Company
In many-layered stagings, MOUVOIR deals with the central areas of our modern lives, in a manner both authentic and experimental. An uncompromising observer, Stephanie Thiersch dissects her environs: Popular culture, philosophy and fine arts become her tools. Thiersch’s interest in physical and emotional conditions that defy a clear definition, the human tilt, informs her style.
“Stephanie Thiersch’s works seek a confrontation with other media but still remain dance pieces at their core. The choreographer’s interest is always directed at the body in the process of transformation and transition. Thiersch’s bodies not only oscillate between their own various media representations, but also embody heterogeneous emotional states. The confrontation between contexts is not just one between different art forms and media. As in the approach to Africa in As/If (We Would Be), it is also a confrontation of cultures whose foreign gestures place an external gaze on what one considers one’s own. In Bronze by Gold, the musicians of the Asasello string quartet move together with the seven dancers in the space, whereby the intense movements of the music enter into their bodies so profoundly that it drives them to physical exhaustion. The piece confronts our western party culture with horrors of terror and death that we have yet to even fathom. Without having noticed it at the outset, the Belgian DJ’s scratched sounds suddenly sound like gunshots; the dancers’ ecstatic poses transform under our eyes into cries for help. They are neither one nor the other; Stephanie Thiersch suspends us between extreme states, attempts a balancing act between contexts and challenges us to take a stance in the spaces in between.”
(Gerald Siegmund, Brochure of the German Dance Platform 2016)
Stephanie Thiersch
Artistic direction
Stephanie Thiersch studied dance, the humanities and, later on, media art at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. With the MOUVOIR Company that she founded in the year 2000, she develops stage performances, films and installations that have been performed both nationally and internationally and received numerous accolades. Since the beginning, MOUVOIR has stood for experimental interdisciplinary work with international artists and co-producers. She was a visiting professor at the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies in Gießen and at the College for Music and Dance Cologne. Within the Freihandelszone ensemble network, she is the artistic director for the festival GLOBALIZE:COLOGNE/since 2017 URBÄNG!.
Thiersch sees her choreographic work as being part of a broader paradigm of interdisciplinary movement research, which initially involved media, then increasingly visual arts and pop culture, and currently primarily integrates music in the choreographic mindset. Since 2011 emphasis has also been placed on collective work dealing with the subject of postcolonialism with artists from Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2016 she organized “City Dance Köln” based on an idea by the dance pioneer Anna Halprin. The politically motivated manifestation of art consisted of over 600 performers and 10,000 participating passersby moving and dancing their way through the city of Cologne.
“When confronting bodies, images and body-images, Stephanie Thiersch tries to strip away any habitual behavioural patterns and everyday communication in order to make it possible to experience a different, archaic form of coexistence in the intermediary spaces. At the interface of nature and culture, of the group and the individual, dancers become estranged to themselves. While swimming through and against streams of images, they attempt to find their way in a reality which repeatedly threatens to slip away from them, until it tips over and assumes surreal qualities. Between adapting to an unreal world and resisting powers they are unable to appreciate, they end up creating a reality with rules of its own”
(Gerald Siegmund, Brochure of the German Dance Platform)
photo credit: Martin Rottenkolber
Nadia Gabrieli Kalati aka “NADEEYA GK” was born and raised in Cameroon, moved to Italy and now lives in France. After graduating in international trilingual management, she decided to follow a career as a dancer: from traditional Cameroonian dances to hip-hop culture, where she fell in love with house dance, then to krump and, thanks to several stays at the École Des Sables in Toubab Dialaw/Senegal, to traditional African dances. As a member of the famous international female dance group Paradox-Sal, founded by Ousmane “Baba” SY, Nadéeya has had a remarkable impact on the global competition scene: she shows the world that house dance is strongly influenced by African dances (winner: Ladies of HipHop in New York/HipOpsession in Nantes/International Jakarlo in Dakar). She has also performed in theatres such as the Opéra National Paris Bastille or at the Biennale de la Danse de Lyon. Her danced language bears witness to her background, which reflects her dual African-European culture. Nadéeya is passionate about teaching. She shares her knowledge all over the world (Cameroon, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Australia, USA, France…) and contributes in particular to creating artistic links between Africa and the rest of the world.
Instagram/Facebook/YouTube: @nadeeya_gk
Margaux Marielle-Tréhoüart is a freelance dancer based in Berlin. She studied dance and drama at the Conservatoire de Grenoble and at the Folkwang University in Essen. Margaux has been dancing with Sasha Waltz & guests since 2013 and worked under the direction of Claudia Castellucci, Pierre Audi, Régis Obadia, Luis Malvacias, Deborah Hay, Simon Tanguy, Andrew Schneider, and many others. With Muriel Vernet, Fabian Gerhardt, Elik Niv, Deville Cohen, Neue Musiktheater Ensemble Opera Lab Berlin (Michael Höppner), Haggai Cohen-Milo she found creative collaborations. Since 2019 she has been part of the Political Voices Institute of the Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin/Marta Gornicka.
Shelly Quest, born and raised in the Bronx, NYC, currently lives and works as a musician, producer and designer in Cologne, Germany. In her artistic work, she uses various means to express her activist approach. The focus is on the demand for social empowerment and inclusion of marginalised people. As a rapper, she challenges her audience with empowering lyrics and scrutinises images of society.
photo: ©Martin Rottenkolber

Joel Suárez Gómez
dance
Joel Suárez Gómez was born in Holguín, Cuba in 1988. He graduated from the Escuela Nacional de Ballet de La Habana and became part of the National Ballet of Cuba (BNC), later of the company Danza Contemporánea de Cuba (DCC). As visual artist he has been invited to the 11th Bienal de Artes Plásticas de La Habana. Since 2013 he has found base in Berlin where he develops personal projects and practices and works with Sasha Waltz & Guests, MOUVOIR/Stephanie Thiersch, and other artists around the world. He is part of emerging group on Present Time Composition, an improvisation method developed for musicians by Allan Bern. Interdisciplinary collaborations, new performative practices, analysis, community, recycling, friendship are key words that define his artistic interests.

