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    Guests

      • Gitta Barthel

        Gitta Barthel (Dr. phil.) is involved in artistic, teaching and research work. She teaches Contemporary Dance and Choreography at universities and training centres and was a research associate at the Institute for Movement/Performance Studies at the University of Hamburg, where she completed a doctorate on โ€œChoreografische Praxis. Vermittlung in Tanzkunst und Kultureller Bildungโ€ (The Practice of Choreography. Mediation in the Art of Dance and Cultural Education) (transcript 2017). She is co-author of a publication entitled โ€œChoreografischer Baukastenโ€ (A Choreography Kit) (published by Gabriele Klein, transcript 2011).

      • Christine Baumann Leuthold

        As a dancer:

        Prix de Lausanne, Ballet Royal de Wallonie, Deutsche Oper Berlin

        Choreographed by:

        George Balanchine, Maurice Bรฉjart, Christopher Bruce, Kurt Jooss, Kenneth MacMillan, Hans van Manen, John Neumeier, Marius Petipa, Roland Petit, etc.

        As a therapist:

        • Physiotherapy, osteopathy, spiral dynamicsยฎ
        • Own practice since 2012 (Praxis Physiotherapie & Tanz)

        As a lecturer:

        • Dance medicine (tamed, Tanzmedizin Deutschland)
        • Anatomy for dancers and dance teachers
        • Fascia techniques
        • Applied Dance Anatomy/Nutrition (BA Contemporary Dance, ZHdK)
      • Eric Beauchesne

        Born in Quรฉbec, Eric grew up fishing and hunting before discovering dance at the age of 16. A graduate from ร‰cole supรฉrieure de danse du Quรฉbec, he has been on stage with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe and Les Ballets Jazz de Montrรฉal, as well as with Canadian contemporary dance icons such as La Fondation Jean-Pierre Perrault, Paul-Andrรฉ Fortier, Louise Lecavalier and Crystal Pite. Company member since 2004, Eric currently collaborates with Kidd Pivot as associate artistic director, and stages Piteโ€™s work on companies worldwide including the National Ballet of Canada, Ballet Zรผrich, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Ballet British Columbia and, most recently, Gรถteborgsยญยญ Operans Dansยญkompani. Eric has served as guest teacher and faculty for several organizations such as Arts Umbrella, TransFormation, Springboard, Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation and Dutch National Ballet Academy, as well as rehearsal director for Nederlands Dans Theater. He currently resides in Holland and devotes much of his spare time advocating for climate action and sustainable practices in the dance world.

      • Jan Burkhardt

        Body Awareness
        Somatic practices can serve as a means to access information through sensation, that otherwise might remain hidden within the deeper layers of our bodies and our subconscious being. In this workshop we will explore principles and approaches to movement, touch, space and time that are inspired by Body Mind Centering (BMC), Laban Bartenieff Movement Studies, Feldenkrais and others. Our explorations can enrich our artistic practice, differentiate and widen our body consciousness and trigger new perspectives of reflection.

        Jan Burkhardt has been dancing, directing, teaching and coaching in the field of contemporary dance for many years. HIs most passionate curiosity is to approach artistic settings through the use of and the trust in the intelligence of the body. Jan works as an independent artist, as guest lecturer in numerous institutions worldwide, and holds a position as professor for dance in artistic context at the Center of Contemporary Dance (CDG/ZZT) Cologne.

        Portrait of Jan Burkhardt
      • Dimitri Chamblas

        Captivated by dance, Dimitri Chamblas joined the Paris Operaโ€™s celebrated dance school at the age of ten. During his career, he notably collaborated with creators such as Jean-Paul Gaultier and Karl Lagerfeld, composer Heiner Goebbels, artists Christian Boltanski, Andy Goldsworthy, Dan Colen, Xavier Veilhan, choreographers William Forsythe, Boris Charmatz, Lil Buck, Mathilde Monnier, Benjamin Millepied. His work has been performed in venues such as the Tate Modern (London), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (Los Angeles), the Paris Opera, St Markโ€™s Church (New York), among others.

        In 1992, Chamblas was co-founder of EDNA with choreographer Boris Charmatz. Together they conceived performances, organized events and exhibitions, and published books. Their duet โ€œA bras le Corpsโ€ has been performed on every continent in world-renowned theatres and festivals. This duet has been part of the Paris Opera ballet repertory since 2017.

        In 1996, he created the โ€œresearch and writing residenceโ€ with Mathilde Monnier (at that time Director of the Centre Chorรฉgraphique National in Montpellier, France), an opportunity for artists to create personal creative space outside of the traditional production process.

        In 2013, as digital curator, he invented โ€œMutant Stageโ€ together with curator and producer Amรฉlie Couillaud: a series of ten art films for the French Lafayette Anticipations โ€“ Fondation dโ€™entreprise Galeries Lafayette, all shot in the building designed by OMA / Rem Koolhaas.

        In 2014, Dimitri Chamblas was appointed artistic director of the Paris Operaโ€™s 3rd Stage. He founded this creative digital platform in collaboration with Benjamin Millepied, and invited artists such as Glen Keane, Xavier Veilhan, Bret Easton Ellis, Julien Prรฉvieux, William Forsythe, Rubber Legz, United Visual Artists, Lil Buck, Barbara Hanigan and Jonas Kaufmann to create original artworks inspired by the Paris Opera. 

        Always curious about technological advances and their possible applications, he joined forces with the Google cultural institute in 2015 to create the first immersive dance film captured in 360-degree vision, based on an original dance piece choreographed by Benjamin Millepied.

        In 2017, he launched Studio Dimitri Chamblas in Paris and Los Angeles, a structure that hosts all of his projects and collaborations, including a duet with the รฉtoile dancer Marie-Agnรจs Gillot, his participation in the creation of Boris Charmatzโ€™s โ€œ10 000 Gesturesโ€, a creation with architect Franรงois Perrin for the Performa Biennale in New York, and a duet with artist and musician Kim Gordon.

        That same year, he became the new Dean of Dance at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Los Angeles and created โ€œHHUMANNโ€, a work performed by 75 dancers in the streets of Downtown Los Angeles and at the Hauser & Wirth Gallery.

        In 2018/2019, Dimitri Chamblas created โ€œSlow Showโ€ a 50-performer choreography and โ€œLos Angelesโ€ a solo done in collaboration with painter Claire Tabouret and dancer Spenser Therberge. They have been performed at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), REDCAT and Mak Center, Schindler house (all Los Angeles), as well as at the LUMA Foundation in Arles.

        In June 2019, as part of the LA Philharmonics programme, Chamblas directed โ€œCrowd outโ€, an opera by David Lang performed by 1,000 singers at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

        In 2019, he was made a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture.

