Education and Training

My teaching approach is based on the Jooss-Leeder method, developed by Hans Züllig and Jean Cébron, with a contemporary barre at the barre followed by a middle.

The precise consciousness of one’s body in space and its dynamics are the ground of this approach. The technical work at the barre allows the upper side of the body and the arms to flow by being well aware of the weight, the swing, the possible oppositions and dissociations. The center of the body is in the continuity of the barre. This technique uses both the movement quality and sensations, the objective being to master sensations for a better precision and understanding of movement.

Lucas Viallefond: I taught at Paris Opera School (school and summer course), English National Ballet School, Sydney Dance Company, Acosta Danza, Vlaanderen Ballet, in the Taipei National University of The Arts (TNUA) of Taïwan, the West Australian Academy of Performing of Arts (WAAPA) in Perth, the Contemporary Dance Company of Western Australia, the School Of The Arts (SOTA) of Singapore and at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA). In my training as a dancer in the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), I have completed and deepened my professional experience with high-level teachers in technique, repertoire, body analysis, anatomy, music, dance history, improvisation and composition. I had the opportunity to take part in creations as well as act roles in Sokolow’s, Taylor’s, Nikolaïs’, Preljocaj’s, Gallotta’s masterpieces, in Paris and internationally, through tours (England, Montenegro, Germany, Morocco, Japan etc)

Within this workshop, participants will learn through practical work about aspects of authorship in choreography and the position of their future works in the broader socio-political, artistic, and historic context. We will be going through different approaches, concepts, methods, scores, policies and practices of contemporary (experimental) directions of dance and choreography, created since the mid-1990s in Europe and in the Balkans, through a series of mini-lectures and practical exercises. Simultaneously, participants will explore practical tools of thinking, articulating, creating, performing and observing choreographic materials and certain somatic practices, analyzing them as artistic media and mastering the practice of the authorship within such media. 

The workshop will have a multilayered structure and will include: limited time for researching dance materials, fixing and rehearsing them free to use previous dance knowledge, experience, imagination and individual authorial position in any desired way; then, presenting the work to other participants of the workshop, individual reflection on the process of creation with the help of various methods offered and joint discussion on the necessary topics and insights.

The workshops will be divided into lectures of 45-60 minutes with practical explorations of up to 4 hours, with small breaks.

Photo: Vladimir Opsenica

Igor Koruga works as an independent artist in the field of performing arts (contemporary dance and choreography). He graduated with a master’s degree in ethnology and anthropology from the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, as well as from the Department of Solo / Dance / Authorship at the University of Arts in Berlin. He deals with the application of choreography as a tool for the interpretation of socio-political phenomena, which condition current ways of artistic production and knowledge. He is the author of several works: Clousness of Touch (2022); How to Explain Pictures to a Man (2021), Lounley Plenet (2020), Hopelessness (2017), Only Mine Alone (2016), etc. He collaborates with theater and film directors as an associate for stage movement and choreography, and he works with choreographers as a dramaturg. He taught at the Institute for Artistic Dance in Belgrade (2015-2017) as an assistant professor in the field of choreography and he has mentored many emerging artists of the local dance scene through various educational projects (Puzzle, Contemporary Dance Service Station; Dance Survivors, Goethe Institute Belgrade; You Perform, Yugoslav Drama Theater Belgrade / Talia Theater Hamburg). Igor is a member of the Service Station for Contemporary Dance and the Association of Ballet Artists of Serbia (UBUS).

www.igorkoruga.com

After working more than a decade with and for the same choreographer, I realised that I had to challenge and reinvent myself each time we would be involved in the creation of a new piece. If we visualise the creation of a dance piece as a puzzle – and if as a dancer you would like to be an active piece on the board – you need to be a thinking body that changes, transforms, and translates the basic material, and that it is able to surprise herself or himself.

During one week of work we will deal with Space and Time alterations. The first few days we will learn a basic phrase, which will be the vocabulary used to build all the changes. Real time composition throughout improvisational sessions will be proposed, to open up ideas of interaction. Thus, we will be able to transform the fixed dance material in time and space with different tools provided in form of games.

The last day of work we will summon all the material created and try to make the skeleton of a dance piece to give everyone the chance of performing it to each other and to have a sense of continuity that this work should have. The final goal of the workshop is to share the base of my own experience as a performer and give different guidelines and suggestions to the participants of when and how to use these principles of transformation and composition.

Photo: Beniamin Boar

Marta Coronado was born in Spain. She attended the two years dance programme of P.A.R.T.S., first cycle. In 1998, she became a member of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s company, Rosas. In the season of 2002 she was awarded with a Bessie Award (New York Dance and Performance Award) for sustained achievement as a performer. She danced and contributed to the creation of Rosas pieces for more than 15 years. She became Rehearsal Director of  Rosas repertory projects, and also other for companies like Paris Opéra, and Opera de Lyon. In 2019 and 2020 she was part of Rosas creative team for ”West side story” on Broadway as a choreographer assistant. She teaches Rosas Repertory, composition workshops and technique worldwide: Theater School in Amsterdam, CNDC Angers, Festival Deltebre, Rosas Company, Les ballet C. de la B., the Ballet de Marseille, P.A.R.T.S. Ultima Vez Company, ImPulsTanz Festival, Artesis, Charleroi/Danses, Thor Company, La Raffinerie, Tic Tac arts center and Conservatorio superior de Madrid. She created and choreographed pieces like “Because We Love”, “Soledad Acompañada”, “Acorde Bajo Continuo”, “El Silencio de las Flores”, “Orfeo and Majnun”, and ”Nebula”. In 2021 she became the Artistic Director of TRY international training and research program for young dancers based in Lucca, Italy. She is the co-founder of House of Bertha Collective, and La Faktoria Choreographic Centre in Pamplona, where she is also a co-director.