Julien Ferranti
dance, music
Julien Ferranti was born in Brazil and grew up in Nice, where he started dancing at the Classijazz School, later at the Conservatory. He joined the National Conservatory of Music and Dance in Paris in 2006, where he was trained by Susan Alexander, Peter Goss, Christine Gerard, Florence Vitrac, Cheryl Therrien, and André Lafonta. During his studies he also worked with Yuval Pick, Thomas Lebrun, Emmanuel Gat and Mélanie Lomoff. After graduating in 2011, he joined Philippe Decouflé’s DCA team, with whom he still works today. Since the production of “Bilderschlachten” in 2019 he has been working closely with MOUVOIR/Stephanie Thiersch. Music plays an important role in his career, in most of his productions Julien sings (countertenor) and he also plays the piano. He teaches workshops at the Conservatoire de Paris as part of the project “Tout doit disparaître”. He has lived and worked in Athens since 2019.
Black Pearl de Almeida Lima
Dance
BLACK PEARL is a multidisciplinary artist with a wealth of experience and skill in dance, teaching, choreography, and directing. She was born in Mogi das Cruzes, Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1994 and has had a remarkable artistic journey. As a Black trans woman, Black Pearl’s career began with Capoeira, HipHop, and acting classes, and she has since received numerous scholarships and awards for her outstanding contributions to the arts. In 2010, Black Pearl participated in the Seminário International de Dança de Brasília and was awarded a scholarship from the Birgit Keil Foundation, which enabled her to graduate from the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mannheim, Germany. In 2012, she was invited to participate in the prestigious Prix de Lausanne. Black Pearl started her career as a dancer at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe under the direction of Birgit Keil in 2013. She had the privilege to perform in productions by renowned choreographers such as Peter Wright, John Cranko, Terence Köhler, Peter Breuer, Tim Plegge, Thiago Bordin, and others. In Karlsruhe, she created her first piece called “Ego” in 2015, as part of the evening Choreografen Stellen Sich Vor. In 2016, Black Pearl worked as a soloist at the Staatstheater Augsburg with Mauro de Candia, Mauro Bigonzetti,
Krzysztof Pastor, Dominique Dumais, and Kevin O’day. In 2018, she became a permanent member of the Gauthier Dance Company and performed in productions of guest choreographers such as Ohad Naharin, Hofesh Shechter, and Helena Waldman. From 2020, she worked as a dancer for Richard Siegal/Ballet of Difference at Schauspiel Köln. Black Pearl has also participated in numerous dance competitions and has earned several international grand prizes in her main categories, EU Runway and Vogue Fem. In 2022, she became an official member of the artist Queer BIPOC collective performance “House of Brownies”. As a researcher, Black Pearl
explores the use of the body as an artistic and political platform to subvert the invisibility (physical and symbolic) of trans entities through their life stories. She aims to deconstruct the colonial narrative of all classical forms of movement and, through her body experiences, translate potentialities and bring to light aspects related to the representation and representativeness of dissident bodies in art. Black Pearl is a versatile artist who has made significant contributions to the arts. She is also a dance instructor and teaches workshops at universities, institutions, and private schools. She judges dance competitions and ballroom events and works as a model in fashion industry. Her work inspires and motivates others, and she remains an essential figure in the artistic world.
photo: p#32#p
Christ Zié
dancer
Christ Zié aka Flvm is an Ivorian dancer who was born in the country of Teranga (Senegal) and has been dancing professionally since 2013. He performs in several groups, namely: True Reborn, Xtreme Bboys, Roots Empire (Seush fam), Deep Fam, with which he keeps the Krump movement alive in Senegal. He is characterised by his energy, his groove and his spirit of sharing. This has enabled him to win several competitions: Battle nationale krump (2019), Illest battle Sénégal (2021), All 4 House (2022), where he was selected to participate in a residency for MOUVOIRs production LAND IM LAND.
Instagram: @jsc_flame
Cola Lok Yee Ho was born in Hong Kong. She studied contemporary dance at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and completed her training as part of the practice-oriented Performact programme in Lisbon, where she trained with artists such as Mate Meszaros, Inãki Azpillaga, Jose Agudo and Cruz Isael Mata. As a member of Quorum Ballet, she toured Portugal, Denmark and Spain with the pieces Rite of Spring – Made in China and Saudade. In 2019, Cola Ho worked with Luke Jessop and for Companhia Instável with Roberto Olivan.
She developed her first own choreography, Mrs Murphy, in 2017, followed two years later by Emma’s Jaw, which she presented in Torres Vedras (Portugal).
Cola Ho was a member of the dance ensemble at Theater Bielefeld from 2020.2023.
Georgina aka Mother Leo Melody started her dance career with a contemporary dance education at the Fontys Dance Academy in Tilburg (Netherlands). Georgina was the first German dancer to introduce Waacking and Voguing in her vocabulary and successfully showcased her skills as the winner of the German tv show Dancestar 2008 and as a semi finalist of Got to Dance in 2012. Since 2009 she has successfully worked as a dancer and choreographer. Leo Melody teaches Waacking and Voguing Workshops throughout Germany and internationally. As the Pioneer of Voguing in Germany, she founded the the House of Melody, the first german voguing House as well as the organisation Berlin Voguing Out (2012-2017).
The musician, performer, and improvising artist Pablo Gīw was born & grew up in Cologne, Germany. His works include experimental urban music, dark jazz, noise and ambient music, lyrics, music & performances in theatre and dance as well as music for trumpet, his main instrument. The multifaceted nature of his work led to the release of his solo debut album ‘ver is Always’. With the Berlin multidisciplinary performer & dancer Kelvin Kilonzo he founded the project SUM which is a performance duo as well as a platform for film and media art collaborations. Together with media artist Maurits Boettger, they created the film ‘Dyschronia’ which premiered at Julia Stoschek Foundation Berlin in 2023. Gīw started the ecstatic noise quartet Stellar Banger with musicians Abed Kobeissy, Ali Hout and Joss Turnbull and in 2021 released the release ‘Data is’ on ruptured records, Beirut. With New York cellist & improviser Mariel Gīw released the improvised duo album ‘Kryo’ in 2023. Further collaborations are the free quartet with Belgian bassist Farida Amadou, Mariel Roberts and singer Laura Totenhagen and the project Granular Epic with fellow trumpeter Brad Henkel from Berlin. At city theater Schauspiel Köln, Gīw created and performed the music for the productions ‘King Lear’ and ‘Grapes of Wrath’. Pablo Gīw was awardee of the NICA artist development program by the state of NRW, Germany between 2019-2023.
photo: © Cristina Marx
Martha Mavroidi is a singer, lutist and composer living in Athens.
She has been singing and playing folk lutes from her childhood, performing music from Greece and the Balkans. Later she developed an interest in contemporary music, blending elements of folk music with contemporary harmony and improvisation.
With the Martha Mavroidi Trio they have performed in various venues in Europe and U.S.A. She has released five albums and she has published a book with compositions for vocal ensemble. She is a member of the vocal quartet “Yasemi”, and she conducts the vocal orchestra “Happy Hour Choir” and the Greek Folk Choir “Rodia”.
Martha has composed music for films, documentaries, dance and theater shows, including commissions by the Greek National Opera and the Greek National Theater.
photo by ZoeManta