        [Translate to English:] Dimitri Chamblas. Photo: Joshua Rose.
      • Andrew Champlin

        Andrew Champlin is an American dance artist based in Berlin, Germany. He has performed in repertoire by George Balanchine, Marius Petipa, Michel Fokine, Josรฉ Limรณn, Paul Taylor, Laura Dean, Merce Cunningham, and Xavier le Roy, as well as originating roles in new works by David Gordon, Miguel Gutierrez, Pam Tanowitz, Ryan McNamara, Heather Kravas, Madeline Hollander and Jillian Peรฑa, among others.  

        After an early apprenticeship with Oregon Ballet Theatre and pre-professional training at The School of American Ballet, Champlin found new perspectives on movement and performance in Manhattanโ€™s experimental dance scene. Champlin has been nominated for a New York dance and performance Bessie Award for Outstanding Performer and has toured extensively across North America, Europe, and Asia. 

        While pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree from The New School University, Champlin encountered the concept of liberal arts education and conducted a scientific research questioning how dance pedagogy comes into universities in a US context. Overseen by Danielle Goldman, this study advanced his critical perspective on how the university, the โ€œfree sceneโ€, and the โ€œballet worldโ€ interact and planted the seed for his scholarship on embodied technique. 

        Champlin's interests in pairing artistic practice and academic research led him on the path of further interdisciplinary study. In 2019, Champlin earned a Masters of Arts degree in Choreography with a specialization in Performative Practices from DOCH School of Dance and Circus in Stockholm, where he studied under the direction of Chrysa Parkinson. 

        Champlin has created performance works and films about seeing embodiment as an image and a process simultaneously. His work asks viewers to consider how embodied knowledge structures physicalities and worldviews. 

        Since 2018, he has been a guest lecturer at Hochschulรผbergreifendes Zentrum Tanz Berlin (UdK/HZT) where he has implemented seminars, technique classes, and workshops that invite students to process how their contemporary dance practices relate to specific histories of embodiment and geopolitics. 

        A growing interest in anti-racist and feminist scholarship has led Champlin toward a doctorate in Artistic Research. Champlin is currently taking part in the new PEERS program at ZHdK, where he is developing an artistic PhD research: a manual of critical dance pedagogy that calls upon his teacher-assistant relationship with ballet instructor Janet Panetta and other occasions of embodied knowledge transmission.  

        Portrait of Andrew Champlin
      • Anne Collod

        Initially graduated in biology and environmental science, Anne Collod is a French contemporary dancer and choreographer. She performs with different French choreographers then co-founds the Quatuor Albrecht Knust (1993โ€“2001), a collective of dancers dedicated to the re-enactment of 20th-century choreographic works. 
        At the beginning of the 2000s, while participating in various dance projects and continuing to work with scores on reenactments, Anne Collod axes her work on โ€œUtopias of the collectiveโ€. This leads her to meet the American choreographer, pioneer of post-modern dance Anna Halprin in San Francisco and to develop a long-term artistic collaboration with her until her disappearance. In 2008, she namely presents a first reinterpretation of Halprinโ€™s master piece, โ€œParades & Changesโ€ (1965): โ€œParades & changes, replaysโ€, followed by an expanded version in 2011, wins a Bessie Award in New York 2009 and is performed worldwide since its premiere. 
        In 2014, after being the recipient of Villa Medicis Hors les Murs, Anne Collod creates โ€œThe Parliament of the invisiblesโ€, a dance piece about the links between the departed and the living, haunted by a German โ€œDanse Macabreโ€ from the 30s. In 2019, exploring the esthetical and political issues of todayโ€™s reinterpretation of soli and group pieces of American choreographers Ruth Saint-Denis and Ted Shawn, she creates โ€œMoving alternativesโ€.  
        Anne Collod is also interested in site specific creation and proposes in collaboration with the French graphic designer Mathias Poisson (faire) cabane, a project for a choir of amateurs and wooden elements that creates moving and ephemeral huts. In 2017, โ€œExposureโ€, an immersive choreographic, sound and light project allows her to explore energy transfers between a performer and an industrial environment. 
        Following โ€œMoving alternativesโ€, Anne Collod is currently working on a web-series documentary, โ€œAlternative bodiesโ€, which documents and extends the fabrication of โ€˜Othernessโ€™ in dance. 
        She is also regularly invited to teach in different schools and dance programmes, and is trained in the Feldenkraรฏs method.

        Portrait of Anne Collod
      • Sebastian Ellrich

        Sebastian Ellrich, born in 1984, started his artistic career as assistant costume designer at miscellaneous theatres and operas, for which he soon realized his own designs. Since 2004 he has been working nationwide as costume and stage designer for opera, film, dance and theatre; i.a. at Schauspiel Kรถln, Oper und Schauspiel Leipzig, Deutsche Oper am Rhein Dรผsseldorf/Duisburg, Staatstheater Nรผrnberg, Staatstheater Mainz, Kampnagel Hamburg, Sophiensรคle Berlin, Prinzregententheater Mรผnchen, Schauspiel Frankfurt, Cuviellรฉs-Theater Mรผnchen, Markgrรคfliches Opernhaus Bayreuth, Nationaltheater Pristina, Oper Oviedo, Budapest Spring Festival, Theater Bielefeld, Theater Chemnitz, Theater Freiburg.

        Since 2011 he also devotes himself to his own prรชt-ร -porter label and showed his collections regularly at the berlin fashion week.

        Photo: Portrait of Sebastian Ellrich
      • Kerstin Evert

        Kerstin Evert studied Applied Theatre Studies in Giessen, was a doctoral student in the research training group โ€œBody Stagingsโ€ at the Free University of Berlin from 1997 to 2000 and wrote her doctoral thesis on โ€œDanceLab โ€“ Contemporary Dance and New Technologiesโ€ (doctorate awarded the Dance Science Prize NRW 2001). From 2002 to 2006 she was dramaturge at Kampnagel and founded the choreographic centre K3 | Tanzplan Hamburg there in August 2006, which she has directed ever since. As a lecturer, she has taught in Berlin, Bern, Giessen, Hamburg, Frankfurt am Main and Salzburg, among other places. She is a member of various juries and advisory boards and has been on the board of the European Dancehouse Network since 2017.

        [Translate to English:] Kerstin Evert. Foto: Thies Rรคtzke
      • Jule Flierl

        Jule Flierl is a dance and voice artist from Berlin. She develops practices that conceive of the voice as a dancer, translating dance into the auditory realm. Flierl collaborates with choreographer Antonia Baehr Die Hรถrposaune live / film (2022) and ToneDance artist Irena Z. Tomaลพin U.F.O. - Hommage to Katalin Ladik (2021). Jule graduated from SEAD Salzburg and holds an MA in choreography at EXERCE Montpellier.

