Chen Yufei is a dancer, teacher and choreographer, one of the top ten Chinese Dance Lotus Award dancers. She is currently a senior professor of contemporary dance at the Shenzhen Arts School in China. In 2013, she was invited to Germany for an exchange visit as a cultural delegate. Since 2016, she has joined the international cooperation project between Shenzhen Arts School and Tanzart Ostwest and is involved in in-depth research and development of contemporary dance teaching materials for dance graduates of secondary professional dance colleges. The aim of the project is to promote understanding and awareness of contemporary dance through body exploration and improvisation.

Huang Hongye is the Director of International Affair Office ,Shenzhen Arts School. Take charge of international art exchange project of Shenzhen Arts School since 2006. Since 2016, he has planed and joined the international cooperation project between Shenzhen Arts School and Tanzart Ostwest.

Collaboration Project Shenzhen Art School and TanzArt OstWest

Bridget is an American woman living in Germany since 2006.

Bridget has lived and taught dance  in Finland, Russia, Alaska, Austria, Germany and California.

She came to Germany at 18 to work as a dancer and teacher at the Werkstatt e:V. In Düsseldorf  and brought the new discipline of Hip Hop dance with her, teaching the very first kid’s Hip Hop dance class at the Werkstatt. Along with her Creative partner, Marvin A. Smith, she organized the first Hip Hop Dance Fest in 1994, bringing American Hip Hop dancers from New York  to Germany  to teach and give workshops.

She danced commercially until 1995, when she returned to the US to finish her university studies at University California Berkeley, where she received a Master’s Degree summe cum laude in German Literature.

While at UC Berkeley, she continued to perform in regional theater, teach dance, and belonged to the Bay Area’s first Hip Hop Dance Company, New Style Motherlode in Oakland, California.

In 2006, Bridget returned to Germany with her family and began teaching again at the now relocated and renamed Tanzhaus nrw in Düsseldorf. She was among the first teachers to take part in the Tanz in Schulen program “Take Off”.

Between 2010-2015, Bridget and her creative partner Corey Action Harrison collaborated on student choreography projects at Tanzhaus NRW, producing 8 full length dance evenings in the span of 5 years. The students from those projects have  become dancers, choreographers, models, and artists in their own right.

In 2016, Bridget began taking her work in 2 new directions: she started choreographing for actors, and she began teaching dance for people with Parkinson’s. At present she teaches 3 Parkinson’s dance classes a week, 2 online and one in person. She continues to teach Street Jazz at Tanzhaus NRW, and she is the dance teacher for the Schauspielstudio Program at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, training acting students from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater >>Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy<< Leipzig. She has most recently choreographed a production of “Zauberberg” at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, and will be choreographing  an upcoming production of “Liebe, Mord, und Adelspflicht” at Theater Krefeld, as well as  “Cabaret” in Düsseldorf.

Alessandro Lumare is a Dancer, Performer, Art Trainer, conductor of creative Workshop for Children, Illustrator, visual artist, video Maker and Socio-cultural worker.

As a performer, he participated in many international festivals and events throughout Europe.

As social worker he works with minors at risk in the suburbs of Rome, participates in international exchanges and leads creative workshops for severely disabled people and for minors in the refugee camps.

As illustrator he produces pictures books and and participates in various international festivals and events.

With choreographer Simona Lobefaro he created the drawing-dance research project Segni mossi, conducting workshops and public performances hosted by prestigious institutions in more than 20 countries around the world.

Alessandro Full Biography HERE

Simona Lobefaro is a Dancer, Performer, Choreographer, Art Trainer, conductor of creative Workshop for Children and Socio-cultural worker.

Since 2001 he has been part of the company Sistemi dinamici altamente instabili, led by Alessandra and Antonella Sini.

In 2002 she founded the dance research project MAddAI whereby she creates her own choreographic works.

In addition to her artistic activity on stage, Simona supervises and creates countless educational projects for adults and children of different ages on a national and international level. She is part of the staff of artistic operators who hold play and educational workshops for many kindergartens and primary schools dealing with topics such as the respect for the environment.

Since 2005, she has held workshops for children in primary public schools as part of the European multicultural project Mus-e Italia, where she also participates in conferences, performative and training for educators events.

In 2014 together with the visual artist Alessandro Lumare, she creates the dance-movement research project Segni mossi.

