The Artists
Meet the artists who are taking part in one of the vibrant Visiting Artist Programme encounters at our partner festivals.
A – E
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Adrijana Danchevska Rovchanin is a choreographer, dancer, and associate professor at the Department of Contemporary Dance at “Goce Delchev” University in Štip. One of the first emerging choreographers from the Skopje Dance Theater, she completed her ballet training at DMBUC “Ilija Nikolovski-Luj” and holds a master’s degree in choreography from the University of Audiovisual Arts ESRA Skopje–Paris New York under the mentorship of Prof. Dr Risima Risimkin. She has collaborated with the Skopje Dance Theater on numerous works including "Symbol" (with Aleksandra Petrushevska), "D.O.L.", "H me", "Don’t Touch My Eyes", and "Go Figure It Out". Her choreographies have been performed widely, at festivals such as Contemporary Dance Week (Zagreb), Laiks Dejot (Riga), SHARE Festival (Bratislava), Silk Road Festival (China), and Holland Dance Festival (The Hague).
As a dancer, she has performed internationally at events like the Battery Dance Festival (New York), Meet in Beijing (China), Tanec Praha (Prague), Tanzmesse (Cologne), and Ankara Solo Dance Festival, among others. She was also part of the Balkan Dance Project Vol.1 with Igor Kirov and Aleksandar Ilić, and performed at Masdanza Festival in the Canary Islands. Her choreographic work extends to institutions such as CODARTS in Rotterdam and the Zurich University of the Arts. She directed and choreographed "Home", the first Macedonian dance film. In 2023, she created the segment "Interweaving" in the ballet project "Prayers of My Body", honouring poet Aco Šopov. Danchevska is a co-founder of the collective Tanc Bunker and the festival TancBunker – Platform 01, dedicated to contemporary art and dance experimentation in North Macedonia.
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Agnieszka Sikorska is a Polish performer and choreographer whose work moves between body, nature, and presence. Educated in Łódź, Prague, and Warsaw, she deepens her somatic practice through Feldenkrais Method. Her pieces—Kambium, Dive in, Not a Place but a State—blend physicality and poetic attention. Presented across Europe, her work invites intimacy and reflection. She is agrantee of national and international art programs.
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Agnija Šeiko is a renowned Lithuanian contemporary dance choreographer known for her interdisciplinary approach and innovative use of various art forms. She explores themes of identity, dance archaeology and time, and creates a unique dialogue between dance and nature.
She has created over 40 works, which have been showcased at numerous dance festivals and venues in Lithuania and internationally. Often staging her works in unconventional locations, she challenges traditional concepts of dance and invites the audience to reconsider their relationship with nature. Agnija Šeiko also leads the Šeiko dance company and the Contemporary Dance Association of Lithuania.
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Alen Nsambu is a Finnish-Angolan choreographer and performer based in Helsinki. In 2022 he graduated from Den Danske Scenekunstskolen (DK) with a BFA degree in dance and choreography.
Since graduating, Nsambu has collaborated internationally with choreographers and directors such as Sonya Lindfors (FI), Alma Söderberg (SE), Marie Topp (DK), Miles Greenberg (US), WAUHAUS (FI) and YBDG.
Artistically, Nsambu engages with questions related to identity, normal/neutral/natural, autofiction and joy (on and off stage). Using a diverse array of performative registers and representations through interdisciplinary practices is at the core of their work.
In 2024, Nsambu was a summer resident artist at The Watermill Center in New York, under the artistic direction of Robert Wilson. Nsambu was also selected to be one of the GENERATION2023 artists for the triennial exhibition curated for Amos Rex museum in Helsinki. Nsambu was part of the danceWEB scholarship programme during summer 2025 with Raja Feather Kelly as mentor.
