Category: People

Michaela Weinhauser studied Elementary Music and Movement Education and Piano at the University of Music and Theatre Munich (HMTM) and completed an MA in Dance: Research, Mediation and Artistic Practice at the German Sport University Cologne. She is a state-certified choir and ensemble conductor and an Orff Schulwerk Instructor (Level 3). She teaches Music and Movement on the MA in Music Mediation at the HMTM, and also teaches at the Institute of Music Pedagogy at LMU Munich and at the International Piano and Violin School Munich. She is the Artistic and Coordinating Director of Tanzprojekt München and has served as Organisational Director of the Biennale Tanzausbildung since 2023.

Dr. Elizabeth Waterhouse is Professor of Ballet Techniques at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts and an associate researcher at the Institute of Theatre Studies at the University of Bern    in dance studies. She is the author of “Processing Choreography: Thinking with William Forsythe’s Duo” (2022) and “Body-Biographies: Our Life Stories in Dance” (forthcoming). She teaches courses pertaining      to ballet practice, dance studies, and the choreographic repertoire of William Forsythe.

Trained at the John Cranko School in Stuttgart, Roland Vogel was awarded the State Ballet Diploma in 1986. He danced with the Stuttgart Ballet (dir. Marcia Haydee), was appointed first soloist under Reid Anderson in 1997 and danced the title roles in Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, The Nutcracker, La Bayadere and Paquita. He interpreted major roles of John Cranko, was nominated for his role in Onegin (1999) for the Prix Benois de la Danse and also danced leading roles in ballets of Balanchine, Ashton, McMillan, Béjart, Kylián, Forsythe, Neumeier, van Manen, Scholz. After obtaining a degree in dance teaching at the John Cranko School in Stuttgart, Marika Besobrasova, Director of the Princess Grace Academy of Dance in Monaco, asked him to join her teaching staff.

Born in Halifax, England Matthew was trained at the Royal Ballet Upper School. He worked with London City Ballet then in Ensembles in Kiel, Rostock, Koblenz and Kiel a second time, this time under the direction of Mario Schröder. He re-trained as a physical therapist and has specialised since in Pilates, Manual Therapy, Sport Psychology and Sport Physiotherapy. Since 2013 he has been Body Awareness Coach and leads the multidisciplinary Health Team at Palucca University of Dance. Matthew believes passionately in integrating healthy practice, based on sound scientific knowledge, into the traditional teaching of dance. He aims to enable a safe, long future in the working field for all students of dance while maintaining a search for ever increasing levels of excellence.

Born in Dresden / 1989-93 Palucca School Dresden / 1993-97 State Ballet School Berlin / 1997-2004 Engagement with the ballet of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden / 2004-16 Engagement with the Staatsballett Berlin / 2016-18 Studied ballet pedagogy at the Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts / Since 2018 Ballet teacher at the State Ballet School Berlin.

Colette Sadler is a choreographer whose work has been presented nationally and internationally in theater and museum contexts, including Tanz im August Berlin, Tokyo Festival, Kaai Theatre Brussels, South Bank Centre London, Impulstanz Vienna, Les Lattitudes Contemporains France, and OGR Turin Italy. Trained in ballet and contemporary dance, Sadler’s works move at the intersection of performance, dance, sculpture, and digital art. Her latest work, “The Violet Hour,” premiered in January 2025 at tanzhaus nrw. She recently collaborated with composer Alexander Schubert on “Terminal Infinity” which premiered in February 2025 at Radial System Berlin as part of the Berlin Philharmonic’s “Paradise Lost” biennial. www.colettesadler.com

Gabriele Rolle received her professional dance training at the State Ballet School Berlin. During her studies, she gained her first stage experience through guest engagements, including the Staatsballett Berlin and the Landestheater Eisenach. She subsequently danced as a soloist at the Anhaltisches Theater Dessau. She completed her Master’s degree in Dance Pedagogy at the Palucca University of Dance Dresden, where she was appointed as an artistic associate in 2013. Since 2015, she has been a member of the faculty at the State Ballet School Berlin, where she continues to teach and support aspiring dancers in their artistic and technical development.