Simona Full Biography HERE

Segni mossi is a research project born in 2014 from the visual artist Alessandro Lumare and the choreographer Simona Lobefaro in order to investigate the interaction between dance and graphic sign with children and adults.

It partners with Fondazione Mus-e Italia which promotes social inclusion through art, conducting annual creative workshops in public primary schools in Rome (IT).

It has been selected by HundrED organization as one of the 100 most innovative education projects across the world for the years 2017 and 2019.

It has been carrying out training courses, performances and workshops in more than 25 countries.

Segni Mossi Biography: HERE

https://www.facebook.com/segnimossi

https://www.instagram.com/segni_mossi/

Photo (Fernando Gutierrez)

Laura started her training at Linda Butler School of Dance, aged 5.  Having sustained a spinal injury in 1998, Laura went on to become the first wheelchair user to complete 100% of the A-Level dance syllabus.  Since then, she has accumulated a wealth of experience, working with numerous choreographers, gaining extensive creative and performance experience, touring internationally in both traditional and non-traditional settings, including Street Arts festivals and Rural Touring.

Additional choreographic and performance work includes the collaboration with Abi Motimer (Lila Dance) and Suzie Birchwood on the dance film “a part”, and performing with Step Change Studios.  She choreographed the Heritage Flame Ceremony for the Rio 2016 Paralympic handover, and, as a Dance Captain, assisted in the choreography and teaching of the mass volunteer cast for the London 2012 Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony and performed in the ceremony itself.

She also choreographed A:Version for Resolution! (2009), remounting it on IND4 in 2016. Laura also directed and edited the dance film Re:Bound (2004). She was Queen Mouse in the CBeebies Panto The Nutcracker (2016) and performed in Broadcast from Biscuitland (2015) as part of their On Stage: Live from Television Centre event.

Her extensive teaching experience ranges across all ages and abilities, with a passion for empowering future generations of diverse dancers. She has been instrumental in the development of Stopgap’s IRIS Dance Syllabus for disabled dancers and the Seedbed teacher training program. She has also contributed to the ISTD’s and RAD’s inclusive practice.

Laura was Interim Artistic Director of Stopgap in 2016 and in 2018 while Lucy Bennett was on maternity leave, and became Head of Talent Development in 2017.  She has collaborated with Stopgap on Triple Bill, Double Booked, Portfolio Collection, Tracking, Trespass, SPUN Productions, Artificial Things and The Seafarers.

She is on the board of trustees for East London Dance the English Folk Dance and Song Society, where she has a focus on Artists, Safeguarding and Diversity and Daisy - Disability Arts in Surrey

Stopgaps Laura Jones: 

https://www.stopgapdance.com/biographies/laura-jones/

About Home practice 

https://www.stopgapdance.com/learn-and-practice/dance-teachers-and-artists/dance-artist-training/home-practice/

Video to Home practice 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83OBY44_zJI

Benoît Lachambre (CA) ist seit über 30 Jahren Choreograph, Tänzer und Lehrer. 1996 gründete er seine Kompanie PAR B.L.EUX und schuf damit eine Plattform für die Realisierung seiner Forschungsprojekte und der Entwicklung neuer kreativer Prozesse. Lachambre ist die Galionsfigur eines neuen Zugangs zu Improvisation und Körperbewusstsein und wird regelmäßig als Workshop-Leiter oder Lehrer für internationale Symposien und Künstlerforen angefragt. Er kollaboriert regelmäßig mit Künstlern unterschiedlicher  Disziplinen und Hintergründe, u.a. mit Lynda Gaudreau, Felix Ruckert, Catherine Contour, Boris Charmatz, Sasha Waltz, Isabelle Schad, oder dem Visual Artist Laurent Goldring. Mit Meg Stuart und dem Komponisten und Multiinstrumentalisten Hahn Rowe kreierte er das Stück FORGERIES, LOVE AND OTHER MATTERS, für das er gemeinsam mit Rowe im September 2006 mit dem weltbekannten ›Bessie Award‹ ausgezeichnet wurde. Bei PACT Zollverein war Lachambre u.a. im Rahmen der Ruhrtriennale 2008 mit dem Stück ›Is you me‹, zu Gast, das er gemeinsam mit Louise Lecavalier präsentierte.

Alejandra Jara is a Performer, choreographer, dance teacher and certified GAGA teacher based in Cologne.

“I am interested in seeing people’s passion to move while they move, more than wonderful shapes. The possibility to combine choreography with textures, sensations and delicacy is my inspiration when I am working on a new piece.”

