Teachers

Dorothee Altgeld is a stage dancer who enjoys dancing for several companies for years. She is teaching ballet and dance for kids, as well Contemporary Dance, Ballet and CI for beginners as a dance pedagogue in different dance schools and other facilities.

Blenard Azizaj was born in Albania. He studied dance and dance pedagogy at the National State School of Greece. After his graduation he worked and collaborated with Montreal Danse Collaboration (Montreal, Canada), Linga dance company (Lausanne, Switzerland), Steptext dance project (Bremen, Germany) and Hellenic dance company (Athens, Greece). Until May 2015 Blenard danced for Akram Khan Company (Itmoi) and is currently part of Sasha Waltz & Guests (Romeo & Juliet). In his own artistic creations he is involved with bridging contemporary dance and balkan folk dancing. As a teacher he works for the State school of Dance (Greece/Athens), Sasha Waltz & Guests (Germany/Berlin), Toula Limnaios Dance Company (Germany /Berlin), Roberto Zapalla School (Italy /Catania) among others. He tours and performs in big international dance festivals in Germany, UK, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Brazil, Mexico, Quebec, Luxembourg, Norway, Italy, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Ireland, Senegal, Poland, France, Spain and Greece.

Coming soon

Eva Blaschke, dancer, dance pedagogue, trained in Laban/Bartenieff movement studies, Modern Dance/New Dance, Aerialdance, Gyrokinesis; teaches Laban/Bartenieff movement studies, dynamic dance techniques, improvisation and performance. Performances with the group "Dynamic Improvisation" and Performancebühne Berlin.

David Bloom was born in Heidelberg, Germany, to a family from New York, NY. He has been playing the piano professionally since he was 16 years old, including a brief stint at the bar Marie's Crisis in New York. He received his dance training mainly at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt, Germany and also studied with William Forsythe, Kirstie Simson and Benoît Lachambre. He was a member of the dance ensemble at Staatstheater Darmstadt, and has collaborated on projects by Marco Santi, Michaël d'Auzon, Nir de Volff/Total Brutal, Micha Purucker, Ingo Reulecke, Canan Erek, Friederike Plafki, Felix Ruckert & Tino Sehgal. He has taught contemporary dance in a variety of contexts, and is also a graduate of Barbara Carellas’ Urban Tantra Professional Training Program. He has also studied BDSM and Tantra with teachers such as Joseph Kramer, Felix Ruckert, Osada Steve & Midori. Since graduating from the M.A. Choreography at the Inter-University Center for Dance (HZT) Berlin - where he has also taught since 2017 - he has been focusing mainly on his own choreographic work, including "Die Heilige und die Hure", a solo for Felix Ruckert, and "enemy", an interactive sauna dance piece. He also regularly curated the Berlin play party/choreographic installation "Friends & Lovers", which inspired a trilogy of short films, that each premiered at the Berlin Porn Film Festival since October 2013. David is a recipient of a 2012 danceWEB Scholarship, and returned to the ImPulsTanz Festival to teach in 2015 and 2016. More info at: https://davidbloom.info  davidbloom.info

Johanne Castillo Bro – studied teaching in Denmark following her dance education at the Iwanson Schule für zeitgenössischen Tanz. Since then she has danced in several dance productions and companies in Paris, Munich and Berlin, amongst others MHK, Moebius, ACC/encorps, InSenso and Choreographers such as Katja Wachter, Willy Dorner, Jess Curtis, Gill Clarke, Rosalind Crisp, Eric Lecomte, Olga Cobos and Peter Mika. She has worked several years as a dramatic adviser and choreographer for the theater company C.O.C and with the director Yann Gonzales in Paris. Since 2009 she lives and works as an independent dance teacher, dancer and choreographer in Berlin, working amongst others for the Staats Oper Berlin, AbenteuerKultur dm-drogeriemarkt and for the artist collective possible.movement.

Jan Burkhardt is a freelance dancer/choreographer, Laban-Bartenieff Movement Analyst, musician and physiotherapist. The focus of his artistic and pedagogic work is the resonance between somatic exploration and its communication into space. Jan cooperates internationally with a variety of institutions and artists. He is currently guest lecturer at the dance universities of Berlin, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Cologne. His most recent artistic research involved a.o. projects with Laurent Chetouane, Sebastian Matthias, Martin Nachbar and Cecilia Roos.

Maya Matilda Carroll is a choreographer, dancer, mentor and teacher, based in Berlin since 2004. In the past thirteen years Maya has created over 30 works from solo to extended group pieces. She has collaborated with dancers, visual artists, poets, musicians, actors, opera singers and amateurs, in Europe and worldwide. Maya has been making dance independently as well as being commissioned to create pieces for state theaters, independent companies and dance academies. She leads classes and workshops in Europe and abroad, extensively developing her teaching methods alongside her artistic work. In 2011 Maya formed The Instrument with her partner, composer / musician Roy Carroll. Her work is anchored in the meeting point between the palpable and imagined; drawn from and towards the body's memory, social roots and myth, pluralities and singularities in humans and environment. Dance background: between 1997-2000 Maya danced in Muza dance company, Tel-Aviv, Israel. She collaborated with choreographer Lara Barsacq over five years (Tel-Aviv - Paris). Between 2000-2003 Maya danced in Batsheva Ensemble company, directed by Ohad Naharin. She also danced works choreographed by Anat Danieli, Sharon Eyal and Arkadi Zaides to name a few. In 2005 Maya joined Research Project with Sasha Waltz & Guests in Berlin. Since 2013 she collaborates with choreographer and director Julyen Hamilton. She joined his company Allen`s Line in their last two pieces Goat Ocean and Mud Like Gold. theinstrument.org

Mo.Ré, a collective for movement research. Mo.Ré is a network for movement research by dancers who are based in Berlin and share a personal experience with Gaga, Ohad Naharin’s dance practice with Batsheva Dance Company. Through teaching and mutual exchange, we further explore our understanding of dance and movement, as well as investigate and get feedback over our new findings.The classes will be taught by: Steph Amurao, Juan Corres Benito, Tamar Grosz, Einav Katan-Schmid, Nitsan Margaliot, Olivia Tarrish Ancona, Kerem Shemi.