In this workshop, which is composed of 3 parts ( starting with Jan in the first part, then continuing with Sigal in the 2nd and 3rd part), we practice accessing our individual deeper logic of sensation, movement and  creation, within the affective context of the collective.

We engage our inner resources, such as perception, intuition, action, and find the pleasures and necessities for specificity and precision , softness and rigour in our dancing,  striving to open and shape our full expressive range. 

A central  focus will be given to the spine as inexhaustible fountain of information, column of the body’s countless shapes, channel of impression and expression of the eternal play between inner and outer worlds. 

Photo: Paul Leclaire Soes

Jan Burkhardt is a dancer, choreographer, musician and facilitator, investigating  the flows of consciousness through the body, and its rules and expressions in space and time. Besides collaborating in the independent art field, Jan facilitates regularly in several european university dance programs and is professor for contemporary dance in artistic context at HfMT Cologne.

Sigal Zouk is a dancer/artist working in Berlin since 1997. She graduated from the Emek Izrael Dance School and joined the Bat-Sheva Ensemble from 1994-96. After moving to Berlin and working with artists such as Luc Dunberry and Juan Cruz Dias de Esanola, she became a member of  Sasha Waltz and Guests from 1999-2004. In 2005, she began her collaboration with Meg Stuart/Damaged Goods, and in 2007 she began her long time collaboration with Laurent Chetouane in which she created 10 dance and theatre works for the stage. She has worked with other artists such as Boris Charmantz (Musee de la Dans), AWST & Walter, Zeirkratzer, Simone Aughterlony, Ian Kaler et al. She teaches in several European dance departments and institutions including Tanzfabrik Berlin, HZT, ZZT Hochschule für Music und dance Köln, DDSKS Copenhagen, DOCH Stokholm, Cullberg Ballet Stokholm, Academy for dance in Bukarest and Ponderosa. She was awarded the best performer in Dortmund Festival 2010 as well as dancer of the year from Tanz Magazine 2011.

The main focus of the workshop will be searching for the physical optimism movements. What could move us and why? What are the dominant relationships toward the body nowadays, usage of the body, dance styles and philosophies behind them? What could be the reasons for the optimism? 

One of my interests is to get to know local contemporary dancers and performers, by proposing a research workshop where the participants would have the chance to learn and apply different choreographic and creative tools in their artworks. We will start with the basic exercises of focus, coordination and imagination and later we would investigate our relationship toward the joy of moving. We will explore optimism through a wide spectrum of topics and proposals, giving the participants an opportunity to create their own dance materials, formats, and presentations. 

Photo: Ivan Zupanc

Marko Milić (1981) works as an author and performer in the field of contemporary dance and multimedia. From 1995 until 2003 he attended art workshops at Stari Grad Cultural Center and participated in educational programs conducted by the Association of Independent Theaters (ANET) in  Belgrade. He created and co-created several performances, most notably: Series, KOREOEROTIKON, BINEMA and LUMI. He performed at festivals such as ImPulsTanz (AT), TanzImAugust (DE), Perforacije (HR), FIDQU (UY), Kampnagel (DE), Kondenz (RS), Il faut brûler pour briller (LU), GNARL festival (GB), CoFestival (SI) and others. He was a DanceWEB scholar in 2016, and an artist in residence at Tanzquartier in Vienna in 2012. He presented his work BINEMA at The University of Huddersfield exhibition titled ‘Sensorium’ as part of the Shanghai Urban Space Art Season (SUSAS) 2019 Biennale. Marko Milić is one of the founders of STATION – Service for contemporary dance, which deals with the production and promotion of contemporary dance and performing arts in Serbia and abroad. 

Power sources (morning class – 2hours)
This is a contemporary dance class that overviews some fundamental aspects of contemporary dance techniques such as weight transfer, use of space, breathing, speed, qualities and textures. Furthermore, we will look at the intentions behind the movement. A technical part will explore the physical mechanisms that allow us to take risks and at the same time protect the body. Emphasis will be placed on the structure of the skeleton and muscle chains to find greater fluidity and freedom in one’s own dance, as well as to recycle and save energy. I often use metaphors and images to create new kinaesthetic experiences and improve awareness in a constant search for mental, physical and emotional balance.

PLAY FULL BODY workshop (3 hours)
The workshop is designed to be a playful physical journey but focused on mental challenges and the explicit goals of artistic expression and creativity. We will try to change the prism by searching for different ways of looking at movement and its qualities. An invitation to explore a space that is neither too new nor too familiar, but something in between; like walking with a compass but without a map. Guided improvisations and specific technical exercises will be the starting point of the work, mainly in pairs and groups. Participants will play with their vocabulary within defined but changing contexts to experiment and observe specific bodily mechanisms and mental processes that happen while we dance. Opening the doors of perception, we will search for those creative impulses that, once released, offer opportunities for new achievements — both technical and performative.