      • Emanuel Gat

        Artistic Director and Choreographer

        Emanuel Gat was born in Israel in 1969. His first encounter with dance was at the age of 23, during a workshop led by Israeli choreographer Nir Ben Gal. A couple of months later, he joined the Liat Dror Nir Ben Gal Company with whom he toured internationally. Emanuel started working as an independent choreographer in 1994.
        For ten years, Emanuel participated as a choreographer in multiple projects, before establishing his company in 2004. With Emanuel Gat Dance, he created several pieces that achieved international success. Winter Voyage and the Rite of Spring created in 2004 at Festival dโ€™Uzรจs were represented more than 350 times all over the world. K626, created in 2006, premiered at Festival de Marseille and was followed by 3for2007 in 2007. That same year, Emanuel chose to settle in France, basing the company at the Maison Intercommunale de la Danse in Istres. Silent Ballet was the first piece created in France and presented in Festival Montpellier Danse in 2008, before Winter Variations in 2009. In 2011 Emanuel created Brilliant Corners for ten dancers, for which he also created the soundtrack.
        Emanuel Gat was associated artist of the 33rd edition of Festival Montpellier Danse in 2013. With his company, he developed the Up Close Up project, proposing two creations: The Goldlandbergs and Corner Etudes; a photographic installation Itโ€™s people, how abstract can it get?; and a choreographic event, Danses de Cour. In the following year, Emanuel reinvested the Agora with Plage Romantique, a piece for nine dancers. In 2016, after three editions in association with Festival Montpellier Danse, Emanuel created SUNNY, a piece for ten interpreters and the musician Awir Lรฉon live on stage. In 2017 Emanuel presented his second project as part of his residency at Montpellier Danse, which included two productions: a unique collaboration with the Ballet de lโ€™Opera de Lyon, TENWORKS (for Jean-Paul), a programme of ten short pieces mixing dancers from both companies; and DUOS, a series of duets presented at different public locations around the city of Montpellier. In 2016 Emanuel was associated with the Scรจne Nationale dโ€™Albi as well. In 2017 Emanuel was present at Festival dโ€™Avignon for the first time with Story Water, a project by Emanuel Gat Dance and Ensemble Modern for 11 dancers and 13 musicians at the Cour dโ€™Honneur du Palais des Papes. Starting from the season 2018โ€“2019, Emanuel Gat has been associated artist at the Thรฉรขtre National de Chaillot for three years.
        Emanuel Gat is regularly invited by prestigious French and international companies for which he creates or transmits pieces, such as Ballet de lโ€™Opรฉra de Paris, Ballet du Rhin, Ballet National de Marseille, Ballet de Lorraine, Opรฉra de Lyon, Sydney Dance Company, Tanztheater Bremen and Candoco Dance Company, Ballet du Grand Thรฉรขtre de Genรจve, Los Angeles Dance Project, Ballet Royal de Suรจde, Cedar Lake (New York) and Ballet British Columbia.
        Emanuel has been awarded numerous prizes, such as a grant from Fondation du Ballet Master Albert Gaubiers in 1995, the Rosenblum Price in 2003 and the Landau Price in 2004. In 2006 he was named member of IcExcellence, the Israeli Culture Excellence Foundation. Emanuel also received a Bessie Award for the presentation of Voyage dโ€™Hiver and The Rite of Spring at Lincoln Center Festival in NY in 2006. In 2012 he was nominated once again for the Bessie Awards with Prรฉludes et Fugues for Ballet du Grand Thรฉรขtre de Genรจve at Joyce Theater in NY. Emanuel creates and transmits pieces in the framework of pedagogical training as well.

        Site  |  Facebook  |  Instagram  |  YouTube  |  Vimeo  |  Twitter

        Emanuel Gat. Foto: Julia Gat
      • Michael Getman

        Michael (Misha) Getman was born in Israel to parents Dora and Zechariah, who immigrated to Is-rael from Soviet Leningrad after a failed-plane hijacking by young Jewish dissidents to escape the USSR in 1970 โ€“ โ€Operation Weddingโ€.  
        His professional education was at the Bat Dor School of dance, directed by Jennette Ordman. As an interpreter, he gained experience at the Batsheva junior ensemble directed by Naomi Perlov. He later joined the Batsheva dance company, where he worked for three years with the choreographer and artistic director Ohad Naharin. In 1999 he joined the Ballet Freiburg Pretty Ugly, where he worked till 2004 with the choreographer Amanda Miller. He also worked at the Staatstheater Saarbrucken, directed by the choreographer Marguerite Donlon. As a performer, he had the privilege of learning and interpreting works by master choreographers, including Ohad Naharin, Amanda K Miller, Marguerite Donlon, and William Forsythe. Since 2007 Getman has been developing his work and choreographic structure. He examines and is curious about the relationship between our bodily actions, cognitive responses, and the ability to respond to the ongoing demands of experience with a range of physical arousal and emotions. His works have been presented in various festivals and venues, including Israel Museum (Jerusalem), Suzanne Dellal Center (Tel Aviv), Open Look (St.Petersburg), Holland Dance (Den Haag), Nowy Teater (Warsaw), Thรฉรขtre National de Chaillot (Paris), Schauspielhaus (Hamburg). Michael also works in Theatre and Ethnography, researching and facilitating artistic expression with various communities and cultures.  
        He teaches choreography, composition, and improvisation workshops for professional and non-professional. 
        Since 2020 Getman has been working towards an M.A. at the University of Huddersfield, England.

        Portrait of Michael Getman
      • Rafaรซle Giovanola

        Rafaรซle Giovanola is a Swiss choreographer and director, born in Baltimore, USA.

        She studied at Marika Besobrasova in Monte Carlo. Following her first engagement as a soloist in Turin. After one season in Turin, Rafaรซle Giovanola was engaged by Egon Madsen for the Frankfurt Ballet. There, she danced the classical repertoire and co-operated with several modern choreographers like Jiri Kylian, Uwe Scholz and William Forsythe, the Frankfurt Ballet choreographer. Under his direction she stayed with the Frankfurt Ballet for eight years, being involved in all important productions. During her engagement in Frankfurt she met the guest-choreographers Daniel Larrieu, Stephen Petronio and Christoph Nel. Since 1990, when the Choreographic Theatre was founded, Rafaรซle Giovanola is a member of Pavel Mikulรกtikโ€™s company. In 1995 Rafaรซle Giovanola was mentioned in the annual poll of critics of ballett international/tanz aktuell in the category exceptional dancing personalities.

        In March 2000 she grounded, together with Rainald EndraรŸ the performative collective CocoonDance. An important mainstay is the Swiss canton of Valais, where the company has been co-produced since 2005 and has produced eight premieres to date. Since 2020 CocoonDanceArtiste associรฉ is at the Thรฉรขtre du Crochetan in Monthey. Since 2000, the company has produced about forty full-length productions which have toured five continents and been invited to showcase festivals in Germany and Switzerland.