Maayan Danoch, born in Tel Aviv, studied contemporary dance and choreography at SEAD and received her MA from the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln. Since 2008, Maayan has been creating dance, site specific and transdisciplinary works and presented at venues/festivals such as Tel Aviv Museum of Art, tanz.tausch festival, Kibla Multimedia Center, Gödör Klub Budapest, Dance Theater Ljubljana, Diver Festival, Barbour Gallery Jerusalem, to name a few. As a dancer she worked, among others, with Jana Unmüßig (DE), Mårten Spångberg (SE), Maya Weinberg (IL/DE), Oleg Soulimenko (RUS/AT) and Dragana Alfirevic (SLO). Maayan received Fundacija Sonda scholarship for contemporary dance artist in 2010, the SK Kultur Stiftung research grant and the danceWEB Scholarship in 2014. She taught dance, improvisation and writing related workshops in numerous institutions, such as the HfMT Köln, SEAD, Ljubljana Dance Academy, Marameo, ZAIK and Campus Arison - School of Arts Tel Aviv.

Profesional experience: The Batsheva Ensemble Dance Company (Ohad Naharin). Worked as a freelance dancer with choreographers: Anat Danieli, Inbal Pinto, Barak Marshall and with ‘Matanicola’, The dance/theatre director Sebastian Blasius, Görlitz Opera House- as a dancer and choreorgapher. Choreography for a film by director Amit Epstein. Participation in duet creations by choreographers: Rami Levi (Culberg Ballet, Nacho Duato - Compañía Nacional de Danza de España, Batsheva dance company), Yossi Tmim, Michael Getman. Since 2000 - DeDe Dance Company as co-founder- artistic director, choreographer and dancer. Co-founder of the Tel Aviv Dance Company, of the 'Maslul' advanced dance training program in 2008 of the BIKUREI HAITIM CENTER. Co-founder of the `HaSadna`, advanced dance training program. Creating and teaching in `Danceworks`Academy- Berlin, in `Die Etage` Academy- Berlin. Certified 'GAGA' teacher. The 'MSIDC'  (Multy Style International Dance Conference) – As head of the contemporary department. Prizes and awards: Best performing artist, 1998 Adami prize at the Bagnolet International Dance Competition/France, Ministry of Culture Prize for Young Choreographers -  Israel 2007, The Tel Aviv  Rosenblum Arts Award 2010.

Maria Doulgeri was born and raised in Greece. After attending ballet and contemporary dance classes from an early age, she was admitted to the National School of Dance (KSOT) in Athens where she graduated with a Distinction. Having performed at the Open Studio in Athens and after collaborating with the Jukstapoz Company and Oktana dance- theater, Maria moved to London. There she became a member of the JV2 team before joining the Jasmin Vardimon Company for the performance of ‘Yesterday’, ‘Park’, ‘Maze’ and the latest production ‘Pinocchio’ as Pinocchio. She has recently joined the Jukstapoz Company for their upcoming production in 2018. On her journey to explore various techniques and disciplines, Maria actively participates in seminars and workshops throughout Europe with artists including David Zambrano and Rootlessroot’s research of ‘Fighting Monkey’. Maria is simultaneously working on developing her own work, such as her solo creation ‘?ARA’ (premiered at Dance Fest Akropoditi) and is also delivering classes and her latest concept 'A Performer’s Craft, About Preparation'.

Iyar El-Ezra was born in Tel Aviv on 1987 and studied in the Academy of Dance and Music in Jerusalem. Joined Batsheva Ensemble in 2005 and worked at the Batsheva dance company from 2008 until 2016. During her work period in Batsheva, aside of working regularly with Ohad Naharin, has also worked with Yasmeen Godder, Sharon Eyal and Roy Assaf. Iyar is a recipient of the 2002-2004 Israel-America cultural foundation education scholarship. She choreographed and participated in "curtain up 2015" - a centerpiece of Israel's contemporary dance calendar for young choreographers. Has won the "Yair Shapira award" in 2016.

Shai Faran is an Israeli dancer, teacher and choreographer, based in Europe. After studying in Israel and dancing for the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company II, the Sigma Ensemble, the Dafi Altabab Dance Group, she moved to Europe, where she has worked with different choreographers such as Matej Kejzer, Maya M.Caroll, Zoe Knights, Yuval Pick, Shumpei Nemoto, Maura Morales Alessandro Sciarroni, David Hernandez andmore. In the last few years she has been teaching contemporary dance and improvisation classes and workshops around Europe while developing her own work and working as a free lance dancer, teacher and choreographer.

Stefano Fardelli, dancer, choreographer and teacher, got his degree at the M.A.S. Academy in Milan, under Susanna Beltrami's artistic direction. He continued his studies in other choreographic centers in Europe and collaborated with many international institutions, such as the Berlin Opera (DE), BBC (UK), The Place (UK), Royal Finland Opera (FI), Les Gens d’Uterpan (FR), English National Opera (UK), Cie Twain (IT), etc. He won many awards among which the second prize at the Gdansk International Festival Solo Dance Contest in 2014. Over the years, he created many projects for at least 20 dancers: Namu, Links, Hugs in Space, “98288”, etc. He is the author, choreographer and protagonist of the dance videos Day Off (winner of the Special Mention at Il Coreografo Elettronico 2011 in Naples) and Dear Sofia. Choreographer of Chi sei?, he also created a solo Svarupa-vyakta selected for international festivals. In 2016, he worked on the project Foreigners with the Norvegian choreographer Tone Martine Kittelsen, and in 2017 he worked on the creation of the duet From “I” to “A” by Eleven Movements.