Alejandra was born in Paraguay, and is currently living in Cologne, Germany. After her training in classical ballet and Contemporary Dance in Asunción, she joined the National Ballet of Paraguay in 1999. With the company she performed for nine years nationally and internationally working with various choreographers in works by Austin Hartel, Ramon Oller, Ruxandra Racovitza, Birgit Asshoff, Teresa Nieto, and others. Thereafter she studied for a trimester at the Instituto Superior de Bellas Artes in Cuba. In 2011, she finished her MFA in Dance at The Ohio State University and in 2012 she became a Certified Gaga Teacher in Israel.

Besides teaching and performing, Ale has created her own choreographic work, which has been presented in Paraguay and abroad. Her solo piece Sentir (Cuba 2007) received honorable mention for performance and choreography in Festival Elsinor. Ale created Finas Agujas (2007) for the National Ballet of Paraguay as well as the works As if… (USA 2009), Passenger (USA 2010), To be (Paraguay 2011), Dame un Momento (Paraguay 2014), Eco (2016) and Blue Moon (2018). The piece IMA (2019) started with a ten-minute solo piece and now has evolved as a forty-minute piece with four female dancers. Her latest work (2021) as a performer and choreograph in collaborations with the dancers is soon to be premiered in Köln. The piece is called Beneath. Moreover there is a new Dance Film soon to be premiered as well Among the Living, which was made in Iceland for the Oscar winning song writer and singer Markéta Irglová. The work was commissioned by the author putting together a wonderful group of artists, from writers, dancers to video specialist. This was her second experience working for Markéta Irglová. The first work was in 2014 with the video of “The Leading Bird.”

Ale has received several awards, including the UNESCO Scholarship, the FULBRIGHT Scholarship and „Präsenz vor Ort – Künstlerinnen mit Kind“. Moreover, she was recognized as one of twenty outstanding women in Paraguay in 2010.

https://www.alejara.net/home

Photo: Jeannine Alfes

Mateusz Bogdanowicz begann seine tänzerische Tätigkeit mit Hip-Hop und dem Erlernen von Kampfkünsten. Von 2014-2019 studierte er an der National Academy of Theater Arts in Krakau und absolvierte sein M.A. Studium in Tanz mit Auszeichnung. In dieser Zeit arbeitete mit verschiedenen Choreograph*innen und Tanzpädagog*innen zusammen, u.a. Jacek Łumiński, Jacek Przybyłowicz, Anke Hauerstein, Sylwia Hefczyńska-Lewandowska und nahm an vielen interdisziplinäre Projekten teil, u.a. mit Jerzy Stuhr, Jerzy Święch, Błażej Peszek, Allen Kuharski, Sharon Reshev-Armony. In 2019 wurde er in seiner Heimatstadt Gorzów Wielkopolski für seine tänzerische Arbeit und das Engagement für die lokale Gesellschaft ausgezeichnet. Von 2019-2021 absolvierte er das M.A. Studium Tanzkomposition/Choreographie an der Folkwang Universität der Künste in Essen. In dieser Zeit kreierte er eigene Tanzstücke, entwickelte Tanzprojekte und arbeitete mit Choreograph*innen wie Rodolpho Leoni, Henrietta Horn, Mark Sieczkarek und das E-MEX Ensemble zusammen. Aktuell ist er Ensemblemitglied des Folkwang Tanzstudios.

https://www.mateuszbogdanowicz.com/

https://www.folkwang-uni.de/home/tanz/aktuell/vollanzeige/news-detail/tanz-ist-fuer-alle-da/

Michal Mualem Born in Israel in 1974. Training: gymnastics and dance education. As a dancer: 1994-2001 worked in Israel with the choreographers : Liat Dror&Nir Ben Gal, Niv Sheinfeld, Inbal PInto, Noa Dar. From 2001 collaborating with Sasha Waltz&Guests company in Berlin as a dancer and assistant. In 2008 danced a solo created by Roberto Zappala. As a teacher: Since 2006 teaches contemporary dance contact, improvisation, repertory workshops in Israel, Europe, USA, Japan and more. As a choreographer: Since 2005 creating with Giannalberto de FIlippis Together they performed their works in many International festivals and venues.

