Constanze Schellow
Dr. Constanze Schellow is Juniorprofessor for Cultures of Knowledge and Transmission at the Centre for Contemporary Dance at the University for Music and Dance Cologne. She enjoys working in interdisciplinary formats dealing with their*stories of body-based and -related cultures and economies of knowledges and practices â dance being one of them. Constanze is interested in the networks of relations between dance and other social activities.In 2016 her work has been awarded with the Dance Studies Award NRW. Recently her research project funded by the Bundesministerium fĂŒr Bildung und Forschung focused on concepts and practices of âtheoryâ in contemporary dance educations in Western Europe. As a dramaturge Constanze collaborated with e.g. Eva Meyer-Keller, Simone Aughterlony and Doris Uhlich.
Vera Sander
Vera Sander is Professor of Contemporary Dance at the ZZT/HfMT Cologne and has played a key role in its development as director, teacher, editor and organizer. Choreographer, dancer or lecturer at Tanzforum Köln, Dansgroep Krisztina de Chatel, Itzik Galili, Semperoper Dresden, DV8, Adventures in Motion Pictures, verasanderartconnects, a.o.. Director and/or choreographer of the 5th Biennale Tanzausbildung, the Atlas-Workshops (DAAD project to promote cultural dialog with the Islamic world), in Signifying Ghosts (German Federal Cultural Foundation in TURN – Fund for Cooperation between Germany and African countries), the DAAD-funded Erasmus+ project RELAY. Current artistic works Presence through Absence deal with the phenomenon of absence.
Julie Shanahan
Julie Shanahan was born in Adelaide Australia in 1962. In 1981 she graduated from the Centre for the Performance Arts. 1981-1984 she performed with the One extra Dance Company in Sydney. 1984 she joined Rheinhild Hoffmannâs Bremen Dance Theatre till 1986 and moved with the company in 1986-1988 to the Schauspielhaus Bochum. In 1988 she joined Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch as a dancer and remains to the present day as a dancer and rehearsal director. She also works as a restager of Pina Bauschâs Repertoire for the Pina Bausch Foundation. She has also made creations in recent years with Tim Etchells, Alan Lucien Ăyen and Rainer Behr. In 2021 she worked as an actor for Robert Wilson in his piece âI was sitting on my patio this guy appeared I thought I was hallucinatingâ. In 2022 Julie Shanahan performed âLâEtangâ directed by GisĂ©le Vienne.
Jan Broeckx
Jan Broeckx studied at the Stedelijk Instituut voor Ballet in Antwerp, Belgium. He won the Prix de Lausanne in 1979. He was a soloist at the Royal Ballett van Vlaanderen, first soloist at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Bayerisches Staatsballett, Danseur Etoile at the Ballet National de Marseille Roland Petit and guest performer at many galas and in numerous companies. He later became Roland Petit’s choreographic assistant.
Since June 2010, he has been director of the Ballet Academy at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich.
Nik Haffner
Nik Haffner (Prof.) is dancer and artistic director of HZT Berlin – Inter-University Centre for Dance that is supported by the UdK Berlin and the HfS Ernst Busch, in cooperation with TanzRaumBerlin, a network of the professional Berlin dance scene. Besides a BA and two MA study programmes the Einstein Strategic Professorship in »Choreography, Dance and Disability Arts«, held by Claire Cunningham, has been established since 2023 at HZT.
Nik Haffner danced in William Forsytheâ company 1994 until 2000, he co-developed the media-publication Improvisation Technologies and has collaborated as freelance dance-artist with a.o. Jonathan Burrows and Christina Ciupke. As a guest he has taught a.o. for P.A.R.T.S. Brussels, TEAK Helsinki and Trinity Laban London.
Britta WirthmĂŒller
Britta WirthmĂŒller is achoreographer and dancer. In her work she attends to that which usually remains invisible, e.g. bodies lacking social visibility, the forgotten dances of Jean Weidt (âPhysical Encountersâ) or the hidden layers of a cityâs history in âThe Silent Walkâ. She holds a position for artistic research and teaching at the HZT Berlin.
Peter Boragno
Peter Boragno is a graduate in business administration and has worked in cultural management since 1995. His clients include the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, the Federal Cultural Foundation, the Federal Ministry of Culture and Media, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Goehte Institute. From 2010 onwards he accompanied the Ausbildungskonferenz Tanz and headed the office for the Biennale Tanzausbildng. Since January 2020, he has taken over the management of the EuropĂ€ische Theaterakademie GmbH âKonrad Ekhofâ Hamburg and is in charge of the Bundeswettbewerb deutschsprachiger Schauspielstudierender and the Bundeswettbewerb Biennale Tanzausbildung.