Christa Flaig-Isaacs, dancer, pedagogue, project manager. Studied african dance in Europe , west-african african,  countries mainly west and south, South Africa and Martinique. Focus of her (artistic) work is the research on source and quality of movement in african dance and the possible meaning, adaptation and transformation for non-african dancers. For over 25 years organisation and management of festivals for dance and cross-cultural exchange in Europe and Africa. Actually she is board member and curator of the workshop festivals of Tanzfabrik Berlin.

Born in Houston, Texas(USA). Studied at the Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy, The Alvin Ailey School,  the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, TX and later attended SUNY Purchase College. Before starting professional career, he was a winner of the Youth American Grand Prix competition in New York City and was elected as a Presidential Scholar of the Arts in 2003, where he performed for the President at Kennedy Center. He has worked and danced with Sidra Bell Dance NY, the Kevin Wynn Collection, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Basel Ballet/ Theater Basel, and a guest with the Goteborg Operan DansKompani. A guest member of The Forsythe Company of February 2014 and later George became a full member in April 2014. Now, George is a freelance artist and choreographer since the summer of 2015.  He has currently worked with Jerome Bel, and Tino Seghal.

Eva was born in Greece. In 2013 she graduated from the National School of Dance in Athens while studying Law at the same time. Later on, she took part in the long term session of the DanceWorkshop Gaaton in Israel where she was trained in Gaga technique. Within this session she has worked for projects of Noa Zuk, Shlomi Bitton and Rami Beer. Afterwards she completed the five months understudy program of Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company as being an Apprentice for the company based in Israel. As a performer she has, also, collaborated with Oktana Dance Theatre and Hellenic Dance Company for creations of Anton Lachky, Pascal Rioult among others. Lately she collaborated with cia Sonia Rodriguez, Inside The Body performing arts, JSR dance company and Edivaldo Ernesto. She is a member of Frantics Dance Company based in Berlin and she is currently working as a performer of Aerites Dance Company / Patricia Apergi. Her own creations have been performing since 2015 in Greece & Germany. She is currently based between Berlin and Athens.

Marcela holds a BFA/Diplom in dance and choreography from the Rotterdamse Dansacademie and Ohio State University. She has danced professionally for Bianca Van Dillen and Beppie Blankert in the Netherlands, with Neuer Tanz / VA Wölfl, Thomas Ostermeier/Mikel Aristegui, and Veronika Riz in Germany, and with the Italian company Deja Donne (Simone Sandroni/Lenka Flory). She has taught and presented her own work in the USA, Canada, Brazil, and across Europe. Marcela has also been Artist-in-Residence at numerous universities, including Alfred University, Ohio State University, Middlebury College, and guest lecturer at the HZT Berlin. She has created works in residence at Danswerkplaats Amsterdam, Dansateliers Rotterdam, OMI International Artist Collective – NYC, Mayday Dance festival – Antwerp, DOCK 11 Berlin, and at Schloss Broellin, Germany. Marcela also founded and currently runs the artist residency venue Lake Studios in Berlin. For more information: www.marcelagiesche.com and www.lakestudiosberlin.com

Samantha Giron is an American choreographer who had her formative years as an artist in underground urban dance and electronic music communities. This club kid went on to earn formal Dance degrees, including a BA from Mills College and a MFA from California Institute of the Arts. Her sequential, circular movement; and collaborations with video designers and electronic musicians - address issues such as: queer and female sexuality, the conflict between tradition and the individual, and violence against women. She has shown her work at prominent theaters, such as: Z Space, KUNST-STOFF arts, ODC, Cowell Theater and nightclubs such as: The Mezzanine, Public Works and 1015 Folsom. She was a featured presenter at The American National Dance Conference and moderator of Dance Discourse Project - where she presented on various street dance forms. She is curator and creator of monthly dance show and party: Makeup Mutiny. She is a published dance essayist who has taught at many colleges, including San Francisco State University. A licensed Dance teacher, she recently resigned as head of Dance at TECA Academy in San Francisco, to relocate to Europe. She currently teaches contemporary, street dance and breakdancing throughout Berlin. www.samanthagiron.dance

Lisanne Goodhue is a Canadian dancer based in Berlin since 2011. Graduated in contemporary and classical dance, as well as in visual art in Montreal, Canada (2010), she has been working in various cities around Europe and Canada as a dancer, choreographer, and teacher. She is active in the Berlin improvisation scene, being a guest artist in various events and festivals. Her choreographic work investigates the influence of visual art on the experience of the viewer and has been presented in Europe and Québec, Canada. Lisanne is a close collaborator of German choreographer Sebastian Matthias since 2009. Their work toured around America, Europe, and Asia. She has been collaborating/is collaborating with artists such as Sebastian Matthias, Ingo Reulecke, Louise Wagner, Julian Webber, Jenny Haack, Joanna Roggan, Antoine Effroy and Anne Rudelbach, BundesJugendBallet Hamburg - John Neumeier (dance-choreography), Ulrike Sowodniok, Biliana Voutchkova, Alexander Frangenheim, Zafraan Ensemble Berlin, Ensemble Resonanz Hamburg, (music-composition), Louise Viger, Eva Berendes, Sebastian Kite (visual art).  
«Tanz ist hier unverstellt, ohne Theatralik oder demonstrative Virtuosität zu erfahren: in einer ungeschminkten Klarheit und unverstellten Schönheit, die den Betrachter zunehmend in den Bann zieht. Lisanne Goodhue fasziniert durch ihre pure, losgelöst in der Bewegung aufgehende Körperlichkeit.» - Leon Hard from Die Sehnsucht des Nacktmenschen nach dem verlorenen Fell, Hamburger Abenblatt 2012​​​
«Dance become a sensory machine that guides dancer such as Lisanne Goodhue to a subtle and sophisticated presence in his [Sebastian Matthias] choreographies.» - Irmela Kästner   Tanzplatform Deutschland 2014

Alicia Grant is a choreographer and dancer based in Berlin. She received a BFA in Dance from York University in Toronto, Canada. Her work in performance, video and installation has been presented in North America and Europe from stages to swimming pools to abandoned factories to galleries. She is one part of WITCHTITS, with Zinzi Buchanan and works in various constellations with other makers in Toronto, Berlin and Zagreb. As a dancer and collaborator, she has worked with Zoja Smutny, Isabelle Schad, Shannon Cooney, Irena Čurik and Andrea Spaziani. She shares why-am-i-alive dance practices at Studio 303 in Montreal, Love-In in Toronto, Ponderosa in Stolzenhagen and TanzFabrik in Berlin. She is interested in power dynamics, transformation, fear and intimacy and is currently developing a moody towel practice in Wedding.