Giannalberto de Filippis, Born in Italy, 1974. Practice of Chinese Martal Arts (Wu-Shu), 1981-1995.  From 1995 I studied Jazz, classical, modern. 2000 - graduated at the London Contemporary Dance School. From 2000 I focused more into release , improvisation, contact, Feldenkrais. As a dancer I worked with Philipp Egli, Iztok Kovac, Sasha Waltz, Michele Abbondanza and Antonella Bertoni. Since 2005 I started to create my own choreographic works with Michal Mualem. Since 2002 I teach professionals and non professional dancers in Italy, Germany, Israel, Brazil, including international Academies SEAD (Salzburg), Modem (Catania), IALS (Rome), Tanzfabrik (Berlin) and others.

Mualem/de Filippis Dance Projects  Michal Mualem (Isr) and Giannalberto de Filippis (It) Since 2005 they create their own work, performing in various international festivals and venues:Aerowaves (London), Festival Della cité (Lausanne ), Tanec Praha (Prague ), Bratislava in Movement’, Curtain up festival, International Exposer, Tel Aviv Dance, Tmuna theater (Tel-Aviv), Machol Shalem (Jerusalem), Opera estate festival (Bassano del Grappa), Teatro San Materno (Ascona) Oriente Occidente Festival (Rovereto), Hangartfest Pesaro, ACTFestival (Sofia) and more… They have been teaching together workshops of contemporary dance, contact and improvisation and creating for dance academies, and various formation programs in Israel and Europe.

Since 2010 they became parent to Liam and Luna.

Born in 1960, Frey Faust began performing at the age of 8 with his family as a traveling troubadour. He is a second generation contact improviser and an alumnus of the 80´s New York dance scene. Some of his more important early influences came from: Shekhinah Mountainwater, Nita Little, Pavel Rouba, Rene Bazinet, and Janet Panetta. He has worked with and for a number of artists (order of appearance): Ohad Naharin, Donald Byrd, David Parsons, Gina Buntz, Howard Katz, Merce Cunningham, Meredith Monk, Randy Warshaw, Bob Een, Stephen Petronio, Danny Ezralow... to name a few. He founded or co-founded three dance companies, and has created or co-created over 40 choreographic solo and group works. Following an independent study of anatomy, biomechanics, and physics, he has been able to build a pedagogical approach that has made him a sought after teacher, personal coach and technical counselor. After fifteen years of research, he consolidated his findings in a book, 'The Axis Syllabus - human movement lexicon', which he continues to edit with the help of the Axis Syllabus Research Meshwork. Founded in 2009, the ASRN is a rapidly expanding group of experts from many related fields in the human movement and education sciences. Recently, his work on the AS has been focused on the provision of an online "university" for the study of the human body: The ASRM Forum, as well as the construction of a symbol set with the potential to streamline movement documentation, creation and analysis, The Human Movement Alphabet. He also makes shoes, speaks 4 languages, and continues to create and perform dances.

https://www.freyfaust.org/

Sabrina Sadowska received her training as a dancer and ballet teacher in her hometown of Basel. This was followed by engagements as a dancer in Trier, Bremerhaven and Halle as well as six years of scholarships at the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen. Numerous invitations as a ballet teacher took her to the State Ballet School in Warsaw, the Ballet School of the Leipzig Opera, the Palucca Academy of Dance in Dresden, the Polish Dance Theatre ,the Aalto Theatre Essen and the National Theatre Brno.  As a member of the management she was ballet master from 1997 and deputy ballet director from 1999 at Ballett Vorpommern. 2001-2016 was curator and organisational director of the newcomer festival "Tanztendenzen" in Greifswald. 2004-2013 jury member and jury president for dance scholarships of "Migroskulturprozent" in Switzerland. 2013/2014 she moved to Chemnitz first as ballet company director and 1st ballet mistress. In 2013 she completed a part-time degree in theatre and music management at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. She founded and directs the festival "TANZ | MODERNE | TANZ" - international platform for contemporary dance in Chemnitz. For the Chemnitz Ballet she created the ballets Nutcracker, Swan Lake (with Eno Peci), Love me or Leave me and Stage Fright. A special concern of hers is the professional re-entry of dancers after their dance career. Sabrina Sadowska is the founder and chairperson of the board of the foundation TANZ - Transition Zentrum Deutschland, which is committed to dancer health and dancer rehabilitation. In 2016 she received the Medal of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. She has been ballet director at the Chemnitz Theatres since 2018.

Theater Chemnitz

Stiftung Tanz 

Chemnitz Kulturhauptstadt Europa 2025