      • Raphael Moussa Hillebrand

        Born in Hong Kong to parents of German and West African descent, raised in Berlin and educated through Hip Hop, Raphael Moussa Hillebrand uses his multifaceted cultural background to realize his vision of Hip Hop Dance theater. Since 2005 he regularly worked with the Goethe Institut. Through his extensive work internationally, he cultivated an understanding and instinct for social justice and sensitivity for the complexities of cultural identity. He regularly leads international cultural and cooperation programs and creates dance theater productions with the local dancers.

        Portrait of Raphael Moussa Hillebrand
      • Arianne Hoffmann

        Arianne Hoffmann connects the bodyโ€™s capacity for movement with questions of agency and resilience. She teaches and performs dance improvisation, at times drawing from Simone Fortiโ€™s Logomotion method. Her works for the stage have been shown at Movement Research at the Judson Church (New York City), REDCAT & Highways Performance Space (Los Angeles), Sophiensaele (Berlin), among others. She initiated a dance podcast in 2007, curated festivals and co-founded ShowBoxLA, an organization for experimental dance in Los Angeles. Now based in rural Germany, she engages in kulturelle Bildung in order to create awareness for dance as a means for civic engagement. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of California, Los Angeles where she studied closely with Simone Forti and Susan Foster.

        Image: Portrait of Arianne Hoffmann
      • Jason Jacobs

        Jason Jacobs is a dancer, choreographer and teacher based in Frankfurt, Germany. He has created dance routines and performed internationally with renowned choreographers and companies, including Hofesh Shechter, Johannes Wieland, Complexions Contemporary Ballet and North Carolina Dance Theater. In 2014 he received a Master in Contemporary Dance Education from HfMDK Frankfurt. He is currently developing choreographic projects as MuddyBoots together with choreographer Ekaterine Giorgadze. He teaches in dance institutions throughout Europe, is a faculty member at the Anton Bruckner University in Linz, Austria, and rehearsal director for TanzMainz.
        www.muddyboots-dance.com

        Jason Jacobs. Foto: Ralf Grรถmminger
      • Joanna Leล›nierowska

        Joana Leลกnierowska has created the first Polish dance space/choreographic development center at Art Stations Foundation in Poznaล„ where she introduced avantgarde choreography to local audience and intensively supported the development of Polish dance artists. In years 2019โ€“2023 Joanna run also a performance programme of choreographic refelction and research โ€“ ACZIUN โ€“ as part of Muzeum Susch, Switzerland. Parallel to her work as curator and writer, Joanna has been developing an independent practice as visual dramaturge, choreographer and light & space composer.
        https://lesnierowska.com/

      • Nanine Linning

        Dutch choreographer Nanine Linning (1977, Amsterdam) consciously leaves the beaten theatrical track. Moving beyond divisions and working across disciplines, combining dance, opera, concerts and installations. Crossing fields of design, video, visual arts and music, her productions are characterized by an explosive movement language and an equally vivid imagery. Linning designs opulent poetic work; her evening-length productions are worlds on their own in their visual and dramaturgical content. Her out of the box concepts make reference to human emotions as well as aspects of cultural history and social criticism. Her close cooperation with diverse internationally known artists and scientists is reflected in the broad spectrum of her projects, which include European co-productions and touring, exhibitions and installations.
        Linning received the Philip Morris Prize (2003), a Swan for Best Dance Production for โ€œBaconโ€ (2006), and was nominated twice for the German โ€˜Faustโ€™ Award (2012 and 2013) for โ€œVoice Overโ€ and โ€œZeroโ€ respectively. Her โ€œRequiemโ€ (2015) for Konzert Theater Bern, gained the Swiss Dance Award. Die Deutsche Bรผhne named her top 4 Impressive Choreographers of 2017. Magazine tanz mentioned her in the Category Choreographer of the Year 2017. Her dancefilm โ€œLa Voix Humaineโ€ won several prizes in Filmfestivals in Venice, Tokyo, London, Lisbon, Amsterdam and New York in 2021โ€“2022.
        After graduating Linning founded her own ensemble, Dance Company Nanine Linning. From 2001โ€“2006 she was appointed resident choreographer for Scapino Ballet. From 2009โ€“2012 she was artistic director and chief choreographer at Theater Osnabrรผck, from 2012โ€“2018, she headed the newly established dance company of Theater und Orchester Heidelberg where she created seven evening length dance productions and directed two operas, โ€œMadama Butterflyโ€ and โ€œAkhnatonโ€ from Philip Glass. In Heidelberg she became a founder of both Festival Tanzbiennale and the Choreographic Centre. In 2018 and 2019 she was appointed as curator of the dance programme of Festspiele Ludwigshafen. Linning is appointed as new Artistic Director of Scapino Ballet Rotterdam as of season 2024โ€“2025.
        Linning created and produced with her own company evening lenghth productions such as โ€œBaconโ€ about the painter Francis Bacon, โ€œCry Loveโ€ and โ€œEndless Song of Silenceโ€, her acclaimed dance and video production in collaboration with Iris van Herpen. In 2019 she created โ€œDouble Helixโ€, an installation based performance in collaboration with Dutch designer Bart Hess.
        As freelancer she was commissioned to create productions for the Stuttgart Ballet, Bavarian State Ballet Munich, Gauthier Dance Stuttgart, Theater Bielefeld (DE), Netherlands Chamber Choir (NL), Konzert Theater Bern (CH), Boston Ballet (USA), Szeged Dance Company (HU) and MusicAeterna in St. Petersburg (RU).
        โ†’ Instagram: naninelinningdance
        โ†’ Nanine Linningโ€™s website

        Photo: Portrait of Nanine Linning
      • Guido Markowitz

        Guido Markowitz, a native of Villach in Austria, studied classical ballet along with contemporary and modern dance at the Iwanson International School of Contemporary Dance. He then worked at the Stรคdtische Bรผhnen Mรผnster theatre before taking on the post of soloist and choreographer at the Staatstheater Darmstadt dance theatre in 1996. Guido Markowitz has been working as a freelance choreographer and stage director since 2004. In his work, he likes to involve all disciplines, mix generations and bring traditional dancers together with gymnasts and break dancers on the stage. As Director of Ballet for the Theater Pforzheim, he has twice been nominated for the Faust German theatre award. In 2014, the choreographer was amongst those invited to take part in the Berliner Festpieleโ€™s Tanztreffen dance contest with two of his productions.

        Guido Markowitz has been Director of Ballet at the Theater Pforzheim since the 2015/16 season.
        He has also been an honorary member of the management board of the dance association TanzSzene Baden-Wรผrttemberg e. V. since March 2017.

