Domus Chor. For CTM 2018, he will present the wide-ranging project "The Complete Expressionist", a tribute in music and dance to the multifaceted pioneer and pedagogue Ernest Berk.