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.

Viara Nacheva is a ballet pedagogue at the State Ballet and Artist School Berlin and was a principal dancer with the Berlin State Ballet. She performed leading roles in the classical repertoire, including Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Giselle and Myrtha in Giselle, the Lilac Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty, Nadezhda von Meck in Eifman’s Tchaikovsky, and Nikiya and Gamzatti in La Bayadère, as well as Fricka and Grimhilde in Maurice Béjart’s Ring Around the Ring. She has worked with world-renowned choreographers such as Maurice Béjart, Patrice Bart, Nacho Duato, Boris Eifman, and Vladimir Malakhov. She holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Ballet Pedagogy from the National Music Academy in Sofia, Bulgaria and teaches classical ballet following the Vaganova method.

Wencke Kriemer de Matos danced as a soloist at the Theater St. Gallen, the Staatstheater Darmstadt and the Staatstheater Kassel, among others. She was also co-founder of the independent company ‘Oficina Dos Sentidos’. From 2013 to 2021, she worked at the Landesbühnen Sachsen as co-director of the dance company, where she developed her own choreographies with a focus on interdisciplinary formats and projects for young audiences. From 2021 to 2024, she was rehearsal director at TANZ_KASSEL, where she has collaborated with various international guest choreographers. Since the summer semester of 2024, she has been professor of ballet for contemporary dancers at ZZT Cologne, where she also leads seminars in performative practice.

Born in Linköping, Sweden, Tomas Karlborg received his dance training at the Ballet School of the Royal Swedish Opera. In 1980, he joined the Norwegian National Opera Ballet, moving to Germany in 1981 to dance with the Bonn Opera Ballet. In 1983, he became a member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin ballet company, rising to soloist in 1986 and first soloist in 1989.  Over the years, he shaped a large part of the repertoire at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, appearing equally in classical, contemporary, and experimental works. In 1999, he became Ballet Master, later joining Staatsballett Berlin in 2004.

Henrietta Horn is a choreographer, dancer and pedagogue. From 1999-2008 she is – together with Pina Bausch – the artistic director of the Folkwang Tanzstudio. Since 2008 she works as a freelancer. In addition to solo choreographies, she works worldwide as a guest choreographer and teacher, e.g. in London, Damascus, Yaoundé, La Paz, Taipei. She has received several awards for her reconstructions of the works of Mary Wigman. Since 2021, Henrietta Horn is appointed professor of contemporary dance at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen. 

Ulf Höpfner has been working as a teacher of mathematics, physics and natural sciences in Berlin for 25 years and has been at the Staatliche Ballett- und Artistikschule Berlin for several years, where he also holds the position of quality representative as Studiendirektor. As part of the school management team, he oversees the school’s collaboration with professional associations and cooperations with partner educational institutions. His teaching combines scientifically based methodology and teaching practice with the school’s special understanding of the needs of artistically trained students.                                                 

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.

Nik Haffner is dancer, choreographer and since 2012 the artistic director of HZT Berlin. Many of his choreographic works have been developed in collaboration with other artists (a.o. with Christina Ciupke and Mart Kangro). Nik Haffner joined William Forsythe – Ballet Frankfurt from 1994 until 2000 as a dancer. In these years he also co-developed the media-publication “Improvisation Technologies” at ZKM, Centre for Art and Media Karlsruhe. With choreographer Jonathan Burrows und composer Matteo Fargion he collaborated on their 2013 online score ‚Seven Duets’ as part of the web-publication series Motionbank.org. 

