Author: werbit

Dr. Constanze Schellow is Professor of Cultures of Knowledge and Mediation in Dance at the Center for Contemporary Dance/University of Music and Dance Cologne. She teaches in the BA Dance, MA Dance Studies, and MA Mediation in Dance programs. In her artistic and scholarly research, she develops interdisciplinary formats to examine the layers and complexities of body-based and body-related cultures and economies of knowledge, with a focus on the networks of relationships and interdependences between dance and other fields of practice. In 2016, her work was awarded the Dance Studies Prize NRW.             She has collaborated dramaturgically with e.g. Eva Meyer-Keller, Simone Aughterlony, and Doris Uhlich.              Since 2024 Constanze is first speaker of the AK|T – Ausbildungskonferenz Tanz Deutschland.

Dr. Elisabeth Nehring has worked as a freelance journalist and critic for regional and national broadcasters (including Deutschlandfunk, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, and WDR) as well as print and online media since 1999. Her moderation work includes public discussions on dance and cultural policy, as well as providing support and guidance for projects and processes within the cultural sector. Since 2019, she has also headed the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Dance Center. In 2018, she co-directed and coordinated the Berlin Dance Roundtable, a participatory process with broad involvement from cultural policymakers, administrators, and dance experts, aimed at developing a sustainable concept for dance in Berlin. She is a founding member of various dance networks (including Tanz weit draußen) and serves on several juries.

Mehmet Yumak was born in Augsburg 1980. He trained at the Istanbul University State Conservatory (1990-1998) and, until the end of his studies, at the John-Cranko-Ballettakademie in Stuttgart under Petr Pestov. Working as a ballet dancer prior to engagements with the ballet of the Staatsoper Hannover, the Theater Krefeld Mönchengladbach and the National Ballet of Portugal. In 2007, he became a member of the Staatsballett Berlin and remained with the company until 2019. He received his qualifications as a fitness and personal trainer in 2017 and as a Pilates trainer in 2021. Since 2017, Mehmet Yumak has been part of the Staatsballett Berlin’s health department, contributing his experience via special conditioning training.

Katharina Wunderlich began her career in the theatre Kiel, then danced at the Hannover State Opera and worked with many choreographers such as Mats Ek, Stefan Thoss, Yuki Mori, Felix Landerer and Omar Rajeh. She traveled with several productions around the globe to Zimbabwe, Mexico, Guatemala, Siberia, Netherlands, Switzerland, USA and numerous German theaters. In collaboration with the musician Caroline Wunderlich she created her own choreographies, that got invited to many festivals. Katharina is the main protagonist of the movie Homo Deus, awarded as Best Experimental Short Film at the New York World Film Festival 2020. As a teacher she developed intercultural dance projects for visually impaired children and educates young dancers at the Berlin State Ballet School.          

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 Dance Education Biennale, 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.

Prof. Jens Weber was born in Berlin, where he completed his dance studies at the Berlin State Ballet School. After graduating, he joined the ballet company of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. Weber has been engaged by numerous international ballet companies, including the Zurich Ballet, the Queensland Ballet (Australia), Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, the Víctor Ullate Ballet-Comunidad de Madrid and Morphoses (New York City). Subsequently, he studied acting in New York City, Los Angeles and Berlin. Furthermore, he worked as a rehearsal director and assistant at the Augsburg State Theatre and the Plauen-Zwickau Theatre. In September 2021, Jens Weber was appointed professor of classical dance at the Folkwang University of the Arts.       

David is a dancer, choreographer, and dance educator. After training at the J. Cranko School, he was a soloist with the Saarland State Theater, the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, and the Teatro Nuovo di Torino. Since 2004 he has created works for the Birgit Keil Foundation, Ballet Philippines, Universal Ballet Seoul, and Ballet Dortmund. In Munich, he initiates collaborative evenings and transdisciplinary performances. In 2010 he completed postgraduate studies in ballet pedagogy and has since taught at the Ballet Academy Munich, where he is responsible for classical and contemporary dance, choreography, and the bachelor’s program. In 2020 he helped develop the Academy’s new pedagogical concept. In 2019 he founded TanzQuelle to support Munich’s dance community.

Agnes Noltenius has been Artistic Director of the Academy of Dance at the University of Music and Performing Arts Mannheim since 2020. She was a rehearsal director for Forsythe Productions and also works as a certified Pilates instructor. She began her training at the renowned Paris Opera School, where she danced for eight years. She then joined the Ballet du Rhin in Strasbourg. There she worked with dance greats such as Rudolf Nureyev and Maia Plissetskaya. In 1989, she met William Forsythe and became a member of the Frankfurt Ballet. She remained with the company until 2002. Afterward, she concentrated on teaching, Forsythe’s repertoire, and improvisational techniques. She stages his works worldwide and is a sought-after guest teacher. Her book “DETAIL–FORSYTHE” was published in 2003.