        Guido Markowitz. Foto: Sebastian Seibel
      • Tabea Martin

        Tabea Martin is a choreographer and performer based in Basel, Switzerland. She studied Modern Dance at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Amsterdam (2002). She danced with Piet Rogie & Company in Holland, with Fabian Chyle in Stuttgart and Nick Bryson in Ireland. She has been guest student at SNDO in Amsterdam and finished studying choreography at Rotterdamse Dansacademie in 2006.
        Her productions โ€œA cotรฉ de lโ€™ombreโ€ (2004), โ€œSculpterreโ€ (2005), โ€œPromenade dans lโ€™eauโ€ (2005) and โ€œImpairโ€ (2005) have been touring in Holland and Switzerland. 2006 her production โ€œรœber freundliche und ausgeglichene Menschenโ€ was the opener for Tanztage Basel at Roxy theatre. In 2007 she was invited to a symposium with Forced Entertainment at PACT Zollverein Essen. Also she created choreographies for Junges Theater Basel โ€œS chunnt scho guetโ€.
        2008 she was invited to Choreoroam Project, an initiative for young choreographers in Great Britain, Italy and Switzerland. 2009 she collaborated with filmmaker Lucy Cash at B-Motion Festival in Italy and with director Merel de Groot at Grand Theatre Groningen.
        In Holland her work has been supported by Dansateliers Rotterdam and Het LAB Utrecht. 2011 Tabea has won the Wim Barry Prize for all her choreographic work in Holland and was nominated by the Dutch Dance Days for promising young choreographers.
        โ€œDuet for two dancersโ€ (2010) was selected by Aerowaves in 2013 and was awarded by Reconnaissance, ร‰chirolles 2013. โ€œFieldโ€ (2014) has been selected by Aerowaves to Priority Group. Both production have been touring in Europe since.
        Tabea Martin regularly collaborates with municipal and state theatres. At Schauspielhaus Zรผrich, Gorki Theater Berlin, Theater Basel, Konzert Theater Bern Staatstheater Oldenburg Stadt Theater Konstanz and Theater Neumarkt she worked together with Sebastian Nรผbling, Anna Bergmann, Elina Finkel and Sibylle Berg.
        2015 she has won the special prize from Berner Tanzpreise.
        Her production โ€œPink for Girls & Blue for Boysโ€ premiered at Tanzhaus Zรผrich in January 2016 and was touring in whole Europe. Her production โ€œBeyond Indifferenceโ€ premiered in December 2016 at Kaserne Basel. In May 2017 she realized the mediation project โ€œHome โ€“ Tanzakademie Baselโ€ in collaboration with Kaserne Basel and Tanzfest Basel. In September 2017 she did the choreography for โ€œNach uns das Allโ€ (text: Sibylle Berg) with Sebastian Nรผbling at Maxim Gorki Theatre Berlin. On 1 February ยญ2018 her Duet โ€œThis is my last danceโ€ together with Italian dancer Simona Bertozzi premiered at Kaserne Basel. This was the first part of the trilogy that she made about transience. After she created โ€œFOREVERโ€œ and โ€œNothing Leftโ€. Both had Premiere at Kaserne Basel. Nothing Left is co-produced by Dance Festival Steps โ€“ Migros culture percentage 2020.
        Pink for Girls and Blue for Boys, This is my last dance as well as Forever were programmed for the Swiss Dance Days.
        Her latest works are โ€œGeh nicht in den Wald im Wald ist der Waldโ€ 2022 and the solo for Tamara Gvozdenovic โ€œDemain est annulรฉโ€. Both are touring in Europe.
        Tabea Martin received the Culture Award 2016 from Kanton Basel-Landschaft, Switzerland.
        From 2016โ€“2018 she was โ€œYoung Associated Artistโ€ of the mentoring-programme of Pro Helvetia-Swiss Arts Council. She was supported by PRAIRIE โ€“ the coproduction support of Migros Culture-Percentage from 2016โ€“2019.
        From 2018โ€“2020 / 2021โ€“2023 and from 2024-2026 Tabea Martin is supported by Fachausschuss Tanz & Theater Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft in cooperation with Pro Helvetia โ€“ Swiss Arts Council.
        Tabea Martin is a jury member of Tanzkommission of the city of Zurich, the SSA โ€“ Sociรฉtรฉ Suisse des Auteurs and Atelier Mondial of the Christoph Merian Stiftung.
        She has been teaching at ZHdK, Manufacture, Marchepied, CFP Genรจve.

        Photo: Portrait of Tabea Martin
      • Dr. phil. Elna Matamoros

        Ballet Mistress at Ballet Nacional de Espaรฑa and freelance writer/researcher.

        Dr. Elna Matamoros holds a PhD with International Mention in Aesthetics and Art Theory (Universidad Autรณnoma de Madrid, 2017 โ€“ Research Internship at ZHdK), and an MA in Dance Education as a Fulbright Scholar (New York University, 2000). As a dancer she was mainly trained in Madrid by her mother Carmina Ocaรฑa following the Bournonville School, and later in New York, at the Joffrey Ballet School and under the tutelage of Wilhelm Burmann and David Howard. 

        Between 2012 and 2019 she was a member of Compaรฑรญa Nacional de Danza (CND) as a Ballet Mistress with Josรฉ Carlos Martรญnez as Artistic Director. Besides having taught ballet in several international companies, Elna Matamoros has also rehearsed ballets by Balanchine, Bournonville, Fabre, Forsythe, Galili, Martรญnez, Lรฉonide Massine, Perrot or Petipa, among many others. She has staged ballets such as Marius Petipaโ€™s Odalisques Pas de trois and August Bournonvilleโ€™s Flower Festival in Genzano, Guillaume Tell Pas de Deux and La Sylphide Divertissement; in 2016, Matamoros revived for Elena Vostrotina the version that Mikhail Fokine staged of The Dying Swan for Elna ร˜rnberg while he was in Denmark in 1925. She is currently working on the revival of another of the most emblematic pieces of Diaghilevโ€™s Ballets Russes and preparing two new books.

        Dr. Matamoros is the author of the book Augusto Bournonville, Historia y estilo (Madrid, Akal, 2008, prefaced by Frank Andersen and Tamara Rojo), and editor, by commission of the Antonio Gades Foundation, of the book Carmen/Gades 25 Aรฑos (Madrid, Fundaciรณn Autor, 2008). Her most recently published book, as part of the sub-Texte series of ZHdK (volume 24) is Dance & Costumes, A History of Dressing Movement (Berlin, Alexander Verlag, 2021, prefaced by Jane Pitchard โ€“ V&A Museum); it provides a history of dance costumes linked to the evolution of movement itself.

        She is also a regular contributor to several performing arts publications and a dance specialist in El Cultural. Dr. Matamoros was also in charge of the full collection of Cuadernos Educativos de la Compaรฑรญa Nacional de Danza. Since 2019 she has been writing the first books for a new series published by Ballet Nacional de Espaรฑa titled #BNE nos cuenta which will be expanded throughout the next years.