Tamar Grosz was born 1990 in Santiago de Chile, she grew up in Jerusalem, Israel. She joined the Bathsheba ensemble 2008 and since 2010 she has been working as a freelancer. She danced with choreographers: Ronit Ziv, Idan Cohen, Maya Levi, Sofia Krantz, Sharon Ayal, Ohad Naharin, Iris Marco, Kiani Del Valle, Aoife McAtmney, Christoph Winkler. In 2013, she moved to Berlin where she founded together with her college Francesca Penzo the artistic platform FEM – for feminine*feminist art. Under FEM she created the pieces "Why are we so f***ing dramatic?" (2013), "577 ovules in the right place" (2016), " i am not a Jew Israeli vegan lesbian woman. I am Tamar" (2014) and "The future" (2017). Tamar is a Physics and chemistry bachelor student in the open university of Israel and researches how experience life in a serious humor.

After her university degree in sports from University Tübingen, Eva Günther started her dance education in Modern Dance in Cologne (Graham Technique) and in Berlin (Cunningham, Limon). She danced in several companies, e.g. Janine Schneider (Berlin). In between 1993 and 2007 she ran the Dance- & Movementstudio „Mobile“ in Berlin-Wedding and choreographed the amateur dance-theatre „Mobile“. Regardless of who you are: a kid, male, headragged, pregnant, suffering from rheumatism or youths: since 25 years Eva is bringing dance into all sorts of different lifes. Since 2005 she is also working as a Yoga teacher and actress.

coming soon

Frauke Havemann is a director and choreographer and the artistic director for the performance and film group ON AIR. She has been teaching at numerous schools, is a mentor at HZT and since 1995 she is teaching at Tanzfabrik Berlin. Frauke studied classical ballet in Cologne. After a working contract at the State-theater in Bonn she moved to New York and continued her studies with Merce Cunningham, the Nikolais/Louis Lab, Movement Research Studio and was a guest student at the Film Department of New York University. Returning to Germany in the she worked as a performer in dance and theater projects and taught workshops, professional classes, and training programs in dance. In the late ‘90s Frauke began creating her own performance projects and video installations. Her productions examine the filmic process and the atmosphere and aesthetic of diverse film genres, translating film editing techniques into the live performance situation. Together with director and author Mark Johnson, in 1992 she co-founded DETEKTOR an inter media performance group which combined dance, theater and video. In 2002 she joined forces with video artist Eric Schefter and created ON AIR. ON AIR’s productions straddle the border between radio plays and installations, performance and theater, theater and film. Frauke has received numerous grants and scholarships, and her work has been shown in festivals and events throughout Germany and abroad. In 2017 she has finished her first feature film which premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival USA.

Choreographer, dancer, performer, dance curator. Studied Dance in her homecountry Colombia and finished her Dancetheatre and SoloDance Postgraduate studies at the Folkwang Hochschule Essen, under the guidance of Pina Bausch. As a dancer she worked for the Wuppertal Dance Theatre, the Münster State Theatre, the Schauspielhaus Bochum, the Aachen Theatre and performed in several independent productions. As choreographer she worked at Stadttheater Basel, Switzerland and her own creations has been invited to Festivals in France, Croatia, Italy, Holland, Ecuador, Brasil and México. Martha got the Tanzstipendium and the Einstiegsförderung of the Berliner Senate. "Transparente" her first full-length film celebrated premiere at the American Dance Festival / International Screendance Festival in U.S.A. and toured in Europe and South America. She worked lately with artists like Alexandra Pirici, Jochen Sandig, the Rundfunkchor, Teodor Currentzis and the CEPRODAC at México City. For her new creation she has the support of the Spanish institution Iberescena and the Goethe Institut. She is since 2014 curator for the Bienal de Danza de Cali, Colombia, since 2015 mentee of the Performing Arts Program Berlin, and since 2011 artistic director of Plataforma/SurReal Berlin: Ibero-American Festival for Dance, Performance, Installation and Screendance. www.facebook.com/MarthaHincapieCharry

Chandana teaches classical ballet with a contemporary slant. Her experiences as a modern dancer and yoga teacher have influenced her teaching and she puts a focus on working with the breath, mental flexibility and body awareness. Born in Munich, she studied dance and dance education at the Staatliche Musikhochschule Heidelberg/ Mannheim and completed her studies with a diploma in stage dance and dance pedagogic. As a dancer she successfully gained experience both on a domestic and an international level.Since 1992 she has taught classical ballet for professionals, dance students, adults, personal trainer and intense-workshops. Since 1999 she has been living and working in Berlin as a freelance dancer, performer, dance educator, vinyasa yoga teacher (OM Yoga) and certified Gyrotonic®trainer.She has been a member of the Freyer Ensemble since 2001. www.chandanamhoermann.wixsite.com/meinewebsite

Vincent Jonsson is a Swedish dancer, creator and teacher based in Copenhagen. He is a graduate from the Dance and Choreography program at The Danish National School Of Performing Arts. It is important for him to both create, perform and teach because he believes these different ways of working with dance inform each other and they have an equal importance in his work. He is inspired by and studied with: Matan Levkowich, Shai Faran, David Zambrano, amongst others. He has performed in pieces made by: Marina Abramović, Liz Kinoshita, Cyril Baldy & Tilman O'Donnell, Lea Anderson, amongst others. So far, he has taught and presented his own work in Denmark, Sweden, England and Spain.