Nsambu has presented their works in venues such as Zodiak - Center for New Dance, Amos Rex art museum, The Finnish National Theater, The Watermill Center New York and the International Performing Arts Festival in Copenhagen.
w: alennsambu.com
I: @alenzambu -
Anca Stoica is a performer and emerging choreographer based in Bucharest, Romania. Her artistic practice focuses on the social implications of art and on developing an unusual, even grotesque body. She collaborates with Sergiu Diță as an artistic duo under the name Platforma 13, an independent initiative dedicated to multidisciplinary experimentation with a focus on contemporary dance and performance.
Anca Stoica holds a BA and an MA in Choreography from the National University of Theatre and Film Bucharest. She also studied at the Academy of Dance & Performance in Bucharest, where she was mentored by the following artists: Lucas Viallefond, Irina Botea Bucan, Galina Borissova, Jan Burkhardt, Simona Deaconescu, Laura Aris, Iva Sveshtarova, Sigal Zouk, Marko Milić, Gisela Müller, Valentina De Piante, Marta Coronado, Noa Zuk, and Miriam Althammer.
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Andrea Jiménez Vázquez graduated in Choreography and specialized in Spanish dance at the Institut del Teatre. Since 2019, she has been teaching in the departments of Pedagogy and Choreography at the Higher Conservatory of Dance of the Institut del Teatre in Barcelona. She develops national and international projects and continues her research through the Ancorae project, which integrates her expertise in Spanish dance, flamenco, and other folk dances and music, along with writing and the analysis of the body through geometry. Currently, she also assists local and national researchers, choreographers and musicians in research and creative processes, while pursuing a Master’s degree in Flamenco Analysis and Research at the University of Granada.
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Anna Borràs, based in Malmö, is a Spanish dancer, choreographer, and dance filmmaker. She is founder of Anna Borràs Produktion and co-founder of Indra Dance Company. Her work explores inner experience through movement, often in relation to natural contrasts. She has performed internationally and created works for companies and festivals across Europe, Asia, and Latin America since 2014.
w: annaborras.com
i: @aborras14 -
Anton Ovchinnikov is a performer, choreographer and organiser of the dance festival Zelyonka Space UP in Ukraine since 2010.
In 2008, after ten years of trips to international workshops and festivals, Ovchinnikov established the Black O!Range dance productions company in Kyiv. It has been recognised as one of the most distinctive and original dance projects in Ukraine.
Between 2016 and 2021, Ovchinnikov presented several solo performances and created four multidisciplinary projects.
In November 2022, he relocated to Lithuania.
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Aura da Fonseca (Porto - London) is a transdisciplinary artist and co-founder of Asterisco. Her work has been presented at The Place, Nottingham Contemporary, Centre for Live Art Yorkshire, Stockholm Fringe Festival, Municipal Theatre of Porto, Municipal Galleries of Lisbon, schuur, Derida DanceCenter, Maia Contemporary Art Biennial, among others. She holds an MA in Performance Making from Goldsmiths and a BA in Fine Arts and Intermedia from ESAP and the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk.
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Azucena Moya Morcillo is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores body practices, ecology, relational geographies, and community art. In 2019, she founded her company, Irregulars, dedicated to contemporary dance and performance in public space. Her passion for walking and cross-disciplinary creation drives her to develop hybrid performative and documentary forms, placing relational aesthetics, body and landscape at the core of her practice.
Azucena’s interest for public and common spaces led her to do the Master of Art in Public Space at the FAI-AR school in Marseille. She also has a strong academic background in the field of philosophy of dance.
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Barbora Janáková is a contemporary dance activist. She studied modern, classical, and folk dance at a conservatory and dance pedagogy at VŠMU. She trained internationally (Dijon, Brussels, China, St. Ermé & others) and has managed dance organisation mimoOs for nine seasons, producing 14 original dance projects. She collaborated with B in Motion, Reserva, ME-SA, Bratislava in Movement and others.