Juan Kruz Diaz de Garaio Esnaola
Tanz, Chorepgraphie
Juan Kruz Diaz de Garaio Esnaola was born in Legazpi, Spain and first studied music at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de San Sebastian and early music as a countertenor at the Akademie voor Oude Muziek in Amsterdam. He is interested in exploring the body as an expressive instrument and tool. After working with, among others, DV8 and Lloyd Newson in London, he has a long and successful collaboration with Sasha Waltz. He regularly gives workshops and master classes worldwide.
photo: Sara Jiménez
Eastern European critics call her the ”Ukrainian Bjork”. In her energetic programmes, Mariana Sadovska – singer, actress and composer – creates a fusion of folk and avant-garde; archaic midsummer night invocations, wedding songs and emigrant chants from remote villages in rural Ukraine are transfigured into contemporary sound.
Creating her own innovative compositions and arrangements in dialogue with ancient traditions, Mariana approaches each piece with a fresh and uniquely personal vision. Her vocal power and range even prompted the New York Times to compare her with rock star Polly Jean Harvey.
Manon is a choreographic and sonic artist based in Berlin. Trained at the Paris Conservatoire in contemporary dance and classical violin, she dedicated her search since then to the interconnections between sound and movement. Working nowadays as a dancer, musician, composer and choreographer, her interest lays beyond styles and aesthetics in “what makes one move or sound”, searching for the most honest bodies and voices.
Manon currently collaborates with Ioannis Mandafounis, Sergiu Matis, Kareth Schaffer, Alma Toaspern, Ari Benjamin Meyers, Margot Dorléans, Roni Katz, Laurent Durupt, Jean P’ark, and Anders Christophersen.
Zafinoa HANITRINIAINA Kezia Jonah is a dancer and performer from Madagascar who lives in Senegal. She has been pursuing a dance career since 2012 and graduated from the École Des Sables
(2017-2021), an international centre for traditional and contemporary African dance in Toubab Dialaw, Senegal. She has participated in numerous trainings with choreographers such as Nora Chipaumire, Alesandra Seutin, Patrick Acogny, Jonathan Burrows and others. In 2020, her piece FREEDOM was selected for the online festival SANSKAR VIRTUAL PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL (India). She is the winner of the Madagascan “Experimental” festival of Ambony-Ambany in the field of hip-hop dance and world music. In the year 2021 her video was part of Serendipity’s Let’s Dance International Frontiers – UK. She has appeared in the clip “ndox” by the Senegalese musician “Youssou Ndour” and was selected to represent Madagascar in the 2022 DanceWEB scholarship programme in Austria. In 2022 she won a prize at the ‘‘PRINCE CLAUS SEED AWARDS’‘ Netherlands. She danced for CHANEL during the fashion show Métiers d’Art 2022. She worked with the theatre Bielefied and MOUVOIR in Germany with the project LAND IM LAND in analogue/digital spaces and took part in INVENTASY XI in Cologne. In 2023 she was Choreographic assistant to the choreographer Alesandra Seutin in the piece AIR DE TEMPS der Company Jant-bi 2.