Zoë Knights is an Australian choreographer, dancer, and vocalist, based in Berlin. She completed studies in performing arts, contemporary dance and choreography, in Australia and Austria. Zoë's recent work has dealt with the choreographic abstraction of non-dance movement. Currently she is exploring voice and language in relation to the body. Her choreographic work has been supported and shown internationally. She has received prizes for her choreographic and vocal work. As a performer she has worked with Brice Leroux, Mia Lawrence, Martin Nachbar, Cabula6, LawineTorrèn and Jana Unmüssig. Zoë regularly teaches classes in contemporary dance, choreography and composition, and mentors/advises BA and MA level students, in Berlin and abroad. Zoë is an accredited yoga teacher (BWY) with over 14 years of teaching experience.

Mu-Yi Kuo comes from Taipei, Taiwan. She trained in contemporary, classical and Chinese dance in Taiwan and Germany. Since 1995 she has been working as a dancer, choreographer and teacher. As a dancer, she worked with choreographers including Stephanie Thiersch, Anna Konjetzky, Rodolpho Leoni, Canan Erek, Philipp van der Heijden, Pina Bausch, Yaron Shamir, Henrietta Horn, Michele Anne de Mey and Thierry de Mey. As a creator, her debut creation “Cycle C” (2011) was nominated by the Aerowaves European Network as the most outstanding interdisciplinary production of Germany. In 2012, she choreographed the solo theater work “Dance Play” for playwright Ana Mendes, winning the Prize of the Jury Sophiensaele at the 100° Berlin Festival. In 2013 she created an intermedia concert performance “Prisma” together with musicians Ensemble Ruhr during a residency at Pact Zollverein. She has taught in companies and institutions such as Pact Zollverein, Tanzhaus NRW Düsseldorf, ZAIK Köln, Mouvoir Dance Company, Akram Khan Company, Cie Toula, Folkwang Tanzstudio, Ben J. Ripe Company and Polymer DMT. Since 2014, Mu-Yi Kuo has been on faculty of the Folkwang University of the Arts where she teaches dance, movement composition, improvisation and coaches student creations.

CV is only available in German.

After graduating from the University of California, Irvine with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance, Shannon Leypoldt trained at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance under the direction of Summer Lee Rhatigan. Her training includes ballet, modern, gaga, and countertechnique. Shannon has performed with Dorky Park, EYAS Dance Collective, wee dance company, burnsWORK, FACT/SF, Sharp & Fine, and Nine Shards Dance Theater Collective. As member of Wee Dance Company at the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Theater, Görlitz-Zittau she performed choreography by Dan Pelleg & Marko E. Weigert, Shlomi Bitton, Hillel Cogen, and Sommer Ulrickson. Shannon has perform in Taiwan, Israel, Russia, Germany, and the US.

Naomi has been in the world of dance and movement research from a young age. In 2013 she participated in the dance intensive program held in Tanzfabrik Berlin and before hand in several dance schools in Israel where she was born and raised. Along with dancing, Naomi entered the world of Yoga in 2005. At that time she worked for Physicians for Human Rights and was involved in a range of political struggles, mainly with prisoners and refugees' rights in Israel. “At that time, working under very stressful conditions, I discovered the practice of Yoga and the practice of cultivating a sense of well-being and health toward my body, towards myself. In different levels, I feel like yoga saved me. After moving to Berlin I have decided to try and give to others what I have gotten and am still getting from the yoga practice.” After ten years of practice Naomi had completed her yoga teacher's training. Today Naomi is teaching in several yoga studios in Berlin among them Yellow Yoga, FreiStil Yoga and Prostage.

Matteo Marziano Graziano (ITA / DE) is a queer choreographer and performer, based in Berlin: "My approach to contemporary dance and performance is cross-disciplinary, with use of media such as: movement, sound, text both spoken and written, and moving images. I focus on the agency of presence: how bodies - single bodies and collective bodies - perform their liveness and bend the behavioural codes of their own environment, whether this is the stage, the frame of the screen, or the public space. In this frame, my current topics of work are desire and disobedience. My artistic practice deals with somatic resonance, touch, visual metaphors, contemplation, emotional nego- tiation, vibrational exchange, and relational complexity. I explore the physics and the metaphysics of the contemporary moving body. I question its existential properties, connected with the cultural and political implications of being 21st century citizens. As choreographer I have been in residence at a.o. PACT Zollverein, Tanzfabrik Berlin, Dansmakers Amsterdam, and I have worked in state theaters such as Schaubühne Berlin und Aalto Theater Essen. My work has received support from the Senate for Culture and Europe Berlin and the Italian Ministry of Arts and Culture. I am a Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes alumnus and own a MA Choreography summa cum laude from HZT Berlin. I re- ceived as well a danceWEB Scholarship in 2017. As videodance maker, my films screened inter- nationally at CINEDANS Amsterdam, Goethe Institut Hong Kong, IIC Jakarta and I have been published by Università la Sapienza di Roma. As performer, I have taken part in shows and improvi- sational happenings a.o. by / with Lucinda Childs, Ivo Dimchev, Doris Uhlich, Florentina Holzinger, Michele Rizzo, Cecilia Bengolea, Meg Stuart, Emio Greco PC, Cinzia Delorenzi, Tino Sehgal. I lead the artistic collective and art production house CASA * MARZIANO.
Here an interview with me by Diego Agullo.