        She has been teaching ballet regularly at ZHdK since 2016. In the last years she created two theory courses especially for the MA students at ZHdK: โ€˜Dance coaching as a link between choreographer and dancerโ€™ and โ€˜Dance and Costumesโ€™. Dr. Matamoros has participated in numerous international symposia, focusing on Romantic Ballet, Diaghilevโ€™s Ballets Russes, Spanish Dance, Aesthetics and Dance Costumes among other subjects. As a frequent lecturer, she has given courses of Anthropology and Dance History, Repertoire Analysis and Ballet Methodology โ€“ especially the Bournonville School โ€“ in several conservatories and research centers, both to students and teachers.

        Portrait of Dr. Elna Matomoros
      • Michael Maurissens

        Michael Maurissens was born in Brussels, where he began his dance training. He also studied dance at the Heinz Bosl Stiftung in Munich (1991โ€“1992) and at the Schweizerische Ballettberufsschule in Zurich (1992โ€“1993, with the support of the Pierino Ambrosoli Foundation) and has worked at the Ballett Nรผrnberg / Tanzwerk Nรผrnberg, Ballett Freiburg Pretty Ugly, the Mannheim National Theatre and pretty ugly tanz kรถln. Some of the stars he has worked with include Amanda Miller, William Forsythe, Katy Duck, Hideto Heshiki, Martin Sonderkamp, Dominique Dumais and Georg Reischl. In 2009, he joined forces with his colleague Douglas Bateman to set up the MichaelDouglas collective, which is has five performers at its core who keep coming together for different productions โ€“ with both famous and as yet undiscovered dancers, choreographers, musicians, and a broad, collaborative system of institutional partners.

        For several years now, Michael Maurissens has been working with media beyond the means of dance art, in the field of graphic design, photography and film (as a filmmaker, cameraman and editor). In 2013, he completed his postdoctoral studies at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, focusing on scenography, applied visual arts and documentary film, achieving the grade โ€œvery goodโ€. Today, he stages and produces films, experimental videos and performance documentaries and participates in visual art projects.

        โ†’ Website CARRร‰ BLANC Productions 

        Michael Maurissens
      • Thomas Meinecke

        Thomas Meinecke was born in Hamburg in 1955 and lives near Munich and in Marseille. He is a writer (numerous novels and stories since 1986 published by Suhrkamp, currently โ€œSelbstโ€, 2016), musician (with his band F.S.K., founded in 1980, whose albums have been released on Daniel Richterโ€™s Buback label since 2008; since 1998 many joint electronic projects with Move D.), radio DJ (own broadcast on Bayerischer Rundfunk 1985โ€“2021) and also DJ in urban night clubs (Berghain, Robert Johnson, Pudel Club, Rote Sonne, Toni Molkerei etc.). At Berlinโ€™s Theater Hebbel am Ufer, he ran the dialogic event series โ€œPlattenspielerโ€ from 2007 until the first Lockdown in 2020; since fall 2022, the series has continued at Berlinโ€™s Volksbรผhne. In the winter semester 2011/12 he held the poetics lectureship at Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main (โ€œIch als Textโ€, edition suhrkamp, 2012). Residencies at universities in Europe and the USA. Most recently: Writer in Residence at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, Poetics Lectureship Gender at the TU Braunschweig. Numerous awards, in 2020 the Berliner Literaturpreis (with guest professorship at the FU in the summer semester of 2022). In 2021 a โ€œText + Kritikโ€ volume on Thomas Meinecke was published, in 2022 the poetological reader โ€œOzeanisch Schreibenโ€ (in Verbrecher Verlag).

        Photo: Portrait of Thomas Meinecke
      • Amanda Miller

        Amanda K. Miller was the Founder, Artistic Director, and choreographer of Pretty Ugly Dance Company from 1992 until 2009. Based in Germany, Pretty Ugly toured internationally and won an array of awards and acclaim for unique artistic and social collaborations. Prior to starting her own company, Amanda was a founding member, principal dancer and resident choreographer of Ballett Frankfurt under the direction of William Forsythe from 1984 to 1992. Additional founding credits include Yummy Dance, an improvisational and multi-disciplinary dance company in Matsuyama, Japan. In 2009, Amanda returned home to the United States where she holds interdisciplinary improvisational workshops and shares her expertise as a freelance choreographer, opera director, dance educator, and performer with dance companies, universities, regional colleges, community institutions, and private dance studios. Her creative process, amanda science, cultivates works, experiences, and investigations that champion inclusiveness in any environment, whether leading expressive art projects to support disadvantaged children and young adults or facilitating collaborations with professional artists. Also developed as an instructional toolbox, amanda science offers a framework for learning that engages the body, mind, and soul. Amanda is an alumnus of the University of North Carolina School of the Artsdance program and received her M.F.A. in dance at Hollins University in 2017.

      • Martin Nachbar

        Martin Nachbar choreographs, dances, writes, curates, and teaches. He sees himself as a researcher. His various works were presented at the Sophiensaele in Berlin from 2007 to 2019, including small festivals, conferences, participatory performances, and dance pieces to watch. Some of them, such as โ€œUrheben Aufhebenโ€ with the reconstruction of Afectos Humanos, have toured the world on behalf of the Sophiensaele. Martin also co-founded FELD Theater for Young Audiences, where he organized the Feldspiele Festival, also in Berlin. His writings have been published in professional journals and book publications. Since April 2020, he has been teaching as a professor of Scenic Body Work/Creative Senses in the Acting Department at the HfMDK in Frankfurt. His latest work, โ€œWenn ichโ€™s nicht tanzen kann, fรผhl ichโ€™s nichtโ€, for audiences aged 7 and up, premiered on 7 October 2023, in Mannheim.

        Image: Portrait of Martin Nachbar
      • Bjรถrn Pรคtz

        Bjรถrn Pรคtz completed his studies in theater studies and new German literature at Freie Universitรคt Berlin. He has coordinated press and PR work for numerous projects and festivals within the independent performing arts community since 2004. Beginning in 2006, he also began working as a production manager for artists based in Berlin. In 2010, he co-founded bjรถrn & bjรถrn, a company for PR, production and dramaturgy. Since 2020 Bjรถrn Pรคtz works as a production and tour manager at the Schauspielhaus Zรผrich. 