Gyung Moo Kim
dance
Hello…
hello…
Ye…
and… no…
I remember… that…
space.
In the year of water…
or Silicon full of
fingers,
or Not?
yes, long nails,
freshly glued.
Imagined worlds were never the same
but is the progress
slow?
in learning reality…
realities.
Emptiness, my friend… your friend…
real friend
invited not, but the voice
low and low
deep and deep
vibrating inert surface
of throat,
digestive tract
and whatnot,
I don’t drink enough water.
Moo KIm is a dancer and is based in Berlin.
International performer, choreographer and teacher, Alesandra Seutin was born in Zimbabwe, grew up in Brussels and now lives in London and Toubab Dialaw/Senegal. Since 2020 Seutin is one of the artistic directors of the renown Ecole des Sable in Senegal and thus takes over from iconic Germaine Acogny.
She has studied dance all over the world, in Europe, Africa, Asia and the USA. Alesandra Seutin is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist and designer who focuses on the exploration of movement as the foundation for her multidisciplinary, site-specific theatre performances.
Born in Harare, Zimbabwe to a South African mother and a Belgian father, Alesandra Seutin defines herself as ‘Afropean’. An inspirational figurehead with a multi-faceted career spanning two decades, her work as an artistic director, choreographer, performer, mentor, teacher, movement director, playwright and creator of performances and music has reached a global audience.
She shows her work internationally and divides her time between Senegal, Belgium and the UK. The world is her muse and through her creations she expresses herself on social, political and economic reality through dance, song and music. The notion of ‘taking or occupying one’s place in the world’ is central to Seutin’s work, as is the notion of ‘finding one’s place in the great cultural institutions’: the spaces that are clearly not considered to belong to everyone.
In 2007, Alesandra Seutin founded her company, Vocab Dance, which has built up a reputation for high-quality performances. Vocab Dance’s repertoire is varied, with over eleven productions in the repertoire, ranging from solos to ensemble productions for indoor and outdoor stages.
Alesandra Seutin’s productions have toured the UK, Europe and beyond. She has received over twenty choreographic commissions including Sadler’s Wells, KVS, Merce Cunningham Company, Wellcome Collection, Channel 4, Phoenix Dance Theatre and the National Youth Dance Company.
Photo: Luke Das
Nicolas Baudoux known by his stage name Dj Elephant Power, is a belgian Dj, artist and producer. He is the legitimate successor to the turntablists who appeared in the middle of the 90s. Twitching turntables, he manipulates the decks at the outer limits of human dexterity. He won the prestigious Belgium price : Octaves De La Musique, in the category Electro Music. Through the Cologne based label « Sonig », he released albums. Two years ago, he began to run his own music label «Elephant Power Records» and releases singles and maxis. In clubs or Festivals, you can catch him wowing audiences or touring with bands like Mouse On Mars, Ratatat and in 2015 for the first time with MOUVOIR.
Latif Arafan Wa Hab DIEDHIOU is a performer from Senegal who is currently still in training. At the age of 19, he decided to turn his passion for dance into a profession. He began by exploring urban dance, then discovered traditional and contemporary dance, enriching his choreographic language and his career as a performer and actor. In 2021, Latif joined the JANT BI 2 company of the École Des Sables as a performer and dancer in training. This opened the doors to various training programmes with renowned choreographers and teachers such as Germaine Acogny, Ruzibiza Wesley, Alesandra Seutin, Judith Sanchez Ruiz, Julie Dossavi, Toyin Songuro, Olivier Tarpaga and many others. He continued his training through internships and immersive training at the École Des Sables and took part in various local and international projects, such as “Air de temps” by Alesandra Seutin and Wesley Ruzibiza, “Slow danse” as part of Chanel Arts et Métiers in Dakar with Dimitri Chamblas, “Blast” by Emanuela Iacopini with the Vedanza company and the film “El Nave” by Joseph Ramaka. As a dancer with the company Jant Bi 2, Latif received a talent scholarship from the EU AWA programme fund in 2021 for professional training at the École Des Sables with the aim of obtaining a diploma as a performer and choreographer.
level.
Instagram: @alvine_dance_221
Foto: Martin Rottenkolber

Neus Barcons Roca
dance
Neus Barcons Roca is a dancer, choreographer and teacher from Spain. She graduated at L’Institut del Teatre, Barcelona and received a scholarship with Jenifer Muller in New York. She continued her studies at SEAD (Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance) and was a guest in Bodhi Project (Nigel Charnock, Jelka Milic).
Taking part in Ultima Vez Research program brought her to Brussels, where she is now based. She is active in improvisational research and performance, part of Artist Commons Brussels, and a guest teacher in MUDA (Kunsthumaniora). Together with Matevz Dobaj, she choreographs her own work.
During the years, Neus collaborated with artists in different fields – Britta Lieberknecht, Karen Bößer, Nazanin Fakor, Isabella Soupart, and others.
Kelvin Kilonzo is a contemporary dancer and actor based in Berlin. He’s been collaborating with musicians and bands just as much as
he worked with dancers and companies. He has a strong connection to the urban dance scene, which he started of from. He currently works with Anne Imhof and recently collaborated with Hellerau
Dresden. He is part of Mouvoir Company, Nïm Company, Junges Ensemble Stuttgart, and works with plenty of solo musicians and dance collectives.
He is also an award winning actor, making his debut with ‚Toro’ at the Berlinale in 2017 and winning his last award for ‚best actor‘ with The Third King at the Revolution ME Festival New York.

Fabien Almakiewicz
dance
Fabien Almakiewicz studied dance at the European Dance Development Center (EDDC) in Arnheim and fine arts in Marseille. Among others he worked with the Skalen Collectiv in Marseille and since 2012 with the choreographer Christian Rizzo. He is connected with Serge Ricci since 2000, working as a co-choreographer and designer. Besides dancing he works as a choreographic assistant and stage designer.
Alexandre Nodari was born in Epinal, France. He began his multidisciplinary training in contemporary and classical dance as well as jazz at the Académie Internationale de la Danse in Paris in 2013. Two years later, he went to the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Lyon, where he specialised in contemporary dance. He was a member of the Jeune Ballet Européen (2013-14) and the Jeune Ballet du Conservatoire National Supérieur de Lyon (2018-19) and danced in pieces by Ingrid Florin, Thierry Malandain, Damiano Ottavio Bigi, Ohad Naharin, Noé Soulier, José Carlos Martinez, Bernard Baumgarten and Wim Vandekeybus, among others. In the 2019/20 season, he was engaged as a dancer at the Bielefeld Theatre.
Tarang Cissokho comes from a Senegalese family of musicians. His parents are both griots. His grandfather, Soundjioulou Cissokho, is the “king of the kora” in Senegal. Tarang is the “prince of the kora”, but also plays the djembe and balafon, sings and composes. In his family there are many talented kora players, including Balaké Cissokho, Ablaye Cissokho, Ali Boulo Santo Cissokho and Ba Sissokho. He regularly tours Africa with the Swiss band “Forest Jam”. He has also given concerts in Switzerland, Sweden, Belgium and Italy. He is percussionist at the international dance school École des Sables in Toubab Dialaw in Senegal. Together with Angelo Moustapha and Zouratié Koné he composed the music for the show “Mimi’s Shebeen”, which was shown in the 22-23 season of the KVS Brussels. Brussels. He is co-founder of the group Schweiz Siselabonga, whose songs he also co-wrote. Tarang has experience in various musical styles: Pop, Jazz, Traditional.
Instagram: @tarang.cissokho

Camille Revol
Tanz
Camille was born in Annecy, France where she began her dance training at the Conservatoire de Musique et de Danse d’Annecy. She went on to train at the Ecole-Atelier Rudra Béjart Lausanne, and the D.A.N.C.E. Programme under the direction of Wayne McGregor, William Forsythe, Angelin Preljocaj and Frédéric Flamand.
Since 2008 she has worked with Ivar Hagendoorn, Avatâra Ayuso, Richard Siegal, Samuel Mathieu, Caroline Gautier, Philippe Jamet, Simon Feltz, Alexandre Blondel, Gilles Baron, Sébastien Ly and Stephanie Thiersch.
She joined MOUVOIR in 2015 for the creation of Bronze by Gold. She has since been part of the creation of Bilderschachten/Bataille d’images and Archipel as well as the film Insular Bodies.