Thanks to funding secured from the Einstein Foundation, the Choreography, Dance and Disability Arts department was established at the HZT in 2023.

https://www.hzt-berlin.de/en/center/people/nik-haffner

Arran Green is a 29-year-old dance lecturer from North London in his fifth season with Rambert school.     His movement background spans Capoeira, Breaking, and Contemporary dance. He has worked with renowned companies including Southpaw, Avant Garde, Rubberband, FUBU Nation, and Clod Ensemble, and has directed movement for fashion and music videos. At Rambert, Arran coaches students in ground-based techniques that contribute to modern contemporary floorwork. These foundational skills provide essential knowledge for staying safe and protecting the body while developing new abilities. His work introduces students to themes of self-development found within dance cultures such as Hip Hop, helping them bridge classical knowledge with contemporary practice and encouraging each dancer to develop their personal style.

After his studies at Swiss Ballet School, he danced across Europe from 1994–2007 with the Iceland Dance Company and at theatres in Oldenburg, Darmstadt, Bern and St. Gallen. 2008–2015 he worked freelance as dancer, choreographer, and teacher, completing an MA Cultural Management and training as a Capoeira-Instructor. 2016–2023 he was Co-Director at Dance Theatre Pforzheim, creating works with Guido Markowitz, including “Nurejew” (Faust Prize nomination 2023). In addition, he achieved an MA Dance Pedagogy and joined 2018 Ohad Naharin’s Gaga Teacher Program.

2023-2025 appointed as Professor and Director of the Dance Department at HfMDK Frankfurt. Since November 2025 he has been Professor of Contemporary Dance and Vice-Rector for Artistic Affairs at Palucca University Dresden.          

Simone Geiger studied classical dance at the Ballet Academy of the University of Music and Theatre Munich. She danced as a demi soloist at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and the Bayerische Staatsballett. In 2000 she became a member of the renowned Nederlands Dans Theater where she worked with leading choreographers such as Jiri Kylian, Ohad Naharin, Mats Ek, William Forsythe. Afterwards she studied art history, Italian philology and graduated in ballet pedagogic. Since 2010 she has been teaching both in the bachelor’s degree program and in the young students course at the Ballet Academy Munich. She leads rehearsals for the performances and assisted Kinsun Chan in his choreographies for the students.          

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.

Monica Gillette is a dance dramaturg, facilitator and Co-Artistic Director of Tanztriennale Hamburg 2026.  As a dramaturg she accompanied several European funded projects – Migrant Bodies – Moving Borders (2017-2019), Empowering Dance (2018-2023), Dancing Museums – The Democracy of Beings (2020-2021), Dance Well (2022-2025) and Aerowaves’ Moving Borders Project (2023-2025), as well as several choreographers in their artistic creations. She is a former researcher for EDN – European Dance Development Network, resulting in the 2024 publication titled Practices of Care and Wellbeing in Contemporary Dance: Evidence from the Field. Her work is informed by a lifetime of dance, both as a professional dancer and passionate believer in the role dance can play in personal and societal transformation.

Philipp Gehmacher studied Contemporary Dance and Choreography (London Contemporary Dance School, Trinity Laban) in London in the 1990s and Fine Arts (Sculpture and Space class, University of Applied Arts) in Vienna in the 2010s.  He is the programme director of the BA Dance Context Choreography at HZT Berlin and professor of contemporary dance and choreography since October 2022.  Gehmacher’s artistic works use the body and language as forms of utterance, various institutional spaces as well as objects, sculpture, things. His focus is on physicality, movement and the realisation of bodies-in-motion as shared environments, in interaction and potential togetherness.            

Rémy Fichet is the artistic director of the Leipzig Ballet; Trained at the prestigious Paris Opera Ballet School, he danced with the Paris Opera Ballet and joined Leipzig Ballet in 2000 to become a soloist. Throughout his performing career, he interpreted works by many of the greats: Rudolf Nureev, Uwe Scholz, George Balanchine, Jiří Kylián, John Cranko, and Kenneth MacMillan a.o. Upon concluding his stage career, he devoted himself to the company’s artistic foundation, serving as artistic production director before becoming Artistic Director in 2024. As Director, Rémy has introduced comprehensive dance-medical champions the philosophy of sustained, individualized artists’ care while fostering artistic development and emerging choreographic talents who will shape the art form’s future.                                     