Laura Aris is a performer, choreographer and contemporary dance teacher. She has been leading workshops worldwide since 2001. Currently, she is working as a freelance artist, developing her own creative practices, commissioned works, several solos, and many collaborative performances. Her performing experience includes a decade as a member of Wim Vandekeybus’s dance company Ultima Vez, Juan Carlos García’s Lanònima Imperial and General Elèctrica artists collective (1996-1999). In the past years, she has been Wim Vandekeybus’ assistant choreographer and movement coach in several performances directed by Ivo Van Hove (at Dutch National Opera & Ballet in 2017, Comedie Francaise in 2019, and International Theatre Amsterdam in 2021). More at www.lauraaris.com 

Bringing somatic practices and contemporary dance technique together with improvisation and compositional choices, this workshop will explore the inner and outer spaces. 

We will focus on the exploration of movement, in our internal and external world. We trigger our creative capacity with the aim of landing in our sensing bodies by creating ensemble, solo and partner dances using scores that stimulate unbounded and embodied curiosity. 

We will take a closer look at both dance technique, by deepening the understanding of the principles of human movement function, and at the creative process by vibrating all the possibilities of our body to be able to make our own choices.

Focussing on analysing the weight, strength and instinct reaction we will expand our ability to perceive and respond to impulses in order to allow the dynamics of giving and receiving.

We will jump from our place of comfort by exploring the physical intensity of our limits as well as create a body-interpreter full of systems. So that with cunning and instinct we will be able to play with what is necessary at every moment.  

This workshop will give space for personal research and introduce various concepts by focusing on ideas of authenticity, alertness, presence and integrity.  The aim is to unlock the potential in order to gain access and manage everything that we compose by moving out of necessity, confidence, risk, presence and sensitivity. 

Gisela Müller studied dance in Paris, Amsterdam (SNDO) and New York. She was a member of several dance companies before founding, in 1992, The Move Company for which she choreographed numerous pieces. She was granted scholarships for artistic works both in Germany and abroad. Since 1988 she has been teaching regularly in various institutions and studios. Since 2004 she is member of the board of Tanzfabrik Berlin and responsible for its artistic and educational programme, and the director of the Dance Intensive programme. From 2006 until 2010, Gisela Müller was visiting professor at the Inter-University Dance Department / HZT in Berlin (Hochschulübergreifendes Zentrum Tanz) where she invented and co-directed the BA course in Contemporary Dance, Context, Choreography. Beside, she is an active member of the east European network for performing art Nomad Dance Academy since 2012. In 2018 she premiered the project Me again – But not alone in collaboration with the musicians Gebrüder Teichmann with whom she has been working together since then.

How do we construct, reflect on, and connect to history? What is the significance of history for dance practice? What practice is historiography itself? What sources can we use to learn about dance history? Along central thematic fields, developments and ruptures, the workshop will introduce European Dance Histories in its translocal contexts. Structured as a lecture and discussion format, we will examine dance in its artistic dimension as well as in regard with aesthetic, social and political contexts, and the entanglements of artistic and institutional practices. Besides examples from the history of dance, performance, and visual arts of the 20th and 21st century, we will also reflect on different understandings of history, knowledge, narratives and the role of archives and memory.

In addition, we will explore the linking of history, enactment strategies and dance practice: The starting point for these explorations are oral history interviews that I collected in 2016 with dancer-choreographers in the contemporary dance and performance scenes of Southeast Europe. As eyewitness accounts, the interviews provide insight into the artistic lives of the dancers-choreographers as well as into their artistic and institutional practices. Using the transcripts of the interviews as scores, we will explore these memories and experiences together, embark on a speculative search for dance knowledge and the imagination of body and movement histories. In doing so, movement memories, body descriptions, and the shared experiences in the interviews will serve as impulses and instructions for renewed bodily engagement and the development of possible (Re)enactments of these stories.

Miriam Althammer is a research associate and dance scholar with a focus on “Archive, Media, Arts” at the Center for Contemporary Dance (CCD) at the University for Music and Dance Cologne. She studied Theater Studies, Art History and Modern German Literature at the LMU Munich, Dance Studies at the University of Berne and completed the course „Curating in the Performing Arts“ at the University of Salzburg and Free University Berlin. Her research interests lie in practice-based dance and movement research, especially regarding their historical dimensions and artistic-interdisciplinary intertwining. Areas of research: European Dance Histories, Memory Cultures, Archive as Practice, Re/construction and Re/enactment, Notation and Scores, Artistic Research, Oral History and Embodied Knowledge, strategies of the Curatorial and dissolution of the Arts. From 2016 to 2019 she was a lecturer in the BA Dance at the Dance Theater Institute of the Theater Academy Krakow and from 2017 to 2019 a research associate at the Chair for Theater Studies at the University of Bayreuth. In addition to her academic work, she accompanies various projects, mostly at the interface between performative and visual arts, with curatorial and artistic research. She works as an author for newspapers, theaters, magazines, and blogs, as an editor for the online magazine tanznetz.de and as a member of juries for contemporary dance.

​​In this repertory workshop, we will explore a range of physical sensibilities by engaging with movement material from various choreographies I have made over the years.

We will deepen our understanding of the material by turning up the volume of our sensations, practicing our attention to detail and finding ways to better our ability to connect to the needs of each and every physical moment.

 It is of great importance to manage to excess our sense of totality in the dance experience, despite our forced physical distance and this workshop will suggest tools to support that aim.