Yuko Matsuyama aka Yuhki Kaoru is a freelance performance artist (vocal,dance, act) with over 20 years of experience performing in Musical, Revue, Dance show, Tanztheater, and Music project. She received her Pilates Mat Certification from Dolly Kelepecz (DK Body Balancing Method) in Tokyo. Teaching Experience: 2008 – 2010 Tokio Disney Resort (company training, Pilates, Ballet, Modern Dance), theater projects in Tokio (daily training for actors, choreography assistant). Since 2010 teaching at Dance Studios in Berlin (Pilates). www.yuhki.de

A native Californian, Victoria has always been moving. Earning a BFA in Dance from Belhaven University, she now explores wherever dance takes her. In Europe since 2015, Victoria has enjoyed performing with choreographers such as Tanz Company Gervasi, Sara Angius, and the Staatsoper Berlin as well as for films such as “Babylon Berlin” or “Suspiria”. Drawing inspiration from sources as diverse as sign language, algebra and visual art, Victoria is developing her own choreography and often collaborates with Berlin-based musician, Joshua Tennent of the band TwoKites. In Seattle from 2009-2015 she worked with many artists including Catapult Dance, Ilvs Strauss, Alana O Rogers, Tara Dyberg, Coriolis Dance Collective, filmmaker Brad Curran, musician Noah Gundersen. Also a curator, Victoria has collaboratively produced arts events in Seattle and now in Berlin, an upcoming “Nah Dran” through Ada Studios.

Ixchel Mendoza Hernández is a Mexican freelance choreographer and dancer based in Berlin. She completed her Choreography and dance studies at Artez Arnheim (formel EDDC) in 2007. In summer 2007, she received a scholarship of DanceWebEurope,in the frame of ImPulsTanz Festival, Vienna. In 2009 she took part at the Artistic Residency Program exchange for Iberoamerica and Haiti in Mexico city. Since 2011 she extended her practice in to video making in collaboration with the artist Anna Weißenfels. Her piece "Visual Ghost" was co-produced by the Tanztage Berlin 2012 and premiered at Sophiensaele. From 2013 till 2015 she had being engaged at the MA SoDA, HZT in Berlin investigating the phenomena "Visual Ghost". In 2016 she got chosen for the Einstiegsförderung for the research of her project: "Two Identical Mirrored". As a dancer she worked for Kat Válastur, shifts, Daniel Wittkopp, Elpida Orfanidou, Amit Jacobi and Laurie Young

Samuel Minguillon started his education in Tenerife, his native island where he graduated in Performing Arts. He moved to Madrid and Barcelona to continue his studies and soon he started to work as an actor, dancer and teacher, assistant choreographer and creating his own work as well. He has been dancing with Tenerife Danza Lab (Tenerife), Cia Sonia Rodriguez (Barcelona), Plan B Company (Barcelona), Toula Limnaios (Berlin) and assisting Royston Maldoon and Tamara Mac Lord in the production Grandes Pasos. The last years he has been dancing in Spain, France, Turkey, Germany, Brasil, Russia, Belgium and The Netherlands with choreographers like Alfredo Bravo, Aranxta Sagardoy, Helena Berthelius, Toula Limnaios, Mateo Grazziano, Gabriela Suarez, Randi de Vlieghe a.o.

Jiska Morgenthal works as an independent dancer, choreographer and Shiatsu Seitai therapist since 1998. She studied dance at EDDC Arnhem and choreography at the Laban Centre London (MA Choreography) and concluded her training in Shiatsu-Seitai do in Anma Therapy at the A.P.S.S.T in Lisbon in 2003. Her choreographies were commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, Capital of Culture 2001 and Expo’98. She danced in projects a.o. Rui Horta, Nigel Charnock and Minako Seki and participated in numerous labs for contemporary dance, improvisation and real time composition. Since 2008 she also works as assistant of production and direction for image shows and events and gives courses in movement training for managers. Since July 2015 she works as assistant for the Dance Intensive program at Tanzfabrik Berlin.

Gisela Müller studied dance in Paris, Amsterdam (SNDO) and New York. She was a member of several dance companies before founding, in 1992, The Move Company for which she choreographed numerous pieces. She was granted scholarships for artistic work both in Germany and abroad. Since 1988 she is teaching regularly in various institutions and studios. Since 2004 she is member of the board of Tanzfabrik Berlin and responsible for the artistic and educational programme of Berlin’s Tanzfabrik School and the director of the Dance Intensive programme. From 2006 until 2010, Gisela Müller was visiting professor at the Inter-University Dance Department / HZT in Berlin (Hochschulübergreifendes Zentrum Tanz) where she invented and co-directed the BA course in Contemporary Dance, Context, Choreography. Beside she is a member of the decision making board of the east European network for performing art Nomad Dance Academy since 2012.

Katja Münker, dancer, choreographer, Feldenkrais practitioner. After her training and practice as physiotherapist she studied Feldenkrais Method (1996-200), contemporary dance and instant composition. She was mentored through her choreographic processes by Ingo Reulecke und Martin Nachbar. Solo projects and artistic cooperations with Alex Arteaga, Bergrecherche, Amos Hetz, Ingo Reulecke et al. Artistic research and formats with AREAL_Artistic Research Lab Berlin et al. National and international teaching (Feldenkrais, Contemporary Dance, improvisation/instant composition and creative processes), publications and contributions for conferences. www.movement-muenker.de, www.kunst-im-gehen.de 

Katja Mustonen (FIN/GER) is a Finnish dance maker and teacher, currently based in Berlin, working as a nomad. She graduated as dancer in Finland 2004, and holds a MA degree in "Contemporary Dance Education"(MA CoDE, HfMDK,Frankfurt 2010). Since 2008, she’s been teaching Contemporary Dance, Improvisation and Contact Improvisation internationally in institutions, festivals and other venues for dance. In her artistic work, she is curious about the states of presence and body’s ability to transform, embody, and transmit images into knowledge, emotions, language and atmosphere’s. Also, merging photography, video, sound and text together with materials or objects continues fascinating her in terms of finding more ways to express ideas and execute movement, creating the larger body of her artistic work.

see german website

Natascha Noack investigates the intersections of movement, music, language and film. She studied dance and movement in Berlin, Bielefeld (dansart) and Paris before deepening her knowledge of the traditional art forms in Guinee, Mali, Senegal and Burkina Faso. She found particular inspiration in the work of Koffi Koko, Désiré Somé and Elsa Wolliaston for whom she worked as an assistant at the ‘Theatertreffen Berlin’ and in an educational project in France. She teaches Contemporary African Dance throughout Europe, collaborates in the creation of stage performances with artists of different backgrounds, translates dance and film theory and is a member of the selection commission of Generation, a section of the International Film Festival Berlin.