Prof. Ingo Diehl, head of the Master Contemporary Dance Education program at Frankfurt University for Music and Performing Arts (HfMDK), was Vice President for Quality Development in Teaching and Research from 2019 to 2025, and is President of the Hessian Theater Academy.

From 2005 to 2011, he was head of education at Tanzplan Deutschland, an initiative of the German Federal Cultural Foundation. He developed the Biennale Tanzausbildung (Dance Education Biennale) and the Dance Techniques 2010 research project, and co-founded Diehl+Ritter gUG and Tanzfonds. At the HfMDK he has established quality management cycles for teaching and application-oriented research structures in recent years. In addition to teaching, he is active as a board member, networker, consultant, expert, and curator at various festivals and panels, as well as in dance and performance policy contexts.

Francesco Curci, a versatile Italian dancer and choreographer, has established himself on the international dance scene through collaborations as a freelancer with renowned choreographers. He has worked with several contemporary companies in Italy and the Netherlands, including MM Company, Astra Roma Ballet, Dance Works Rotterdam, Project Sally Maastricht, and Conny Janssen Danst. A faculty member at PNSD Rosella Hightower in Cannes and an international guest teacher, he is also the artistic director and choreographer of the Amorphous Dance Company, founded in 2021. His works, enriched by his psychology studies, merge expressive movement with emotional depth.

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.

Jessica Clarke trained at The Royal Ballet School before joining The Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet in 1988, later relocating with the Company when it became Birmingham Royal Ballet. She was promoted to soloist after two years, performing a wide range of soloist and principal roles, with several works created for her by choreographers including Kenneth MacMillan and David Bintley. After retiring and completing her teaching qualifications, she taught at the Rambert School and served as a Junior Associate teacher for The Royal Ballet School. She joined the White Lodge faculty in 2009, moving to the Upper School in 2015 as Artistic Manager. In recent years she has attended major competitions and taught internationally.

Katharina Christl studied at the Palucca University of Dance Dresden and initially worked as a freelance artist. This was followed by engagements with Charleroi Danses/Plan K and Ballet National de Marseille.  In 2006, she resumed her own choreographic work and began teaching at various international institutions and festivals. In 2015, she took over the professorship for choreography at the Palucca University of Dance Dresden and successfully heads the MAC degree program. In 2018, she was voted “Bearer of Hope” in the critics vote conducted by tanz magazine. She is a member of the Saxon Academy of Arts and is part of the jury for Tanzplattform Deutschland 2026. In 2024, she was appointed rector of the Palucca University of Dance Dresden.        

Stephan Brinkmann received his dance training at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen. He also studied theater, sociology and German literature at the University of Cologne and completed additional studies in dance pedagogy at the Folkwang University. With a dissertation on memory forms in dance, he received his doctorate from the University of Hamburg. After his training in Essen he became a dancer and choreographer at the Folkwang Tanzstudio for two years before becoming a member of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch in 1995. Since 2001, his teaching of contemporary dance has taken him to numerous national and international institutions. Since 2018 he is the director of the Institute for Contemporary Dance at Folkwang University of the Arts.                                                      

After years of classical music studies, Arthur Bouilliol began taking ballet and jazz classes at his hometown conservatory, later joining the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Cergy-Pontoise to train in ballet and contemporary dance. There, he worked with artists like M.Gourfink, C.Rizzo, and J.Galotta, performing international repertoire pieces. After earning his choreographic degree, he also studied at Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris, where he discovered Laban movement analysis. In 2020 he obtained his Diploma in Movement Analysis and Writing, joined OKIdance and Avril en Juillet, and pursued a Master’s in Literature and Critical Creation, founding Armel to merge music and dance. He later earned the National Diploma of Contemporary Dance Teacher and in 2023 joined Komoco, led by Sofia Nappi, as dancer and KCTL teacher.  

