Students, autumn semester 2023

Audrey Wagner

Audrey Wagner (1991*) is a dancer and choreographer from Winterthur (CH). She completed her training as a certified stage dancer in 2019 at the Höhere Fachschule für Zeitgenössischen und Urbanen Bühnentanz (HF ZUB) in Zurich and has now been studying for a Master's in Choreography at ZHdK since 2023. Audrey has been active as a choreographer in the independent scene since 2019 and has created several short and full-length pieces. Most of her works were produced for and with the Merge Dance Collective. In addition to her choreographic work, she is also involved in cultural policy issues, for example on the board of tanzinwinterthur, and works (or has worked) in several cultural institutions and associations (Kunsthaus Zürich, Tanzfest Winterthur, Theater am Gleis, Pop Up Dance Space, and many more). Since 2022, Audrey Wagner has been the artistic co-director of the Winterthur Dance Festival. In September 2022, she received the City of Winterthur's Culture Prize for her commitment and artistic work.

Portrait of Audrey Wagner
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Paul Behren

Paul Behren, born in Tübingen in 1991, completed a master´s degree in acting at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Bochum. Since 2015, Paul has worked with various directors and choreographers such as Katie Mitchell, Falk Richter, Karin Beier, Frank Castorf, Michael Thalheimer, Lucia Bihler, Sayouba Sigue, and Ben Kidd and was awarded with the Körber Foundation's Boy-Gobert Prize for young, outstanding acting personalities at Hamburg theaters. He has performed at theaters such as Kampnagel, Schauspielhaus Hamburg, Volkstheater Munich, Lichthoftheater Hamburg, Roxy Birsfelden, Theater Basel, and Fabriktheater Zurich. In 2018, he started developing his dance pieces including „no words“, „bruder“ and „how to be…“. 
In 2023 he was selected for the choreographic training program ATLAS – at the festival Impulstanz in Vienna and performed with the company Dead Centre „Good Sex“ at Internationales Sommerfestival Kampnagel. In 2024, he was part of INKUBATOR, a platform for short pieces at the Rote Fabrik Zurich, and was selected for the choreography development platform BRÜCKEREI#2 at Tanzhaus Zurich mentored by Jonathan Burrows. In August 2024 he was invited to perform at the Open Stage for Newcomers at Tanzwerkstatt Europa in Munich with his solo „My Lovely Arnold“. Paul collaborated with the Ensemble THEATER HORA for their production „Leonce & Lena“ as a choreographic consulter and performer which premiered in October 2024. In his choreographic work, he focuses on social phenomena and combines them with philosophical perspectives. He lives and works in Zurich.

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Aleksandra Stoliarova

no manifesto
permanent movement
respecting the silence
following the routine
taking risks
taking time
doing and undoing
reading
working with contradictions
honest presence
constant continuation
self-selection
one moment - one action

[Translate to English:] Porträt von Aleksandra Stoliarova
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Manning Dong

I invite those crazy fantasies into this world 
The body travels through time and space.  It is a poem 
The soul wields the pen and the ink, guided by the touch of feeling 
Beautiful words will strike this turbulent world 
The distance between us becomes blurred  
Rough carvings reveal themselves in struggle and pain
Becoming ever clearer in defiance.
 
Following the throbbing
I invite you to step into my scene  
The air will be filled with love and freedom
Breathing it in deeply
Reality and illusion blend without boundaries here
Fortunately, perseverance stands 
All is spoken, we are still here

Portrait of Manning Dong
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Leo Gnatzy

MANIFESTO
(it’s not to be put in stone - so why do I write a manifesto then? – A plan)

I want to be part of every dance piece that I create.
I want to invest in humans, in relationships.
I want to love. I want to be loved.
I want to loose my egocentric point of view.
I want to stay rooted in who I am.
I want to listen. I want to see. I want to open up my senses and don’t always watch documentaries during my lonely dinners.

I wanna listen, be in the here and now, don’t be efficient at all times.

Don’t be efficient at all times. Don’t be efficient at all times. But be in the here and now.

I want to create a piece with the topic of SEHNSUCHT.
I wanna dance. I wanna train.
I want to try out new styles, new ideas.
I want to think big. I want to think out of the box.
I want to stop saying what I want and refocus every day to actually feel and understand what YOU want.

I want to take it easy and live, just don’t always put too much meaning in everything and just surf on the wave.

I want to create a comedy.

Portrait of Leo Gnatzy