Maria Novella Tattanelli, trained at Opus Ballet in Firenze and attended workshops abroad like The place London as well as reciving a Scholarship with Tipperary Dance Platform, Ireland and Nod workshops, Torino. Further more she continued with the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company. In addition being exposed to gaga tecnique, it has influenced her a great deal as result learning, creating, discovering and exploring herself further as a dancer and as an artist. In Israel she closely worked with Sharon Vaisvaseer and Eyal Dadon and getting close to companies such as Batsheva ensamble, L‐E‐V by Sharon Eyal, Imbal Pinto & Avshalom Pollok. Actually she is dancing at Cie Sonia Rodriguez Hernandez in Berlin.

Anna Nowicka is a dance maker and a Saphire® practitioner, weaving her artistic research out of imagery work, dreaming principles, and attentive embodiment. She is expanding this kaleidoscopic approach during her PhD studies at the Polish Film School in Łódź. Anna’s work has been recognized with the DAAD Prize, Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, and Tanzstipendium from the city of Berlin. This is only possible through the continuous production support from the Art Stations Foundation in Poznań. Anna taught a.o. for Meg Stuart, at Tanzfabrik, SMASH Berlin, HZT Berlin and at the Alternative Academy of Dance in the Art Stations Foundation in Poznań.  www.annanowicka.com

Jenny Ocampo, born in Colombia, is choreographer and dancer based in Berlin. Her method based on improvisation, intertwines perception of inner and outer worlds into dance and performance. She received her dance degree at the Folkwang University of Arts, in Essen. During this period, she was chosen by the choreographer Pina Bausch to dance her icon pieces Sacre du Printemps and Tannhäuser. After that, she worked for several years as dancer for the Städtische Bühne in Münster. Since 2009, she has been working independently in Germany and South America. She is one of the founders of theHidden tracks company. Parallel to it, she works on her own artistic label expanded being project in Berlin. Currently, she is completing her (M.A) in Dance Studies at the Free University in Berlin. http://www.jennieocampo.com

coming soon

Enrico Paglialunga is a Berlin based freelance dancer, teacher and choreographer. Currently he is collaborating with Theater Strahl Berlin & DeDanser (NL) and the theater director/choreographer Helena Waldmann. He had his dance education between Rome and New York, he worked and collaborate with Enzo Celli (IT), Marko Weigert & Dan Pelleg (DE), Brice Mousset(USA), Eun Hwa Nary Shin (USA), Sonia Rodriguez (DE) and Sommer Ulrikson (DE). Before entering the freelance scene he worked for “Wee Dance Company” at the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Theater in Görlitz. As Choreographer, he created the piece “A New Beginning” for 6 dancers for the production “Kurzstrecke”| Wee dance company (DE) and " A step towards", a solo that recently won the 1st Prize at the Choreographic Competition Nowa Huta Kultury Center of Krakòw. In March 2017 Enrico has been invited as Guest Choreographer at the NATIONAL DANCE ACADEMY of ROME, to create his last dance piece “Pantarei”, for the students of the contemporary department. Enrico has been invited to teach his training at Tanzfabrik & Dock 11 Berlin, TanzKompanie des Landesbühnen Sachsen- Carlos Matos, WeeDance company Gh-Theater, Profitraining Leipzig LOFFT Theater and more… Currently he is attending a Bachelor in DanceMovement Theraphy at Arte.do/University of Salento(IT).

Judith Sánchez Ruíz (USA/Cuba) is a Cuban born choreographer, improviser and teacher based in New York since 1999, and relocated to Berlin in 2011. She began her dance studies at the age of 11 at the National School of Arts Ciudad de la Habana. She has worked with Trisha Brown Dance Company; Sasha Waltz & Dancers ensemble; David Zambrano; DD Dorvillier; Jeremy Nelson, Deborah Hay and Edivaldo Ernesto among others. Judith Sanchez Ruiz’s has received numerous grants and commissions to support her career and has been commissioned choreographic works in the US and Europe. She teachs regularly in Europe and US.
www.judithsanchezruiz.com

Geraldo Si began his dance career in 1981 with Pantanaliadança, Brazil, after having been taking dance classes for three years. In São Paulo, he worked as dancer and actor with Antonio Abujamra, Geraldo Thomas, Penha de Souza, theTeatro Brasileiro de Dança, Marzipan Dance Cia amongst others as well as participated in a number of T.V. Series. In 1990 Geraldo came to Germany to join the Wuppertaler Tanztheater led by Pina Bausch, where he danced as a soloist for four years. Subsequently he collaborated with Raimund Hoghe (“Geraldos solo” in 1996 and “Tanzgeschichten” in 2003), Stephanie Thiersch, Healing Theatre Köln, Rodolpho Leoni Dance, Vera Sander Art Connect and Cocoondance. In 1996 Geraldo founded x.x.y. theater in Wuppertal for which he directed several productions. From 2003 till 2010 he had been the artistic director of Sommertanz Junge Talente, a dance theatre project for the youth, that was a pilotscheme from the Kunststiftung NRW. Inspired by the collaboration with Suprapto Suryodarmo, for the past twelve years Geraldo Si has focused most of his work on improvisation and the concept of “growing through movement”. In 2002 he initiated an ongoing series of events „SichtLaut“. On these performance evening dancers, actors and musicians experiment within the borders of improvisation.

Mélanie Sorin was born in Lisbon and is both Portuguese and French. Passionate about movement, she is a freelance dancer and teacher based in Berlin. She studied contemporary dance in Lisbon and London, received her BA and post-graduate diploma and has been working with choreographers with distinct movement approaches and improvisation. Mélanie was introduced to the Gaga movement language in 2010. She travelled to Tel Aviv, Israel, where she trained and became a qualified teacher of Gaga in 2012.