        Portrait of Bjรถrn Pรคtz
      • Naomi Perlov

        Born in 1959 in Israel, daughter to a Polish mother and a Brazilian father.
        Studied Dance at the Bat Dor Dance Company (Tel Aviv), Schola Cantorum (Paris) and with Milton Myers (New York). In 1984, graduated with โ€œHonorsโ€ from the Benesh Institute of Choreology (Dance Notation).
        Concomitantly, from 1994โ€“98, served as Co-Artistic Director of the Batsheva Ensemble, Tel-Aviv Israel (Junior Dance Company) along with Ohad Naharin.
        Since 1988, she has been working with the choreographer Angelin Preljocaj, assisting in his creations and restaging his ballets all over the world. From 1999 to 2006, she served as Artistic Director for the biannual โ€œShades in Danceโ€ contest for young Israeli artists at the Suzanne Dellal Center.
        In September 2009, she founded โ€œThe Masloolโ€, a 2-years professional dance programme at Bikurey Haโ€™Itim Arts Center (Tel Avivโ€“Jaffa). โ€The Masloolโ€ is artistically directed by Perlov and  Offir Dagan and has been supported by the Minister of Culture of Israel since 2011.
        In 2015, together with Sharon Rubinov Biderman, she established โ€œDconstructionโ€, a methodological course for dance teachers, which provides methodological tools for formulating lesson plans and annual curriculums, knowledge in implementing corrections while encouraging and emphasizing the artistic aspects of rehearsal directing.
        In conjunction with her work as artistic director, rehearsal director and judge in dance contests, Naomi teaches modern dance and trains dancers in many courses and workshops.

        Naomi Perlov. Photo: Sila Avvakum
      • Carina Premer

        Carina Premer is based in Giessen, Germany, and works as a lighting designer, teacher and choreographer in contemporary dance and performing arts.
        Being trained as a light technician and operator, she studied Applied Theater Studies at Justus Liebig University in Giessen where she developed and hosted several discursive formats and created transdisciplinary performances and exhibitions. Throughout the years, she gained an expanded experience in working in bigger institutions as well as in independent artistic processes. Carina often uses complex light compositions and non-linear dramaturgies to shrink, stretch and warp space and time almost imperceptibly. Her emphasis on choreography and dance manifests in numerous collaborations with choreographers like Mรฅrten Spรฅngberg (SWE), Ana Dubljevic (SE) and Lucie Tuma (CH) as well as in her current studies of the MA programme Choreography and Performance in Giessen. Her approach to performance and dance is strongly informed by the challenge of the very frame of the public presentation and the interconnectedness of working conditions and conditions of spectatorship. In her work she questions origin, identity and authorship by directing attention to prefigurative thinking and the transformation of affective and somatic memories into collective or common agencies.

      • Omar Rajeh

        Omar Rajeh founded his dance company Maqamat in Beirut in 2002. His work seeks an extraordinary physical presence with strong socio-political connections. Omar Rajeh has spent over 20 years weaving, exploring and refining his choreographic language. He performed with his company in more than a hundred different cities around the globe. Omar is the founder of Beirut International Platform of Dance โ€“ BIPOD, one of the most important dance festivals in the region. Since 2004, the festival offers a rich international programme of performances, workshops, lectures, and meetings. He is the co-founder of MASAHAT DANCE NETWORK which is a regional contemporary dance network across Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Jordan. He is also the founder of the digital cultural platform Citerne.live.

      • Charlotta Ruth

        Charlotta Ruth works and plays with time and perception in her choreography, artistic research and game design. Her work has been presented at WUK, Tanzquartier, brut in Vienna and MDT & Dansens Hus in Stockholm, as well as at conferences at Uniarts Stockholm, the SAR Society of Artistic Research and the Artistic Research Pavillon Venice. Ruth approaches ideas by disregarding genre, instead taking a location- and context-specific approach that oscillates between stage, gallery, public space, institutional intersections and the Internet. She most recently developed a game design for City Games Vienna and worked with Dominik Grรผnbรผhel to create โ€œLiving Documentsโ€, five choreographic installations laid out as a course in Stockholm, Copenhagen and Vienna (2020). A continuous source of inspiration and resonance of thought is her work as a performer and collaboration with other artists such as Ingrid Cogne, Alexander Gottfarb, Anne Juren, Saskia Hรถlbling, Toxic Dreams/Yosi Wanunu, Petter Jacobsson and Thomas Caley. Ruth was educated at the Royal Swedish Ballet School and has an MFA in Choreography, specializing in Performance Art from Uniarts Stockholm. She also studied computer-aided thinking and basic programming, e-poetry, digital filmmaking, media activism and writing live-action role plays. Ruth has been a PhD student in artistic research at the University of Applied Arts Vienna since 2017, supervized by Prof. Dr Margarete Jahrmann.
         

        Charlotta Ruth. Photo: Luke Baio
      • Tanja Saban

        Tanja Saban is a dancer, certified Gaga teacher and yoga practitioner. Born and raised in Switzerland, she graduated from SEAD training programme in 2007. She is a recipient of the conveyor scholarship from the Tanzquartier in Vienna, where she started her career as a freelance dancer and teacher. She collaborates with choreographers and artists of other disciplines on projects as well as creating her own work in Austria, Spain, Switzerland, Israel and New York City.the heart of her artistic practice is an ongoing research of the moving body-a space of experience, expression and personal expansion in the unfolding of physical intelligence and the sensory body. She is currently developing a platform for co-creative, immersive dance experiences that oscillate between club culture, performance and embodied practices.

        Portrait of Tanja Saban
      • Mor Shani

        Mor Shani started his professional career at Bat-Dor dance company Tel Aviv. Studied at Artez dance academy in Arnhem, at DasArts theater academy Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and nowadays finishing his studies of cultural policy at Sapir College, Sderot, Israel. Shani worked as artist in residence at Dansateliers Rotterdam, at ICK Amsterdam and in the last years was house choreographer at Inbal Dance Theater, Tel Aviv, Israel. His works are presented in Israel, Europe, Canada and the U.S, and were nominated for several awards as the Dutch Zwan award next to choreographers Jiri Kylian and Alain Platel. His Project Love-ism was chosen by the European Dance House Network as one of 25 best practices. Currently Shani is developing a format for a new academic dance company that will ask to redefine the way community art is developed in Israel. 

        Portrait of Mor Shani
      • Liane Simmel

        Liane Simmel, MD, is a medical doctor, osteopath and former professional dancer. She studied dance at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich and with Merce Cunningham in New York. For over 25 years, she has been working as a dancer and choreographer, during which time she also began her medical studies. Today, she is established with her own practice in Munich as a dance medicine specialist, with a particular focus on osteopathy, spiraldynamics and sports medicine. As director of Fit for Dance, an institute for dance medicine, she specializes in prevention and therapy of dance-related injuries. Liane Simmel is a medical consultant at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich and is a permanent guest teacher at the Palucca University of Dance, Dresden, as well as at the Zurich University of the Arts. She is a founding member and has been president for 15 years of tamed โ€“ Tanzmedizin Deutschland, the German dance medicine organization. Her book โ€œDance Medicine in Practiceโ€ published in German, English and Spanish has become standard literature for applied dance medicine all over Europe, the US and Australia. Her new book โ€œNutrition for Dancersโ€, written together with Eva-Maria Kraft, was published in English in January 2018. For her pioneering work in the realm of dance medicine, she has been awarded the Prize of Recognition of the German Dance Prizes 2016.
        www.fitfordance.de