Noa Zuk is a choreographer and a dancer. In 1997, at the age of 19, she was accepted into The Batsheva Ensemble, and 3 years later was invited to join Batsheva Dance Company. She danced with the company for 9 years, in all of Ohad Naharin’s creations during those years, and she was part of the original cast of pieces such as “Naharin’s Virus”, “Mamutot”, “Telophaze”, “Three”, “Furo” and “Max”. During her years in the company Noa worked with numerous choreographers, including Mats Ek, Sharon Eyal, Yasmeen Godder, Inbal Pinto and others. Noa left the company in 2009, to concentrate on her work as a choreographer. Among her early pieces are O.M.S., “A Droom Come Tree” and the trio “Boxerman”. She worked as guest choreographer with various companies, creating “Speakers” for Bern Ballet (2012), “After Chorus” for Groundworks Dance Company in Cleveland (2012) and “By The Snake” for  Repertory Dance Theater (Utah, 2014). She also worked with Frontier Danceland (Singapore) and Inbal Dance Company (Israel) and toured the duet “Doom Doom Land” internationally. Noa has received the “Yair Shapira Award” for Outstanding Dancers in 2007, and in the years 2015 and 2016 Noa has received the “Minister of Culture Award” for 10 years of creation. She is also a renown teacher, she has been teaching composition and repertory workshops worldwide, and is a Gaga movement language teacher since 2007.

The course offers basic exercises and the principles that underlie concepts such as movement initiation, movement combinations, weight shifting, spatial intention and breath support.

Тhe workshop offers basic body training that addresses anatomical functions in a context that promotes personal expression and full psycho-physical functioning as an integral part of total body mobilization. We will emphasize relief of excess tension, ease of movement and effective functioning. Тhrough personal preferences for movements that express a wide range of dynamic qualities and personal feelings, through improvisation and structural tasks we will emphasize personal preferences for dancing through different dance images. Between theory and practice, between vertical and horizontal, between mine and your attitude to personal expression, we will also concentrate on what it is like to be in a group, to what extent we insist on identifying or differentiating. Тhe workshop facilitates the understanding of diversity, trying out different qualities of movements, focusing on dance images and artistic preferences.

Taking into account the specifics of individual qualities, we let the energy flow freely and releasing the tension, we leave the side unnecessary actions, concentrating only on what is the attention of our object of study

Galina Borissova is a dancer and choreographer whose work has strong theatrical aspect. She first made significant impression at the American Dance Festival’96 where she was participating in the International Choreographers Residency Program. In 1998 she received the first prize for her performance “A Never Ending Story” in Groningen/Holland at the International Choreographer’s competition. She got the golden medal for her solo “Juanita Hildegard Bo” in Serbia at International solo competition, Zemun. She was twice nominated with the award “Ikar” for the best contemporary dance performance. Galina created more than 50 stage projects. Her premieres have been presented on different major festivals in Bulgaria, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Estonia, Sweden, Czech Republic and USA. As a dancer she worked with choreographers such as Louise Bedard, Canada; “Deja Donne” production Lenka Flory, Czech Republic & Simone Sandroni, Italy; Elsa Limbach, USA; Kubiali Khan Investigation, France and others.
She is the initiator of the international festival “Etud and friends” http://etudgallery.com/2020/11/27/festival-etud-and-friends-fifth-edition/
Program director and resident artist at gallery Etud  http://etudgallery.com/
Galina is an author of the book “Dance Images and Artistic Preferences” published by New Bulgarian University.
She is an active blogger writing criticism and dance texts. http://galina-borissova.blogspot.com/

link video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghso_OqiJsM year 1998
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te1VzrfyGO8&t=11s year 2001
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tCcJGLcpU0&t=17s year 2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfnhFgSMtKw&t=2882s  year 2017

Starting from the premise that the organisation of words in time and space can transform spoken language into dance, the workshop explores the ability of text to provoke movement. I will propose a series of performative tools through which the choreography of words evokes mental images, while the rhythm of the text and the way it interacts with the body contribute to the generation of a performative discourse.

Having as resources both autobiographical materials and documentary, scientific or journalistic information, we will encourage constant associations and dissociations of meaning in the workshop.

Juggling between the abstract and the concrete, we will do daily exercises that train our spontaneity, clarity, speed of reaction and, last but not least, humour. Thus, we will discover the dramatic character of some scientific information or the science-fiction potential of some archival materials.

As alternative training methods, we will practice both active reading and deep listening, as well as progressive movement flows that trigger trance states and improve body endurance.

The goal is the formation of a polysemantic body, capable of supporting a coherent discourse. This body-image is the basis of my method of working with dancers, proposing a type of performativity whereby what is absent from the stage gives rise to something very present in our imagination.

Foto: Dan Vezentan

Simona Deaconescu works interdisciplinary  at the border between performance, installation and film, examining social constructs, between fiction and reality, sometimes with irony and black humor. She completed her bachelor’s and master’s studies at the choreography department of the National University of Theater and Film in Bucharest. She received the danceWEB scholarship in Vienna (2014), the National Center for Dance Bucharest Award (2016), was nominated as an Aerowaves Artist in 2018 and 2022 and as Springboard Danse Montréal Emerging Choreographer in 2019. For the last two years, she has been a resident artist in the European projects Moving Digits and Biofrictioni, and in 2022 she became Forecast Mentee, under the mentorship of the French choreographer Mathilde Monnier. Her works have been selected and presented on dance and theater stages, cinemas, galleries, museums and architectural sites, reaching audiences in Europe, North and South America. In 2014, she founded Tangaj Collective, and since 2015 she has been the co-founder and artistic director of the Bucharest International Dance Film Festival.