With a background in ballet and environmental sciences, Jolika Sudermann (Berlin) studied dance theatre in Hamburg and MIME in Amsterdam (AHK). In her work she explores the least common denominators of human life, diving into phenomenons like pulse, baby movement or spoken language. Her prizewinning duet „A Talk“ (2011, with A.Söderberg) has excessively traveled Europe and was shown in NYC in 2014. Like her most recent piece, „Infanten“ (Stuttgarter Tanz- und Theaterpreis 2015, to be seen at Sophiensaele in March 2016), „Pulse“ is based on an improvisation score and on close, transparent contact between performer and spectator. jolika.theaterblogs.de

Harumi Terayama was born in Osaka, Japan. Currently, she lives in Berlin as a freelance artist. A passion for dance guided her childhood and brought her to the US in 2000. After graduating from Walnut Hill School and The Juilliard School, she danced with many choreographers as a freelance artist and as a member of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet in New York City. In 2012, she joined GöteborgsOperans Danskompani in Sweden. She moved her base to Berlin, Germany in 2014. Parallel to her dance career, video editing became another creative outlet. Her first dance film “Replaced Vision” (Premiered in 2013, Sweden) was selected for various international film festivals. She has collaborated with choreographers and dancers to create videos for visual installations, promotional videos, and documentation. She is also a certified Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis trainer.

Diana Thielen usually works in diverse functions within the sphere of movement. Her projects moving in and around dance/yoga/pedagogy, artistic exchange and collaborations, as well as organizing and administrating meetings. As a student of education and gender studies, Diana is particularly excited about the political aspect of her academic work and is sharing the intersectional inquiry of body politics, axis syllabus and yoga at her blog: http://www.movementactivism.com

After his Ballet School (Royal Academy of Dance, Oxford; London Contemporary Dance School; scholarship for the English National Ballet School) Matthew followed the English National Ballet - Company, until he worked for Dance Berlin, David Nixon, Susan Quin and Deutschen Oper. Finally he joined the Scapino Ballet.

Matthew has got the authority to teach looseness and musicality beside his taut and concentrated training.. He´s using a combination of classical and modern music for teaching classical technique. He teaches solid technique for all levels.

see German website

Ildikó studied dance in education at Rotterdam Dance Academy in the Netherlands. After graduating with a B.A., a scholarship of the German Academic Exchange Service led her to New York City in 2005. She’s worked with Bill Young/Colleen Thomas & Company, Susan Marshall & Company as well as Kota Yamazaki among others. From 2012 - 2015 she was a member of the Forsythe Company. Since fall 2015, she is a freelancer dancer and dance teacher, involved in projects with Thierry de Mey at Charleroi Danses in Brussels, Fabrice Mazliah (Frankfurt), Sebastian Matthias (Berlin) as well as Irina Pauls in Leipzig. She has taught at Tanzlabor 21 (Frankfurt), La Raffinerie (Brussels), K3 in Hamburg, Palucca Schule Dresden, the Hungarian Ballet Academy (Budapest) among others.  www.ildiko-toth.com

By experimenting with aleatoric, improvisational, and indeterminate processes, Andrew Wass formalizes the coincidental and emphasizes the conscious processes of composition that are the generative source of much of his works. Influenced heavily by his undergraduate studies of Biochemistry at U.C. San Diego, Andrew works by creating a defined, almost crystalline palette in order to generate a myriad of possibilities. His initial exposure to improvisation was through the Lower Left Performance Collective’s summer workshops in San Diego in 1998. Since then he has performed and taught at festivals, theaters, and studios throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. A graduate of the MA SoDA program of the HZT, he is currently pursuing an MPhil/PhD through the University of Chichester.  lowerleft.org   wasswasswass.com

Nina Wehnert works a dancer and movement teacher. She graduated from SEAD (Salzburg), bewegungs-art (Freiburg) and studied Yoga at OM Yoga Center NY. She teaches BMC®, Contact Improvisation, Embodied Anatomy and Yoga in daily classes, workshops, retreats and festivals around Europe aswell as at HZT Berlin and SEAD. She has great joy to immerse deeply into the exploration of movement, sensing and perceiving, the development of the body and the quest for being human which led her to study intensly BMC® with moveus and Bonnie Bainbridge-Cohen. She is certified as a Somatic Movement Educator (BMC®), Practitioner (BMC®), and in Embodied Anatomy & Yoga.

Idan Yoav was trained at Patricia Needleman Dance Studio in Jerusalem, Graduated from the Academy High School for Music and Dance is Jerusalem and studied Multidisciplinary Arts at the Tel-Aviv University. Reworded as an Outstanding Dancer by the Israeli Ministry of Culture, amongst 2nd prize at the Mia Arbatova Ballet Competition, Scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation for excellence in dance and was a member of DanceWeb program at the Impulstanz Dance Festival in Vienna, Austria. Danced at the Batsheva Ensamble, Inbal Pinto & Avshalom Polak Dance Company, Norrdans, Gallim Dance, Zuhkov Dance Theatre, De De Dance. A guest teacher at Tanzfabrik Berlin, Chung-Ang University Seoul and Korea National University of Arts Seoul. Since 2009 has been choreographing and presented in several festivals. Currently works as a freelance dancer with Sasha Waltz & Guests and choreographer Sebastian Mattias.

Sigal Zouk born in Israel. She studied dance in Emek Yizreeldance school. and was a member of the ‘Batsheva` ensemble (Artistic directors: Ohad Naharin, Naomi Perlov). 1997 she moved to Berlin and worked with Helge Musial, Joseph Timm, Luc Dunbery. 1999-2004 Sigal joined ‘Sasha Walts & guests‘. 2005-2008 she worked with Meg Stuart in ‘replacement‘, ‘maybe forever‘ (choreogaphic asistent), ‘all together now‘. Since 2007 she is working with theater director Laurent Chetouane and currently rehearsing in their sixth collaboration ‘publikumsbeschimpfung’.