Her works include NO ON, Genius loci, Metamorphosis, and recently ANSWER_ring which premiered in May 2025. She leads the Telohra project, the Body-Voice-Community workshop series, and teaches at the conservatory and VŠMU.
w: mimoos.sk
f: @BarboraJanak
i: @Barbora.Janak -
Besjana Bytyqi is a professional dancer and choreographer with a strong foundation in both classical ballet and contemporary dance. She holds a degree in Choreography from the University of Arts in Tirana and completed her ballet training at SHMM “Lorenc Antoni” in Prizren. Besjana has performed in acclaimed productions across Kosovo and Albania, and worked with renowned choreographers. Her artistic journey is shaped by diverse stage experiences and international workshops.
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Birta Ásmundsdóttir is an Icelandic dancer and choreographer. Her main interests are using femininity as a tool to connect with the audience, through choreography and vulnerability. Birta graduated with a BA degree in dance and choreography from the Icelandic University of Arts in 2022. Her newest piece “When a duck turns 18 a boy will eat her” was premiered at Reykjavík Dance Festival in 2024. Birta has worked in many residencies abroad as well as attended Tanzmesse 2024 as a representative for the Icelandic dance scene.
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Carlo Massari is a trans-disciplinary creator, choreographer and performer, renowned for blending dance, theatre and opera into hybrid and innovative works. His unique style transcends the boundaries of traditional performance, shaping a fluid and 'amphibious' approach to art.
Founder and Artistic Director of C&C Company, he has long been at the forefront of research and production in dance theatre. His work has earned international recognition and collaborations with prestigious cultural institutions.
In 2019, he founded ANFIBIA, a training programme for contemporary performers aimed at fostering a new generation of creators.
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Cécile Da Costa Pereira is a Prague-based singer, performer and choreographer of French-Portuguese origin. She has performed in performances of Farm in the Cave company, of which she had been a member for five years, and now she has been cooperating for several years with Spitfire Company. She leads physical theatre workshops in the Czech Republic, France, Poland and Greece.
In her work, Cécile seeks voices that can move the body and bodies that can move the voice. Her solo performance "The Narrator", directed by Petr Boháč, won the Dancer of the Year 2018 award and the nomination for Total Physical Award at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2017. Her first work is the solo "Roselyne" (2019), which was selected as one of three Czech productions to be part of Twenty21 by Aerowaves – a selection of 20 top works of 2021 in the field of physical theatre.
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Chara Kostali is a dance maker, performer, and teacher based in Greece. She graduated from Rallou Manou Professional School of Dance, where she currently works as a teacher of contemporary dance, along with Marmarinou Professional Dance School, while she has been a guest teacher and choreographer at Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD).
She explores choreography and performance through an expanded approach, attempting to involve methodologies from anthropology, documentary art, music, and other performing languages while being particularly concerned with the politics of sound and movement. Her practice includes writing, field recordings, and DIY sound composition. Her work has been presented in venues in Greece and abroad, and she has been selected as one of the Twenty24 Aerowaves artists.
w: www.charakotsali.com
i: @charakotsali -
Clara da Costa graduated in SEAD (Salzburg) and NYU's Tisch School. She's an accomplished performer and choreographer, with experience across musical theatre where she is choreographer and director, audiovisual projects, and workshops, including Cirque du Soleil. Since 2003, she has led her "Corpo Único" workshop internationally. Her recent works include a collaboration with Ukrainian choreographer Yana Reutova, "Womanhood", and the premiere of her solo "Peel the Onion" at Tanec Praha's opening season.
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Deva Schubert is a choreographer and dancer based in Berlin. In her artistic practice, she concentrates on experimentation with the voice. She studied dance in Salzburg, Kassel, Copenhagen and at the HZT Berlin as well as visual arts at the Kunsthochschule Kassel. Her works explore the crossroads of dance, installation, and digital media, often highlighting the topics of intimacy, collectivity, and the synergies between transdisciplinary practices. They have been presented in renowned institutions such as Haus der Kunst Munich, Kunsthalle Zurich, Gessnerallee Zurich, Uppsala Art Museum, Radialsystem and the Sophiensæle in Berlin as well as at the Transart Festival in Bolzano. Her piece Glitch Choir was awarded the ImPulsTanz – Young Choreographers’ Award in 2024.