Hatha Yoga (the physical practice of Yoga) and Pilates are considered to be:

• techniques that prepare the body and mind for contemporary dance;
• holistic approaches that train the body awareness through working with details, through constantly testing the kinetic precision and the movement quality in relation to the breath
• holistic approaches that develop proprioception towards a higher level of processing information from within and facilitate the way one processes and integrates the information from outside the body

During the PILATES course we start from the basic exercises from the Pilates method (mathwork phase) and we use its movement principles in order to change the perception of “normal” body posture. We progress toward advanced forms of exercises by developing the capacity to select the kinetic principles, forms and/ or variations that are useful for our body, depending on our own physical needs. Alongside the physical integration of the 6 classical principles of Pilates technique (breath, focus, centering, control, fluidity and precision) and of the anatomical details and adjustments of each exercise, the course also brings a basic theoretical support.

During the HATHA YOGA class, we focus on the technical aspects of the asanas or physical positions: alignment, posture and joint opening that are correspondent to each Yoga position. This responsible anatomical approach helps the body to systematically and consistently progress towards technical qualities of a future professional dancer/ performer. In order to achieve this, we apply Iyengar Yoga principles.  The course is structured starting from two essential principles of contemporary dance: the stable balance principle (the body’ s state of balance that reestablishes itself after being disrupted a little) and the dynamic balance principle (a balance determined by two opposite processes that happen simultaneously, whit the same intensity). Starting from the balance theory, the course offers theoretical and practical support in a clear and efficient way to prepare for contemporary dance and to structure individual practice and training.

WHAT KIND OF BODY DO I IMAGINE? Pre – Techniques for Contemporary Dance: Pilates and Yoga is part of the WHAT KIND OF BODY DO I IMAGINE? workshop series conceived by Andreea Belu, which questions the connection between somatic, proprioception and communication within the artistic creation groups (the choreographer- director- performer communicative trio) and the amateurs of movement groups (people who want to deepen in kinetic techniques in order to improve their movement possibilities).  The first four workshops, Actor/ Performer/ Dancer; Work in(g) Progress, Contact. Somatic. (Retro)Action and  Movement for the Body were held with the actors from Matei Vișniec Municipal Theatre Suceava, the Acting Master Program students groups within The Theatric Arts University in Târgu Mureș and with movement amateurs  within online and physical space movement classes, held for 2 years. The workshops Time and Place for any Game; Body for the Movement/ Movement for the Body and body for Movement will be held in educational institutions with children and teenagers, with the staff of Matei Vișniec Municipal Theatre Suceava and with the acting school students within the International Theatre Schools Festival Studio, organised by Theater Arts University in Târgu Mureș.

Andreea Belu’s activity is led by the interest in educating individual and physical awareness, by developing physical intelligence by preparing the body for the great diversity of movement schemes. She has completed the BA and MA studies in Performing Arts – Choreography at The Theatre Faculty within U.N.A.T.C. „I. L. Caragiale” Bucharest and the BA studies in Communication, Public Relation and Publicity at The Journalism And Communication Sciences Faculty   within The University Of Bucharest. She has been teaching contemporary, dance, Contact Improvisation, Pilates and Yoga for over 10 years. In the past 13 years, she has collaborated – as a performer, choreographer, teacher and student with The National Dance Center Of Bucharest , Gabriela Tudor Foundation, 4Culture Association, The Brush Factory Federation, The Workshop Foundation (Hungary), North Karelia College (Finland), Künstlerhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt (Germany), The University Of Theatric Arts Târgu Mureș, CiNETic, Tangaj Dance Collective,  The German State Theatre Timișoara, Matei Vișniec Municipal Theatre Suceava,  The Recent Art Museum Bucharest, Szigligeti Theatre Oradea, The National Theatre Bucharest, The National Theatre Târgu Mureș, The Comedy Theatre Bucharest, Metropolis Theatre, Țăndărică Theatre Bucharest, Youth Theatre Piatra Neamț. She co-coordinated the +2017 [ body, love and contemporary dance] project and the DanceCloud platform, she has curated and moderated the  public dialogues series – Histories Present In Uncomfortable Spaces- and co- founded Areal – Space for Choreographic Development. From 2019 until now she holds a series of workshops – WHAT THE BODY AM I THINKING? – that question the connection between somatic, proprioception and communication within artistic creation groups and movement amateurs groups. Movement, dance and theatre are, for her, a direct and honest way of reaching out to people.

We live a life that is surrounded by toxicity. Our bodies, as well as our environment, bear the imprints of toxic substances. To this we must add the strong impact of toxicity on human relationships. Therefore, it will not be an exaggeration if we say that we live with toxicity and in toxicity. What the consequences will be in the future, we could not say exactly, but we can imagine them, and be aware of the effects of it.

Together with the participants in the workshop, Iva Sveshtarova will explore the topic of toxicity, stepping on different narratives, visual examples and interpretations of the topic, investigating what are the short and long-term effects of toxicity on our bodies and the environment, and how life is shaped by toxicity.

The workshop will open a space where movement is materiality that is looking to shape particles of the topic, challenging the space and disturbing the reality.