Dwayne Holliday
Management
wayne Holliday is a dancer, choreographer and dance scholar. After a successful career as a professional ballet dancer in international companies, he studied contemporary dance at the Center for Contemporary Dance before working in the contemporary independent scene. He holds a master’s degree in dance studies and is currently finishing his PhD.
In addition to his artistic work, he has published scientific articles, worked as a critic for international publications and initiated and directed the “Beamed Dance Film Festival” from 2020 to 2022.

Alexandra Naudet
dance, music
Alexandra Naudet was born in France and studied ballet at the CNR in Poitiers/France, the School of the Royal Ballet Antwerpen/Belgium and contempory dance in CNDC in Angers/France. Since 1995 she has been working with Philippe Decouflé. Alex colaborated with François Delarozière, Odile Azagury, Fabrice Ramalingom, Christelle Derré Collectif Or Normes, and Rodolphe Burger and danced a solo in a video for Mikhaïl Barychnikov choreographed by Benjamin Millepied.
Alexandra has also been working as a choreographic assistant, photo model for fashion and played in dance-films. She choreographed video-clips and worked for TV series.
Alexandra holds the state diploma as a dance teacher.
Alexis Fernández is a a renowned dancer and choreographer of Cuban origin and founder of the Spanish dance company La Macana

Viviana Escalé
dance, choreography
Born in 1975, Viviana Escalé studied classic and contemporary dance at the Instituto del Teatro de Barcelona. Besides her own creations for many years she worked with pretty ugly Köln (Amanda Miller), Cocoon Dance as well as the dance theatre Heidelberg-Freiburg, Joachim Schlömer, and Irina Paulis. For MOUVOIR she is part of the production “helterskelter vol.2”, “blind questions: I see you me neither”, “ZauberEi”, “As if (we would be)”, “Nature Morte”, “Near Miss”, “Mitumba – a happening” and “for four”. She worked as a choreographic assistant on several MOUVOIR productions as well.

Marcela Ruiz Quintero
Tanz, Assistenz
Marcela Ruiz Quintero studied Contemporary Dance at the Universidad Distrital de Bogotá, and at the Folkwang University of Arts in Essen.
From 2005 to 2009, she worked with the dance company Folkwang Tanzstudio, from 2007 to 2010, she was invited by the Pina Bausch dance company to perform the iconic piece “The Rite of Spring” during a world tour.
Since 2009, Ruiz has been developing her own projects as a freelance dancer and choreographer and collaborated with different artists including Leandro Kees, Felix Landerer, MOUVOIR/Stephanie Thiersch, Cooperativa Maura Morales Yudesbiet, Pipo Tafel, Laura Colmenares Guerra, Cornelia Kupferschmind/ Fetter Fisch- Performance/Theater, Joachim Schloemer, das E-MEX Ensemble, Claudia Robles-Angel and Formation Silvia Jedrusiak. From 2011 to 2019, Marcela worked with choreographer and dancer Jennifer Ocampo Monsalve and director Philip Gregor Grüneberg and founded their company HIDDEN TRACKS in 2015.
Parallel to her creative work, she has been teaching professional workshops of contemporary dance and contact improvisation in Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador and Germany. She is currently teaching professional dance training in context at Tanzfaktur in Köln.
Lauren grew up in the United States, attending art school in San Francisco and moving to New York after graduation. Currently based in Berlin, Lauren Steel is a freelance stylist, costume and fashion designer. Her work spans from commercial advertising into the world of avant-garde fashion and costumes for performative arts.

Brigitta Muntendorf
composition
The German-Austrian composer Brigitta Muntendorf has internalized referentiality as a compositional principle in her music (music to kin) and creates a multi-layered web of analog-digital modes of expression in her works. Her settings range from instrumental, choral, and orchestral music to transdigital music/dance theater and 3D sound/AR installations.
Asasello Quartett
music quartet
Rostislav Kozhevnikov Violin
Barbara Streil Violin
Justyna Sliwa Viola
Teemu Myöhänen Cello
The Asasello Quartet is an european ensemble. Founded in the year 2000 by students in Walter Levin’s chamber music class at the Basel conservatory, the musicians have gone on to make a name for themselves as outstanding interpreters of the classical/Romantic repertoire, modern classical music and more. The founding four completed their formal studies with the Alban Berg Quartett and David Smeyers at the Cologne Hochschule für Musik und Tanz. Numerous accolades and awards as well as project funding grants have allowed the group to realize original concepts and to put new ideas, recording techniques and forms of concertizing into practice. Asasello programs are intelligent and sophisticated; never mainstream. If need be, “the Asasellos” will gladly jump from their chairs or out of their tuxes.

Kepha Oiro
dance, production, director
Kepha Oiro is living in Nairobi, Kenya. He participated as a trainee and followed traditional dance and afro fusion classes, he was social worker for the Njia Yetu project, director, choreograph and dancer for the Kunja Dance Theatre, with witch der participated in 2006 and 2008 at the African Tanzplattform in Paris and Tansania, before he launched his own company „Tuchangamke Dance Group”.
Les Siècles ist ein französisches Symphonieorchester.