        Portrait of Liane Simmel
      • Ohad Talmor

        Ohad Talmor is a New York based Saxophonist and Composer.
        A leading voice in the New York modern Jazz scene, he has performed worldwide with a whoโ€™s who of musicians, including Lee Konitz, Josh Redman, Jason Moran, Michael Brecker.
        Classically trained as a pianist, he has a Composition degree from the Manhattan School of Music. His music mixes contemporary and jazz vocabulary and has been played by orchestras all over the world.
        He teaches at the Geneva Conservatory, the New School in New York and is a frequent guest as a lecturer at the ZHdK Master Jazz programme.
        โ†’ Ohad Talmor's website

        Photo: Portrait of Ohad Talmor
      • Anouk van Dijk

        Anouk van Dijk is a Dutch choreographer, director, dancer and the creator behind the movement system Countertechnique. She was the Artistic Director of Australiaโ€™s leading contemporary dance company Chunky Move from 2012โ€“2019. Her work is staged for a wide range of settings, varying from black box theatre, to large proscenium stages, to site-specific works.

        In 2012, she was awarded the Golden Swan, the most prestigious dance accolade in the Netherlands โ€“ in recognition of her outstanding artistic and academic contribution to dance in her home country. Her movement methodology Countertechnique has become known worldwide.

        Since the start of her career, alongside her work as a dancer, Van Dijk has been interested in creating. Before relocating to Australia, Van Dijk had an extensive career in Europe, touring worldwide with her Dutch company anoukvandijk dc from Festival dโ€™Avignon to Dance Triennale Tokyo to Festival TransAmรฉriques. Van Dijkโ€™s long collaborative partnership with German writer and director Falk Richter has resulted in the creation of six critically acclaimed productions such as โ€œTRUSTโ€ (2009) and โ€œComplexity of Belongingโ€ (2014). Her interest in site-specific work, such as โ€œMenschโ€ (2011), โ€œDepth of Fieldโ€ (2015) and โ€œAccumulationโ€ (2018) has taken her dancers from the Ship Yards in Amsterdam to the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.

        In 2012, Van Dijk premiered โ€œAn Act of Nowโ€, her debut work for Chunky Move, and the production went on to win The Age Criticsโ€™ Award for best new Australian work during the Melbourne Festival. For the company she has since created 12 full-evening and shorter works, including three collaborative works: โ€œComplexity of Belongingโ€ (2014) with German writer/director Falk Richter, โ€œAntiโ€”Gravityโ€ (2017) with Singaporean visual artist Ho Tzu Nyen and the film installation work โ€œTracesโ€ (2019) with American/Australian artist Ian Strange. In 2018, Van Dijk created and curated โ€œAccumulationโ€ (2018), an immersive work for the gallery space at NGV Triennial EXTRA, followed by her final work for Chunky Move, โ€œCommon Groundโ€ (2018).

        Central to the foundation of Anouk van Dijkโ€™s artistic work and the training of her dancers has been Countertechnique, the movement system she developed to provide dancers with applied tools for versatile dance practice in the 21st century. Countertechnique helps dancers in training, rehearsal and performance โ€“ focusing on the process of incorporating information into action. The principles of Countertechnique can also be applied to other dance forms and training methods, such as ballet, hiphop, partnering, yoga, running and Pilates. In 2008, Van Dijk initiated the first, biennial Countertechnique Teachers Training (CTTT) programme. Currently, Countertechnique has 31 certified teachers around the world and the method holds a prominent place in the publication โ€œDance Techniques 2010โ€, co-written by Gerald Siegmund and Anouk van Dijk.

        Currently, Anouk van Dijk is a free-lance choreographer and created her first commission โ€œDistant Matterโ€ (2019) for the Staatsballett Berlin. Van Dijk is now preparing a new work for the Muฬˆnchner Kammerspiele, which will premiere in October 2020.

        Anouk van Dijk
      • Annette von Keudell

        After training as a photographer, Annette von Keudell first went on to study graphic art, painting and experimental film at the Hochschule fรผr Gestaltung (University of Art and Design) in Offenbach, Germany, before turning her attention to time-based media, spatial installations and artistic photography under the guidance of Prof. Valie Export at Berlin University of the Arts. She then became a protรฉgรฉ of film-maker Prof. Heinz Emigholz (Berlin University of the Arts).

        Annette von Keudell has since been working as a freelance artist, specializing in media art, conceptual art and space-based media. From 2005 to 2009, she studied cultural management at Universitรคt Hamburg (the University of Hamburg). Alongside her work as a lecturer in short film (film theory, storytelling, camera work and editing) and as an artist, she has also been involved in organizing exhibitions, media productions and public relations work for theatres, mainly for dance productions. In addition, since undertaking training to become a systemic coach from 2010 to 2015, she has provided guidance and support for artistic processes with a focus on communication training.
        Her artistic work focuses on interdisciplinary conceptual projects, video installations, photography and experimental film.

        Annette von Keudell. Foto: Bรถrries Mรผller-Bรผsching
      • Elizabeth Waterhouse

        Elizabeth Waterhouse is a dancer and postdoc in dance studies at the University of Bern. She is the author of the book Processing Choreography: Thinking With William Forsytheโ€™s Duo published by Transcript Verlag (2022). Her research focuses on choreographic practices, ethnographic and oral history methodology, as well as digital techniques for research and documentation of dance practices. As a performer, she danced from 2004โ€“2012 in Ballett Frankfurt/The Forsythe Company. Since that time, in parallel and often nurturing her scholarly work, she has continued to develop performances and artistic research projects, including with the groups HOOD, tล, and Movement Forum Bern. Waterhouseโ€™s viewpoint within dance studies makes use of her methodological competences across โ€˜researchโ€™ and โ€˜creativeโ€™ practices in the arts, the humanities and the natural sciences: an education comprising of a BA in Physics from Harvard University, an MFA in dance practice from The Ohio State University and a PhD in dance studies from the Universitรคt Bern/Hochschule der Kรผnste Bern.

        Portrait of Elizabeth Waterhouse
      • Gunda Zeeb

        Gunda Zeeb studied European Business in Germany, the USA and France and Cultural Management at City University in London. After working at the Forum Freies Theater Dรผsseldorf and the Hebbel am Ufer/ HAU Berlin, she worked as dramaturg and interim director at the Theaterhaus Gessnerallee Zurich from 2006 to 2012. Since 2013 she has been the artistic director of the biennial cultural festival Wildwuchs in Basel, and since 2018 she has been co-director of About Us! Zรผrich Interkulturell. She is a regular guest lecturer at Zurich University of the Arts, the University of Zurich and the Dimitri Theatre School in Verscio. She has been a member of the Cantonal Theatre and Dance Commission since 2012 and a jury member of the Capital Cultural Fund Bern since 2017.

        Portrait of Gunda Zeeb