Iva Sveshtarova is an artist and performer from Sofia. She graduated from the experimental Theatre-Studio “4XC” and “Synthetic Stage Arts” at the University of Plovdiv. She recently completed MA programme “Choreography and Performance” at the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies in Gießen, Germany. From 2002 till 2006 she worked as a performer at Acto – Instituto de Arte Dramática, Portugal. In 2006 she was granted a scholarship for DanceWeb.  In 2007 she joined the Sofia based formation Brain Store Project in the frame of which she collaborates with Willy Prager. She has worked with directors and choreographers such as a.o. Nikolay Georgiev, Filipe Pereira, Galina Borissova, deufert&plischke, Thomas Lehmen, Verena Billinger and Sebastian Schulz, Helena Botto, Ani Vaseva, Maren Strack, Ani Dankova a.o. Iva Sveshtarova is the author of the performances: “Perfectly Pink”, „a (e) ffect”, “Doing that thing again”, “Mirror Phase” and “Kafka’s Metamorphosis” (production by Acto – Instituto de Arte Dramatica, Portugal). In the last years, Sveshtarova collaborates with the artists Willy Prager and Rosa Beermann (Germany). The collective performances with Willy Prager (“Made for Happiness” and “shamebox”) have been awarded the Bulgarin ICAR National Award in the category “Contemporary Dance and Performance”. Iva Sveshtarova is co-founder of the Nomad Dance Academy – Balkan Network for Contemporary Dance and of the Antistatic Festival for Contemporary Dance and Performance (www.antistatic festival.org).

In June 2022 the London ICA Choreographic Devices conference opened up the discussion on how choreography is no longer simply the art of making dances. The term is now used to “investigate and animate the intersecting spatial, corporeal, affective and informational dimensions of being entangled with the world”. 

How then does one situate a dance practice today? A holistic approach is necessary that acknowledges multiple histories, practices and agencies. The course goal is to provide an introduction into critical texts and practices that intersect with dance, movement, theatre, performance and the visual arts. 

Structured as a forum, texts will be discussed and translated into movements, the sessions will seek to encourage an in-depth dialogue and investigation of individual and collective work within the contemporary context of performance practices and studies; focusing on the aesthetics and politics of “action” within the present eco-socio-political context. 

What constitutes an action? How do we articulate the meaning of actions in relationship to performance? How are we constituted by actions? How do we become agents in relation to our work, and what other agencies do we identify as participating within the work?  

The explored topics include: action theory, public address, invisible-forum-legislative theatre, dance theatre, gender performativity, reenactment and performing beyond the human. Key readings include: Hannah Arendt, Vilem Flusser, Walter Benjamin, Augusto Boal, Peggy Phelan, Judith Butler, Boris Groys, Yvonne Rainer, Sally Banes, Andre Lepecki, Oliver Marchart, Klaus Gunter, Peter Siller, Inke Arns, and Una Chaudhuri.  We will also look at works by Allan Kaprow, Ana Mendieta, Pina Bausch, Tania Bruguera, Sharon Hayes, Ai Weiwei, Daniel G Andujar, Artur Żmijewski, Public Movement and Francis Alÿs.

The methodology will also incorporate readings, group discussions, writing, and presentations; engaged as a means for participants to construct a critical discourse of their work and develop a sustainable art practice.

Irina Botea Bucan adopts a symbiotic artist-teacher-researcher methodology that consciously questions dominant socio-political ideas and places human and non-human agency at the centre as a means of meaning-making. Choosing to work in diverse contexts such as: academic institutions, alternative galleries, museums, art biennials, film festivals and community centres; she currently focuses on decentralising cultural discourses and the possibility of sustaining a creative differentiation that exists outside a dominant system of hegemonic values and critiques. Performance, reenactment, simulated auditions, elements of direct cinema and cinéma vérité are combined in her artistic approach. The works are developed through a collaborative process in which the performers are participants in the process, while the role of the director fluidly shifts from an observational to a reflective, participatory and performative mode. She is currently pursuing her doctoral studies at Goldsmiths University of London, and teaches at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago. Solo and group exhibitions include: Venice Biennale 55, Rotterdam International Film Festival, New Museum, New York, Museum of Contemporary Art of Castilla y León, Centre Pompidou, Paris, Jeu de Paume National Gallery, Paris; Kunsthalle Winterthur, Reina Sofia National Museum, Madrid; Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla y León, Spain, Gwangju Biennale 2010, U-Turn Quadriennial, Copenhagen; 51st Venice Biennale; Prague Biennale; Kunstforum, Vienna; Foksal Gallery, Warsaw, Argos Art and Media Centre, Brussels; MNAC (National Museum of Contemporary Art), Bucharest; Museum of Contemporary Art, Szczecin, Poland, Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowki Castle, Warsaw. Festivals: Artefact Festival, Leuven, Rotterdam Film Festival, Impakt Panorama, Utrecht; Polis Adriatic Europe Festival; Awards: Outstanding Artist Award "Visual Artist Prize 3Arts", Silver Award for Impakt Film, International Residency at Recollets, Cite des Arts, Paris, Constantin Brancusi etc.

After her scientific examination of improvised dance she started her career as cultural manager and press relations officer at PACT Zollverein Essen and the Teo Otto Theater in Remscheid where she was responsible for the public relations and marketing. In addition to this she organised international co-productions in collaboration with the artistic director of the theatre.In 2006 she founded her production office for contemporary dance, tanzmanagement.net. Since then she has been working as a freelance lecturer for theater marketing, international dance management, makes public relation for different cultural projects and manages national and international choreographers and dance companies. She is the co-director of festival tanz.tausch and member of different cultural-political associations in Germany. She was member of the executive board of the national association for independent theater. Since 2012 she has been one of the four speakers of the independent scene in Düsseldorf. She is a founding member of produktionsbande – network performing arts producers.