Sarah Heinrich
production, touring
Jeanne Laurent Caron started her dance training at the CCN of Roubaix, and continued it at the Palucca Hochschule für Tanz Dresden. During her studies there, she had the opportunity to work with choreographers such as Avatara Ayuso, Cameron McMillan and to learn repertory from the Batsheva Company as well as from the Semperoper Ballet. In 2019, she joined Bodhi Project Dance Company in Salzburg, where she worked with Hillel Kogan, Stephanie Thiersch, Massimo Gerardi, Francesco Scavetta and Adrienn Hod.
Josefine Sautier studied theater studies, French philology and sociology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich and the Universtité de Nice Sophia Antipolis (France). She worked as a dramaturge for Mei Hong Lin’s dance theater at the Staatstheater Darmstadt and for the Hessian State Ballet under the direction of Tim Plegge. This was followed by an engagement as tour manager and production manager at the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company under Jacopo Godani before joining Richard Siegal/Ballet of Difference at Schauspiel Köln as company manager in 2019. Since November 2023, she has been working as company manager for Stephanie Thiersch/MOUVOIR.
photo: Martin Rottenkolber
Csenger was born in Budapest and raised in rural Hungary. He started dancing at the age of ten and studied contemporary dance as a scholarship student in SEAD (Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance), Austria, for four years graduating in 2017. Csenger was part of NYU Tisch School of the Arts (2015) exchange program. His main influences were Edivaldo Ernesto, Jozef Frucek and Linda Kapetanea, as well as their respective researches: Depth Movement and Fighting Monkey, among others. Upon completion of his studies began his freelancer career in Europe. He was part of Bodhi Project Company 2019/2020, working with many exciting artists, where he met Stephanie Thiersch’s work.
In the past two years he has collaborated with David Zambrano in ‘Las Morochas’ (2021), he has been in the restaging of ‘Symphonia Eroica’ by Michelle Anne De Mel (2022), and working together with Fenia Chatzakou, co-creating ‘Still Love’ (Usual Playground).

Béla Bisom
administration
Béla works as a producer for dance and theatre in Germany since many years. Among others he has been working with Constanza Macras/Dorky Park and MOUVOIR/Stephanie Thiersch. He spent three years in Burundi/Africa, developing cultural projects for the Development-Organisations EIRENE and GIZ. Since his return he started the procuction office transmissions together with his colleague Jessica Otten.
Stawrula Panagiotaki is a dramaturge and has worked for the independent group costa compagnie (Theater & Orchester Heidelberg), Theater Bonn, Staatstheater Darmstadt, and for the feminist collective SWOOSH LIEU, among others, as well as an editor for the Berlin Theatertreffen. Since 2016, she has been a dramaturge at Schauspiel Köln, where she has organised, among other things, the Translocal. Festival of Postcolonial Perspectives. She was involved in the productions “Bilderschlachten” and “Archipel” by Stephanie Thiersch.
After studying theatre, film and television at Berlin’s Humboldt University, Tanja first worked at the Chemnitz Theatre as head of public relations for the opera, theatre, ballet and philharmonic orchestra before shifting her focus to film.
Assistant directing and editing positions in documentary film had already awakened her interest in documentary and essayistic storytelling during her studies. A TV producing postgraduate course at the dffb in Berlin led her into the production landscape of independent film and television production. She worked for Lichtblick Film Köln for several years developing debut film projects before moving to Cologne-based distributor Rapid Eye Movies, where she spent five years overseeing distribution work and in-house productions such as the feature documentary “Shut Up and Play The Piano” about Chilly Gonzales.
In 2019 she returned to theatre, music and performance. Since then she has been managing the dance company MOUVOIR/Stephanie Thiersch and works part-time as a production manager for film projects and in the production department at the Academy of Media Arts.

Anna-Mareen Henke
Project Management Tanzpakt
Sita is a costume & stage designer, artist, producer and singer/songwriter.
Anna Volkland studied dramaturgy at the University of Music and Theatre in Leipzig and Theatre studies at the FU Berlin. 2008 she was awarded the first Marie-Zimmermann-scholarship and co-founded the Leipziger Werkstattmacher e.V. In 2010/11 she was engaged as a dramaturge at the theatre Osnabrück and edited the TdZ-research publication “Die neue Freiheit. Perspektiven des bulgarischen Theaters”. Since 2010 Anna is writing articles for various professional magazines (tanz, tanzraumberlin, dramaturgie, Theater der Zeit, Die Deutsche Bühne) and working as a freelancer dramaturgue for theatre and dance. Since October 2014 Anna is working as a research associate at the Berlin University of the Arts.
Harriet Lesch works in a wide variety of functions and areas as a cultural manager.
She is a founding member of the agency WILSON*BORLES arts management, which has been organising events for the Beauftrage für Kultur und Medien, the Federal Cultural Foundation and other cultural institutions since 2014.
www.wilsonborles.de

Valenti Rocamora i Torà
dance
Valenti Rocamora i Torà (ES/D) studied dance at the Escola de Dansa Area and at the Institute del Teatre de Barcelona. Since 2000 he has worked with choreographers like Johann Kresnik, Konstantinos Rigos, Irina Pauls and Susanne Linke. Besides dancing has worked as a choreographer for productions at Burgtheater Wien, Schauspiel Köln and Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg. His own feature-length choreographies were shown at Volksbühne Berlin and at the Oper Bonn.
Marie Zoe is a performing artist, choreographer, coach, speaker and event host. She belongs to the first generation of voguing performers in germany and since 2012 she has won several battles and balls in Europe and the USA. From 2012 – 2017 she was a founding member of the House of Melody, a performance collective and the first german house that established voguing and ballroom in germany. During that timeperiode the collective cooperated with many cultural institutions for the upbringing of ballroom culture and support of the LGBTQI+ community, which resulted in a variety of successful events, festivals and shows.
Next to that, Marie Zoe sang in different ensembles, bands, stage productions and produced her own songs. In 2016 she met New York gospel- and jazz singer/vocal coach Onita boone and became her protegé.

Ansgar Kluge
technical direction, light

Martin Rottenkolber
photographie, light design
Martin Rottenkolber, video artist and stage designer, lives in Cologne. He studied photo-/film design in Dortmund. Since 1997 he works as a freelance video artist for several theatre productions at the Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf, the Toneelgroep Amsterdam, Schaubühne Berlin, Schauspielhaus Zürich, Theaterhaus Gessnerallee, Salzburger Festspiele, Hamburgische Staatsoper, project arts centre, Dublin with directors like Falk Richter, Christina Paulhofer, Rachel West, and Amélie Niermeyer. Martin Rottenkolber is working with MOUVOIR since 2005.