Dr. Liane Simmel is a sports medicine doctor, osteopath, and sports psychology coach. She worked as a dancer for over three decades. Today, she is a practicing dance medicine doctor with her own practice in Munich and heads the “Fit for Dance” Institute for Dance Medicine. She is a lecturer in dance medicine and is active throughout Europe for the health of dancers. As the initiator and long-time board member of ta.med e.V., the German-speaking dance medicine organization, she has significantly influenced its establishment and development. Her books “Dance Medicine in Practice” and “Nutrition for Dancers” have been published in several languages ​​and have established themselves as standard works in dance medicine. For her pioneering work in dance medicine, she was awarded the German Dance Prize Recognition Award.

Ms. Sobanska-Höltz was born in Warsaw in 1958. After graduating from ballet school in 1977, she was engaged at the Warsaw Opera House, while simultaneously studying ballet pedagogy at the Music Academy. After participating in several national and international ballet competitions, she was appointed principal dancer at the Warsaw Opera House in 1979. In 1982, she joined the ballet of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In 1994, she studied Benesh Movement Notation in London and in 1995, she took over the position of choreologist at the DOB ballet. Since 2004, she has been choreologist and ballet mistress at the Berlin State Ballet. In 25 years of working as a choreologist, she has notated numerous ballets by choreographers such as Patrice Bart, Peter Schaufuss, Jiri Kilian, Ray Barra, William Forsythe, and others. She has been retired since 2021.

Nicholas Palmquist is an internationally recognized teacher and choreographer. As a freelance dancer in NYC, his work spans films like In The Heights, SNL, The Tonight Show, and Netflix series, plus live shows with American Dance Machine, the Tony Awards, and Radio City Rockettes. He’s been featured in Vogue, Dance Magazine, Pointe, Numero China, and brands like Kenzo, Nordstrom, and Zalando. Nicholas has taught masterclasses with Juilliard, ABT, Mozarteum Salzburg, and Orsolina 28. Known for his genre-bending style, he teaches worldwide—in Italy, France, Japan, Brazil, and more. He’s created work with Semperoper Ballett, Ballett x Schwerin, and Palucca University, and taught at Staatsballett Berlin. Learn from him online via The Art of Teaching Dance.          

Henriette Muus (born 1966) trained at the Royal Danish Ballet School and joined the Royal Danish Ballet in 1982, becoming a principal dancer in 1991. Renowned for her refined classical style and deep grasp of the Bournonville tradition, she danced leading roles such as Svanilda in Coppélia, the Sylph in La Sylphide, Julie in Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet, and Balanchine’s Symphony in C. She also guested with the Royal Swedish Ballet as Helena in Neumeier’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and toured worldwide with Bournonville ensembles. Since retiring in 1998, she has directed ballet schools and worked as a respected Bournonville coach and pedagogue.

Susanne Triebel is lecturer and coordinator of the internationally oriented MA Contemporary Dance Education (MA CoDE) and teaches BAdance students at HfMDK Frankfurt. Before completing her MA in Contemporary Dance Education in 2009, she danced for several years at city and state theaters and in the freelance scene. Since 2012, she has supervised teaching projects and demonstration lessons for master students MA CoDE. In the expert commission Body and Movement she is responsible for the content of the interdisciplinary formats of THE ARTIST’S BODY and advocates for the implementation of movement in artistic education. From 2020 to 2022 she was head speaker of the AK|T Dance Education Conference Germany and on the curatorial team of the 8th Dance Education Biennale Stuttgart 2022.

Marguerite Donlon is an internationally acclaimed choreographer based in Germany. A former soloist with English National Ballet London and Staatsballett Berlin, she began her directing and choreographing career in 1999, leading the Saarland State Ballet, Ballet Hagen, and Dance Company Osnabrück. Founder of the “Donlon Dance Collective,” she is celebrated for her originality, humor, and cross-disciplinary innovation. Donlon has created over 100 works for major companies including NDT II, Stuttgart Ballet, Bolshoi, Rambert Dance, Hubbard Street, Chicago, Ballet Ireland, and BalletX Philadelphia. Her contemporary ballets like “Giselle Reloaded” and “Romeo & Juliet” earned nominations for Prix Benois de la Danse and Der Faust. Her 2023 work “Orlando” was named Austria’s “favourite ballet.” She now works internationally as a freelance choreographer.

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 Europäische Theaterakademie GmbH “Konrad Ekhof” Hamburg and is in charge of the Bundeswettbewerb deutschsprachiger Schauspielstudierender and the Bundeswettbewerb Biennale Tanzausbildung.

Paolo Amerio is a Professor of Contemporary Dance and Improvisation at the Akademie des Tanzes, Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mannheim. Graduated at the MTD – AHK in Amsterdam, he later joined the Dance Company Nanine Linning / Theater und Orchester Heidelberg as dancer and choreographic assistant and took part as dancer at two productions of Costa Compagnie touring in Germany and USA. To this day, he has choreographed several pieces for the ADT which have been featured at the 7. BIENNALE TANZAUSBILDUNG 2020 HAMBURG and at the DUBAI WORLD EXPO 2020.

Contemporary Training
The aim of the class is to reach a sensitive, honest, organic and free way of moving while triggering a new sense of awareness and listening towards the individual, the others and the space within and around. Through various technical exercises based on floor work, release, flying low and soft acrobatic technique, the participants will be asked to channel their concentration into the movement’s path, from its origin to its extreme end, exploring and mobilising the pelvic area while acquiring a renewed physical & mental availability and generosity.