In 1988 Marco Goecke completed his ballet education at the Heinz-Bosl-Stiftung Ballet Academy in Munich, after which he  graduated at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague in 1995.

Subsequently Goecke worked together with the Deutschen Oper Berlin and the Theater Hagen. Here Goecke made his first choreography in 2000. Since then Goecke is one of the world's most sought-after choreographers, due to his particular movement language. Goecke's work is performed by dance companies worldwide. Since 2005 Goecke is resident choreographer at the Stuttgart Ballet, between 2006 and 2011 with Scapino Ballet Rotterdam and since 2013 he is also associate choreographer with Nederlands Dans Theater. In the past decade, he has created over fourty choreographies, including two full-length performances:  The Nutcracker and Orlando for the Stuttgart Ballet. Goecke further created for Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, Hamburg Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle, Nederlands Dans Theater 1 and  2, the Norwegian National Ballet, the Leipzig Ballet and Zurich Ballet.