Stephan Brinkmann
Professor of Contemporary Dance at the Folkwang University of the Arts Essen. Dancer, choreographer, dance teacher and dance scholar. Studied dance at the Folkwang University, theatre, film and television studies, German studies and sociology at the University of Cologne and additional studies in dance pedagogy at the Folkwang University. Dancer at the Folkwang Dance Studio and the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. Own choreographies and international teaching activities for contemporary dance. Doctorate in movement studies at the University of Hamburg. Topic: Forms of memory in dance. Publication: Remembering movement. Forms of memory in dance (2013). Head of the Institute for Contemporary Dance at Folkwang University of the Arts since 2018.
Jakub Truszkowski
Jakub Truszkowski began his dance training in 1987 at the State Ballet School in Gdansk, where he graduated in 1996 and performed several pieces at the Gdansk Opera House. In 1996 he was accepted into Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s P.A.R.T.S. school. In 1999 he joined the Rosas company. Here he danced in Drumming, Mozart/Concert Arias, Mikrokosmos and participated in the creation of In Real Time, Rain, April Me, Repertory Evening, Bitches Brew, Kassandra and The six Brandenburg Concertos. In 2008, he joined the ensemble Les Ballets C de la B, danced in Import Export and participated in the creation of Ashes. Between 2013 and 2015, he was programme coordinator at P.A.R.T.S. As a teacher, he worked with P.A.R.T.S., De Theaterschool Amsterdam, the Folkwang University of the Arts and the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, among others, and Jakub Truszkowski rehearsed works for Rosas, the Opéra de Lyon, P.A.R.T.S., the Opéra de Paris and the Companhia Nacional de Bailado. In 2019, he choreographed the Broadway musical West Side Story by Ivo van Hove. His own creations include: Solo For The Projector, Bodyscapes, Memory Reset, White Noise, Dzisiaj Wszystko, TotoTo and Vibration of a Single String.
Anna Esser
Parallel to her high school graduation, Anna Esser completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at the Ballet-Academy the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. After that she danced with Alberta Ballet II. She graduated from the Heinrich-Heine-University in Düsseldorf with a Master of Science in Psychology. She is currently completing her further training as a psychological psychotherapist and works as a psychologist at the LVR hospital in Essen. On a self-employed basis, she teaches the Gyrotonic® method at the Ballett am Rhein, among other places. Since 2021, she has been part of the pedagogical concept of the Munich Ballet Academy in psychological workshops for dance students. In 2013, she received a scholarship from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (German National Academic Foundation) through the artist promotion and has since been supported on her further educational path. From December 2022 she will be researching stress factors and psychological interventions in dance cohorts as a research associate at the University of Duisburg Essen.
Luca Giacomo Schulte
born in Wattenscheid, studied fine art at the Düsseldorf/Münster Art Academy. As a visual artist, he has been an artistic collaborator, set designer and actor in Raimund Hoghe‘s plays since 1992.
After his sudden death in 2021, he and dancers from the Raimund Hoghe company developed the homage An Evening with Raimund, which was shown at DANCE Munich last year. Another production in the spirit of a living artistic archive is being prepared for 2025 together with Ornella Balestra, Emmanuel Eggermont and Takashi Ueno.
Katja Schneider
Prof. Dr. Katja Schneider teaches dance studies at HfMDK Frankfurt. She received her PhD for an interdisciplinary thesis on play wright Christian Krüger in 1996 and habilitated in 2013 with her work Tanz und Text. Figurationen von Sprache und Bewegung at the department for theatre studies at LMU Munich at which she also was affiliated as research assistant. From 1992 to 2012 she worked as a critic for the Süddeutsche Zeitung as well as reporting for Deutschlandfunk radio. She was also editor at the journals tanzdrama, tanzjournal and tanz between 1992 and 2012, and has been working as a dramaturg for the Munich DANCE festival. She is a founding member of tanznetz.de, Access to Dance and Fokus Tanz/Tanz und Schule.
Martina Räther
After studying to be a teacher at the Humbold University in Berlin and passing the 2nd state examination for the office of teacher in a professional subject, Martina Räther has been the acting headmaster of the Berlin State Ballet and Artistic School sinceAugust 1, 2020.
Jan Linkens
Royal Conservatoire The Hague
Jan Linkens, born in Maastricht/Netherlands, received his dance education at the Dance Department of the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague/Netherlands. In 1977 he joined the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam to work there for almost 17 years as a dancer and later also as a choreographer and ballet master. He made his first choreography in 1979 und has created more than 60 ballets. From 1994 to 1999 Jan Linkens was Artistic Director and resident choreographer of the Tanztheater der Komischen Oper in Berlin/Germany, jointly together with Marc Jonkers. After 1999 he worked as a freelance guest choreographer and ballet teacher with many companies around the world. He became director of Royal Conservatoire Dance in 2014.
Ivan Liška
Ivan Liška was born in Prague on 8 November 1950 and received his ballet-training at the local conservatory. After graduating in 1969, he emigrated from his home country and joined the ballet company of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf. From 1974 to 1977, he was with the Bavarian State Opera Ballet before joining the Hamburg Ballet as principal soloist, where he danced and created the title roles in numerous works by John Neumeier. Ivan Liška directed the Bayerisches Staatsballett from 1998 to 2016. In spring 2007, he was honoured by the State Ministry for Federal and European Affairs with the »Medal for Special Services to Bavaria in a United Europe«. On 9 July 2009, Minister President Horst Seehofer presented him with the Bavarian Order of Merit. Following the death of Konstanze Vernon, he took over the management of the Heinz-Bosl-Stiftung and the Bayerisches Junior Ballett München in April 2013.