From Baltimore, Maryland, USA, Elisabeth Bell began dance at an early age receiving scholarships at The Dance Theatre of Harlem and Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York before completing her B.F.A. at Butler University in Indiana, USA, Cum Laude. She went on to dance professionally at the Dayton Ballet and Philadelphia Dance Company (Philadanco!). Before completing a Masters of Law and Business at Bucerius Law School in Hamburg, her engagements included Staatstheater Cottbus, The Lion King (Hamburg) and the international tour of CATS. Elisabeth began working as Assistant to the Deputy Director of the School of the Hamburg Ballet in 2022 and has led Hamburg Ballet’s Outreach Department since 2024.   

Edna Azevedo is a ballet teacher at the Berlin State Ballet School, where she completed her training as a stage dancer in 1991. This was followed by engagements with the Leipzig Ballet and the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In 1996, she completed her studies in stage dance pedagogy at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University of Music and Theatre in Leipzig. In 2017, she earned her PhD from the University of Brasília. From 2006 to 2011, she worked as a lecturer at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts. Between 2011 and 2020, she was a lecturer in classical dance at the Federal Institute of Brasília, where she led research projects on classical dance methodology.

Born in Avignon, Jean-Hugues completed his dance training at the local conservatory, refining his modern technique with Anne-Marie Porras. He graduated in 1993, assisted her, and taught at Epsedanse. As a sought-after teacher, choreographer, and dancer, he has taught internationally. In 1999, he joined the National Theatre Mannheim, collaborating with choreographers like Philippe Talard, Bruno Jacquin, Jean Renshaw and Marc McClain. Later, he danced at Heidelberg Dance Theatre under Irina Pauls.

For 16 years, he taught contemporary dance at Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts. Currently, he lectures in modern/contemporary dance at the State Ballet School Berlin.

Pau Aran Gimeno (Barcelona, 1981) is a dance artist based between Germany and Spain. He began dancing at age ten and trained in various styles before studying at the Real Conservatorio Mariemma (Madrid) and Folkwang Universität (Essen). In 2005, he joined Tanztheater Wuppertal – Pina Bausch, performing in over 25 works until 2020. Since 2013, he has developed his own choreographic work internationally and collaborated with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Theo Clinkard, and others. His recent pieces include Lettre d’amour (2020), Un cadavre exquis II (2021–22), and Seeking the truth (2023). He blends creation and pedagogy through a human-centered, expressive, and intergenerational approach.

Professor of Contemporary Dance, Palucca University of Dance Dresden Born in Brazil, Rita Aozane Bilibio studied with Jussara Miranda and danced for Muovere Cia de Dança. In 1998, she moved to Germany to study at the Folkwang Hochschule Essen. From 2002 to 2013 she worked as a freelance dancer with choreographers including Pina Bausch (2004) and Sasha Waltz (2002–2009).   A 2006 Kunststiftung NRW scholarship deepened her insights into Wim Vandekeybus, William Forsythe, and Alejandro Ahmed. Between 2007 and 2013 she created her own works with Damian Gmür and taught contemporary dance at various institutions. Since 2013, she has been professor of contemporary dance at the Palucca University in Dresden.                  

Angela Alves is a choreographer and performer whose artistic practice is profoundly informed by the nature of her life as a chronically ill woman. Since 2023 she has been an artistic collaborator in the frame of the professorship “Choreography, Dance and Disability Arts” at HZT Berlin.

Based on her interest in the emotional and neurobiological body in relation to its environment and biography, she develops performances and installations that question the societal perception of “healthy” and “sick” and attempt to redefine the notions of norm by empowering perspectives and expressions that emerge from the disability experience.

Angela Alves studied dance at ArtEZ (NL) and dance studies at the Freie Universität Berlin.

http://angelaalves.de/

https://www.hzt-berlin.de/en/center/people/angela-alves

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.