Guy Cools
dramaturgy
Dr. Guy Cools is a dance dramaturg and has been the past years Associate Professor for dance studies at the research institute Arts in Society of the Fontys School of Fine and Performing Arts in Tilburg, Holland and at Ghent University, where he finished a practice based PhD on the relationship between dance and writing. Having previously worked as dance critic, artistic programmer and policy maker for dance in Flanders, he is now dedicating himself to production dramaturgy, contributing to work by choreographers all over Europe and Canada, amongst others with: Koen Augustijnen (B), Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (B), Danièle Desnoyers (CAN), Lia Haraki (Cyprus), Christopher House (CAN), Akram Khan (UK), Arno Schuitemaker (NL) and Stephanie Thiersch (D).
Isack Peter Abeneko was trained at the prestigious Ecole de Sables in Senegal and improved his skills during intensive classes at Dance Umbrella Festival Johannesburg.
He works as a dancer, choreographer and artistic director of the Company Lumumba Dance Theatre in Dar Es Salaam. Besides contemporary dance Isack is involved in various styles of African traditional dance, theatre, bass guitar and percussions. Isack is one of the most promising Tanzanian dancers and choreographers at the moment and gets invited to teach classes in Europe e. g.in Spain, the Netherlands and Germany.
Mathieu Antajan (FR) studied at the Centre National des Arts du Cirque (CNAC) in Châlons, France, aerial contortion, trampolining, and teeterboard and educated himself in contemporary dance (at Wim Vanderkeybus among others). Currently he is working with the circus company „Feria Musica“ from Brussels, touring internationally.
Annamari Keskinen is from Helsinki, Finland. She has worked internationally with It Dansa, Bonachela Dance Company, Ndc Wales (Diversions), Staatstheater Kassel and Rootless Root. She has danced for various international choreographers such as Jozef Sprucek and Linda Kapetanea, Johannes Wieland, Chris Harring, Andonis Foniadakis, Rafael Bonachela, Shannon Gillen and others. Annamari has developed her own language as a choreographer and has created productions for Ndc Wales, Departure Terminal, Alternative Roots and for the Choreographische Werkstatt at Staatstheater Kassel. Recently Annamari has been heavily involved with BUTOH, an exploration she is keen to continue.
Tim Behren studied at the Ecole Supérieure des Arts du Cirque (ESAC) in Brussels, specializing on hand to hand acrobatics. Since 2010 he is the artistic co-director of the company HeadFeedHands based in Cologne and Freiburg. With Overhead Project he is developing choreographies together with Florian Patschovsky since 2007. As the manager of the initiative Neuer Zirkus e.V. he is involved with the cultural and political acknowledgement of contemporary circus in Germany.
Judith has been trained in traditional dances and vocals in Kenya. She has been working with the Kenyan neo-traditional Luo music band Kenge Kenge Orutu System and the Girama Africa Troupe and toured internationally e.g. in Spain, Israel, Malaysia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Great Britain and Japan. Currently she is involved in the Dance Montage Project hosted by the Go Down Arts Centre, Nairobi. Judy was recently awarded the Kenya Music Award, released a new album and will be touring with her band throughout 2014.
Matteo Ceccarelli was born in Florence (Italy) in 1981. He had a formation first as a musician and an actor, then also as a dancer. He co-funded the Italian theatre collective Teatro Sotterraneo whose works he created and performed in from 2004 to 2012. As a dancer, he worked in Italy with Virgilio Sieni, Ron Howell, Francesca Pennini and the visual artist Jacopo Miliani. Since 2009 he’s danced in several works of the French company EDA/Ambra Senatore and in 2015 he danced for Sasha Waltz & Guests.
Picture: Sonja Werner Fotografie
I-Fen Lin studied dance at the Dance Department of the Chinese Cultural University Dance in Taiwan and at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen. Before she came to Germany she used to be a member of the Capital Ballet Company in Taipei. In Germany she worked with Rainer Behr, Malou Airodu and for a long time with the Rodolpho Leoni Company. Besides she has worked with Alberto Huetos as well as Britta Lieberknecht.
Jasper Diekamp studied at the “Kunsthochschule für Medien” in Cologne and received his diploma in media art in 2010. While studying, his work for lighting scenarios and scenography developed further. Connecting different media in an interdisciplinary manner, he is working in the fields of interactive systems, installation, kinetic sculptures, video, animation, light, space and sound.

Mu-Yi Kuo
dance
Mu-Yi Kuo studied dance at the Chinese Cultural University, Taipeh and also at Folkwang University in Essen. She worked with the Rodolpho Leoni Company, Henrietta Horn, Michele Anne de Mey & Thierry de Mey and the Mark Sieczkarek Dance Company. She was also guest dancer for Pina Bausch.
Marika Gangemi was born in 1984 in Reggio Calabria, Italy. She started her professional dance training at M.A.S (Milan), under the direction of Susanna Beltrami. After graduation she joined Materiali Resistenti D.F. in a world tour in the production “Waterwall”, by Ivan Manzoni. In 2008 she moved to Berlin and at the same time she began to work around Europe as a freelance dancer, aerial performer, actress and singer. Later she went to New York after receiving two scholarships for B.D.C. , where she also attended master classes at Merce Cunningham D.C. She took part in short productions of different companies like RØRSTRØMSK by Lise Løsmann, MDK by Daniele Ziglioli, Tansik by Chizu Kimura. In 2012 she worked as wall dancer with battleROYAL by Brendan Shelper. In 2013 she joined cie. toula limnaios.
Karolin Henze was working as production- and tourmanager for MOUVOIR/Stephanie Thiersch from 2014 to 2019.
Inés Hernández studied and graduated in contemporary dance and choreography at the Institut del Teatre de Barcelona. After moving to France in 1995 she worked with Amy Garmon, Christian and François Ben Aïm, Dominique Brun, Michèle Ricozzi, Juha Marsalo, Christian Bourigault, Yann Lheureux, Fréderique Cellé and Olivier Dubois among others. Inés was also trained in Parcours and participated in several shows with the Yamakasi Group.
In Germany she has worked with Graham Smith, Norbert Stainwarz, Joachim Schlömer and since 2010 with MOUVOIR/ Stephanie Thiersch.
Colas Lucot was born in Besançon, France. He studied ballet at Evelyne Agullo’s Dance Center in Vesoul. In Lyon, he was then a member of the CNSMD formation at the National Conservatory for six years. He has worked with various choreographers such as Claude Brumachon, Angelin Preljocaj, Emilio Calcagno, Laura Arend, Gaetano Battezzato, Akram Khan, Britta Lieberknecht and David Hernandez, in whose company DH+ he was involved in three creations: Hullabaloo, Thirst and For Movement’s Sake. Colas teaches contemporary dance at Studio Danscentrumjette, Kunsthumanoria in Brussels and PARTS.
Colas has been working with MOUVOIR/Stephanie Thiersch, as a substitute dancer in Corps Étrangers and as a dancer in the new production Bronze by Gold.
Michele Meloni studied dance and theatre in Milan. He worked with Ersiliadanza in Verona, Michal Mualem (Sasha Waltz Company) and Thikwa Theatre. From 2003 until 2011 he was a dancer at the Staatstheater Kassel working with Johannes Wieland, Yossy Berg/Oded Graf and the RootlessRoot Dance Company. He assisted Modjgan Hashemian in Berlin. Recently he was part of the german-vietnamese co-production „lighting“, working with Anna Konjetzky.
Holger Mertin studied Ethnomusicology and is a percussionist and drummer. He works as a college lecturer for percussion at the Hochschule für Musik und Kunst in Cologne. Furthermore he is organizing the event series “Drums and More” at the “Salon Freiraum” in Cologne.