Raluca Iacob is a cultural manager and public policy analyst with 15 years of experience working with NGOs, local and central government institutions and authorities at national and international level. She is interested in the dynamics of cultural ecosystems, supporting participatory and data-driven governance and the adoption of audience-friendly administrative, managerial and curatorial practices. She has a background in communication and public policy studies and has taken courses in cultural management and policy, organisational development, project writing and evaluation. She designed and coordinated from 2013-2018 the Support Culture in Education program (MetruCub Association – resources for culture), which generated knowledge resources and an extensive network between schools and cultural actors, teachers and cultural educators. Raluca was co-curator of the Cultural Mediation Forum (Clujean Cultural Centre) in 2020, 2021 and 2022, designed and produced several trainings dedicated to cultural mediation and collaborations between cultural and educational actors for various organizations.

Roxana Dragu is a gallery owner, cultural manager and literary translator. Roxana’s background is in literary and editorial studies, and she combines literary creation and visual arts in exhibition and editorial projects that focus on creative possibilities in which the reader-viewer gains new knowledge and a deeper understanding of human nature. Among the most important such projects are the translation of Henry Miller’s novel Opus Pistorum and Double Exposure, an unprecedented editorial project on the Romanian cultural scene, which facilitated the creative encounter between ten writers and ten contemporary artists. Currently, Roxana is co-founder of the contemporary art gallery Mobius, opened in 2016, where she develops an exhibition program that amplifies specific dimensions of literature, such as narrative, fiction, identification and the spectator’s engagement with the artistic object. International artists such as AES+F, Anders Krisár, Claudia Larcher, Tina Lechner, CrocodilePOWER and Romanian artists Roman Tolici, Lea Rasovszky, Cătălin Bădărău, Sándor Szász, SADDO, Andrei Gamarț, Bianca Mann, Diana Matilda Crișan and Ileana Pașcalău make up the gallery’s current portfolio, in parallel supporting collaborative projects with promising artists and community events generated over time. In addition to the exhibition program developed within Mobius, Roxana Gamarț has also initiated a series of public lectures – Mobius Art Talks, How Deep Is Your Art? Guided Tour & 5 O’clock Tea at The Gallery, Institute of the Gaze – aimed at facilitating public access to a better understanding of the contemporary art phenomenon.

Ovidiu Dajbog-Miron is a cultural manager, currently leading the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR) in Warsaw. After graduating in English and French philology at the University “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” in Iasi (2004), he attended a master’s programme in cultural management at the University of Bucharest (2005-2008) and was awarded a scholarship to City University (London, 2006-2007), where he studied management and cultural policies. From 2008 to 2012 he was employed at the Bucharest office of the ICR, where he held the positions of consultant, director of the department for monitoring the activities of foreign branches (2008-2012) and voting member of the Board of Directors (2010-2012). From October 2012 to October 2013 he gave training sessions in the field of logistics for branches of a well-known French company in six countries on the African continent, and from 2013 to 2015 he worked in the fields of data management and training for a multinational company (Łódź, Poland). He is appointed Project Coordinator at the ICR Madrid for a 4-year term (2015-2019), where he coordinates a portfolio of projects, mainly dedicated to contemporary cinema, literature and visual arts. In June 2019 he was appointed programme manager at the Association Timișoara 2021 – European Capital of Culture, where he accompanied cultural operators in the implementation of projects included in the cultural programme of the European Capital of Culture, and from April 2020 to August 2021 he was in charge of the artistic department as programme director. i. After a short period in which he coordinates on behalf of the Art Encounters Foundation the large-scale Constantin Brâncuși and Victor Brauner retrospectives (January – May 2022) included in the official programme of the European Capital of Culture Timisoara 2023, he is appointed director at the ICR Warsaw (July 2022). Since 2020 he has been president of the Pantograf Association, a non-governmental organisation that aims to stimulate cultural exchanges to and from Romania and to enhance regional cultural heritage. In 2021 and 2022 he coordinated, together with the founding members of the Association, the projects “Sounds of the Synagogues” (2021) and “Stories of the Synagogues” (2022), initiatives aimed at enhancing the built and intangible heritage of the Jewish communities of Banat and Crișana. He continued sporadically to work as a translator from English and French, publishing four translations from English into Romanian with Publica and Vellant. He speaks English and French at an advanced level (he is a certified translator for these two languages), Spanish, Italian and, at an intermediate level, Polish.

Oana Radu is a cultural manager and cultural policy consultant. Member of the Board of Directors of the National Cinematography Centre (2016-2017), she coordinated the development of the Cultural Strategy of Bucharest 2016-2026 and the Cultural Strategy of Arad 2015-2025. Co-founder of the Film ETC. association in Bucharest (renamed Insula 42), she is manager of the Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema Festival (New York) and has coordinated other large international projects, including the Romanian Pavilion at the 2015 Venice Biennale. From 2006-2012 she was deputy director of the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York, under the direction of Corina Șuteu. Between 2000-2006, Oana Radu was program director of the ECUMEST Association in Bucharest, coordinating a series of programs in the field of cultural policies and cultural cooperation in Eastern Europe. She has contributed to a number of studies and researches in the field of cultural policies in South East Europe and is a trainer in the field of cultural management and cultural policies. Graduate of the European Master in Cultural Management at the Dijon Business School, France.

Miki Braniște is assistant professor at the Faculty of Theatre and Film at Babeş-Bolyai University and has completed a PhD thesis in the field of cultural management and cultural policies. She is cultural manager and curator for performing arts and interdisciplinary projects, president of the Colectiv A Association. She was director of the TEMPS D’IMAGES Festival in Cluj for 10 editions. Between 2009 and 2019, she was a member of the board of directors of the cultural space Fabrica de Pensule. Since 2017, she created, as curator, the Cultural Management Academy program at the initiative of the Goethe Institut Bucharest. She is the author of the book Creativity – commodity. A perspective from within the Cluj independent cultural scene 2009-2019 co-edited by Idea Publishing House and Cluj University Press.