Niko Moddenborg
technical direction
Niko Moddenborg is working with various artists and choreographers in the the theatre- and dance-scene. As a technical director and light designer he has collaborated with artists like Stephanie Thiersch, Malou Airaudo (Pina Bausch), Ben Riepe (Ben J Riepe Company), Thorsten Lensing and Raimund Hoghe as well as working for Schauspiel Köln, Theater im Pumpenhaus, Theater im Ballsaal, Schauspielhaus Bochum and the tanzhaus nrw.
Tommy Noonan holds a B.A. in English from Vassar College, USA. In 2006 he was awarded a DanceWEB scholarship in Vienna. Between 2006 and 2010, he was based in Freiburg, Germany, directing and performing with “pvc-Tanz”. His work has been presented extensively throughout Germany, France, Portugal, Poland, Switzerland, Austria, Spain and Mexico. He has helped to co-found the international artist network and project: Sweet and Tender Collaborations, and is currently based between Berlin, Germany and Saxapahaw, NC (USA) as a freelance director and performer.
Trained in various dance styles in Nigeria and in international workshops. He works as a dancer, choreographer, lecturer and production manager. As a dancer, he collaborates with different choreographers, for instance Heddy Maalem, in whose version of “Sacre” he guested at tanzhaus nrw. In 2011 he created “ARUGBA – The Bearer” in collaboration with the Wakajoo Dance Company in Nigeria. In June 2012 he presented his solo piece “i ALONE” at tanzhaus nrw in the context of the interdisciplinary production series “Now & Next and was chosen as artist in residence for the European artist program Try Angle.
Chang Ik Oh was born in Korea. He graduated from Chung Ang University with a degree in dance and has since worked with various companies such as Choe Contemporary Dance Company, Trust Dance Theatre and SEO Dance Company, with whom he has toured internationally. Chang Ik has received several awards and won the Rookie of the year award in Spark Place at MODAFE 2011.
Image credit: Sonja Werner Photography
Dancer, choreographer and producer from Nairobi. She is the director of the annual Solo and Duets Festival in Nairobi and co-founder of the Women´s Company LaJoDok with which she toured internationally various times. In 2010 she danced successfully for the Afro-American choreographer Nora Chimpaumire from New York. Besides her work as a dancer and choreographer, Juliette leads different workshops with street children in Kibera, the biggest Slum in Nairobi.
Florian Patschovsky was educated at the Ecole Supérieure des Arts du Cirque (EASC) in Brussels with a focus on partner acrobatics. He founded the Duo Overhead Project with Tim Behren in 2007. Florian Patschovsky is developing Projects combining acrobatics and contemporary dance and is a permanent member of the company HeadFeedHands. Since 2012 Overhead Project collaborates with the Israeli choreographer Reut Shemesh in Cologne and with DOSSIER 3-D-Poetry/Marion Dieterle.
Anton Skrzypiciel was born in Melbourne, Australia and made his professional debut as an actor while still studying at Melbourne State College.
He was educated at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance.
Anton has worked with some of the most notable modern choreographers of the past 20 years, among others Angelika Oei, the William Petit in France and most notably with the Portuguese Choreographer Rui Horta for who he has created 7 full evening group works and 3 solo pieces. He has also had featured roles at the Deutsche Opera am Rhine Dusseldorf and at the Mannheim Opera where his versatility as a performer; acting, dancing, singing, was particularly valued.
Sabine Schneider is working as a costume designer, fashion designer and instructor. In designing costumes, she experiments with materials and architecture, with the forms, stuctures and lines of the clothing. Observing the effects on movement and dancers is part of work.
She has been working with choreographers like Jennifer Ocampo Monsalve, Marcela Ruiz Quintero, and Malou Airaudo, the artist and academic Rosalie and the director Madeleine Lienhard, among others.
Guitar player Joseph Suchy is using a mixture from improvised and composed sound images for dance theatre, art installations, and soundtracks. He founded the German labels GROB and GEFRIEM. As a producer he worked with international artists such as Hugh Davis, Franz Hautzinger, Ekkehart Ehlers, Jackie Liebezeit etc.
Wolfgang Zamastil, born in Salzburg, studied violoncello at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, as well as at the Hochschule für Musik and the Universität der Künste in Berlin. In 2000 he founded the ensemble ‘continuum’ with which he performed and produced his music until 2008. From 2010 to 2014 Wolfgang Zamastil was a member of the Asasello Quartet in Cologne, with whom he toured Europe, Canada and Africa, released five albums and realised interactive projects, as well as stage productions and films.
(* 13 March 1981 in Salzburg; † 26 November 2017)