Marijana Cvetković completed MA in Management in Culture and Cultural Policy at the University of Arts Belgrade and University Lyon 2, France, and is currently PhD candidate at the University of Arts Belgrade. She initiated and realised various programmes and projects in the fields of cultural policy, international and Balkan cultural cooperation, contemporary dance, visual arts and museum culture. She is also co-founder of Station Service for contemporary dance, Nomad Dance Academy (Balkan platform for the development of contemporary dance and performing arts), Belgrade’s independent cultural center Magacin, Association of Independent Culture Scene of Serbia and Platform for the Commons “Zajedničko” .She is a cultural activist on the independent cultural scenes in Belgrade and Serbia.

Curator of the Piatra Neamț Theatre Festival (since 2017), a festival that became international again in 2018.
Since 2022, the Youth Theatre is a partner, together with 11 other European performing arts institutions, in the Future Laboratory project, supported by the Creative Europe programme. It is also a partner in a new interdisciplinary cultural project, winner of the Creative Europe programme, which will start in March 2023.
Some of the titles of some of the shows she has directed (text & direction): 

Waste, production of Staatstheater Stuttgart, Va urma. Pe planeta Oglindă, a production of TT Piatra Neamt, Elogiul lenei, a production of Centro Dramatico Nacional Madrid, Work in Progress, a production of ERT Bologna, De Vînzare/For Sale, a co-production of Odeon Theatre Bucharest and State Theatre Hamburg in the international project Hunger for Trade; Solitaritate, co-production of the Radu Stanca National Theatre in Sibiu, the Brussels National Theatre and the Avignon Festival within the project Villes en Scene, a performance presented in 2014 in the official selection of the Avignon Festival; Tipografic Majuscul, co-production of the dramAcum Association and the Divadelna Nitra Festival within the project Parallel Lives – 20th Century Through the Eyes of Secret Police; Sold Out, production of the Kammerspiele Theatre in Munich.
She has collaborated as a playwright or dramaturg with prestigious theatres such as the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, Volksbuehne in Berlin, Royal Court in London, Schaubuhne in Berlin, Kammerspiele in Munich, Staatstheater Stuttgart, Centro Dramatico Nacional in Madrid, Volkstheater in Vienna. Her performances have been presented in international festivals such as Avignon Festival (official selection), Wiener Festwochen, TransAmeriques Montreal, LIFT London, Dialog Wroclaw, Biennale New Plays from Europe Wiesbaden, New Drama Moscow, New Drama Budapest, Mladi Levi Lubliana, Almada International Festival, Nitra International Festival, etc., touring at the invitation of BOZAR Brussels, HAU Berlin, TR Warsawa, Brussels National Theatre, Centro Dramatico Nacional Madrid, Theatre de la Ville Paris, Freiburg State Theatre.
Her texts have been translated and staged in theatres in Germany, France, Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Canada, USA, Japan, UK, Israel, Turkey, Chile etc.
Co-author of the script for the film “Tipografic Majuscul”, directed by Radu Jude.
Most recent award: the Radio Romania Cultural Award for the show Frontal and for a visionary managerial project at the Youth Theatre in Piatra Neamt (2020).

Elena Calistru is the founder and president of Funky Citizens, a non-governmental organization in Romania. Funky Citizens aims to build educational and action-oriented civic engagement tools, encouraging citizens to get involved in government accountability initiatives. Elena has 15 years of experience in civil society projects, both nationally and internationally. Her expertise is mainly in the field of good governance, transparency, public money management. In the field of public finance and the promotion of fiscal-budgetary transparency, Elena has been working for more than 10 years and has contributed to numerous researches, studies and analyses in the field (including in the context of the International Budget Partnership, Open Spending EU or in working groups of the European Economic and Social Committee).
Contact: www.funky.ong //

Alexandru Boureanu graduated from the University of Craiova, with a degree in theatre arts – acting, in 1999. After graduation he was employed as an actor at the Dramatic Theatre of Constanta. In 2000, as a scholarship holder of the Romanian Government, he attended an internship in theatre direction at the Academy of Theatre Arts in St. Petersburg. He followed a research internship in the field of sociology of culture/theatre in Switzerland, at the Lausanne Conservatory, benefiting from the Keizo Obushi Fellowship – a competition organized by UNESCO in 2001. Also in 2001 he became a member of UNITER and graduated from the U.N.A.T.C. “I. L. Caragiale” in Bucharest, with a Master’s degree in Aesthetics and Theatre Theory (2003) and a Master’s degree in Performance Direction (2008). He obtained a scholarship from the French Government, and in 2005/2006 he completed an internship at the Maison des Cultures du Monde and the Theatre de la Tempete la Cartoucherie in Paris. In the autumn of 2006 he obtained a Master 2 – PRO “Les ingenieries des echanges interculturels” at the Universite Sorbonne III. PhD in Economic Sciences – Management, at the Academy of Economic Studies of Bucharest in 2008 and PhD in Theatre and Performing Arts / University of Arts “George Enescu” of Iasi in 2013. He is currently a professor at the University of Craiova.
In 2010 he became the first manager of the Cultural Centre “Jean Bart”, Tulcea. Since 2006 he is manager of the National Theatre “Marin Sorescu” in Craiova.
He has staged over 40 theatre performances.