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Elinor Tollerz Bratteby, born 1990 in Uppsala and living in Stockholm, works with dance and choreography. Since 2012 she has been working in Scandinavia, Europe, North America and East Asia, in various constellations of brilliant independent artists.
Her artistic practice approaches relations, materials and situations with a deliberate interest for ‘what is already there’. In her works, dance and choreography find their way into other fields of knowledge, like feminism, philosophy, or metaphysics, and other art forms, like poetry, architecture, or photography, as a way of relating to the ‘there’ that is yet to be familiar.
w: elinortb.com
i: @elinortb
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Femke Gyselinck is a Brussels-based dancer and choreographer known for her distinctive movement language and interdisciplinary approach. A graduate from P.A.R.T.S. (2006), she began her career as a freelance performer, collaborating with Eleanor Bauer and Andros Zins-Browne and participating in Deborah Hay’s Solo Commissioning Project. From 2010 to 2018, she was the artistic assistant to Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker at Rosas before pursuing her own choreographic career.
Her work intricately weaves dance with music, balancing subtle performativity with expressive movement. Gyselinck is one of four artistic directors of GRIP, alongside Jan Martens, Cherish Menzo, and Steven Michel, and is a faculty member at P.A.R.T.S.
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Giorgia Lolli (1996) is an Italian dance artist with an MA in Choreography from Helsinki Uniarts. Her work, centred on the agency of female-identifying dancers, has crossed platforms such as Romaeuropa, Gender Bender, Operaestate and Aterballetto.
She teaches Dance Well – Movement Research for Parkinson’s and regularly engages in community-based projects.
w: giorgialolli.com
f: @georgialolla
i: @georgialolla
y: @geogialolli -
Guillem Jiménez is a choreographer and performer based in Barcelona. He graduated in Choreography from the Conservatorio Superior de Danza of the Institut del Teatre (Barcelona) and since 2019, has led the dance project/company laSADCUM, with which he develops most of his choreographic practice. He also collaborates with artists such as Luqui Lagomarsino, YesSi Persé, Meritxell de Soto, and Amaranta Velarde.
His work has been seen in venues and contexts such as Teatros del Canal, Sonar Festival, Festival Tanečnon, Teatro Réplika, Frascati, CCCB, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Dansa Metropolitana and Dansa Valencia. He has done workshops at venues such as the School of Arts / Royal Conservatoire Antwerp, Espai la Granja, Tabakalera and Act Festival. He received the 2021 ACT Award for Best International Dance Piece and the 10 Sentidos Festival Jury Award for THE LESSON (2020) laSADCUM, the 2024 DansaCat Award for Best Choreography for ACLUCALLS (2022) laSADCUM and the 2024 Pedra Viva Award and the 2024 DansaCat Award for Best Show for NAVAJA (2024) laSADCUM.
w: lasadcum.com
i: @lasadcum / @guillemjiménez -
Inês Melo Campos is an interdisciplinary artist working in the fields of choreography, film, music and visual arts. Through her work, she explores the body and its symbolic place through pragmatic-poetry imagery.
Inês has created works with Teia Campos ("coexistimos", "Artificĭu, fio ^" and "Castōr e Pollūx") and Vahan Kerovpyan ("frente-a-frente:). She has collaborated with Tânia Carvalho, Flora Détraz, Sofia Dias & Vítor Roriz, Kalle Nio, Catarina Vasconcelos, Cláudia Varejão, Marco Martins and Capicua, and she composes, sings and designs for Sopa de Pedra and Tigre.
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Ixchel Mendoza Hernández is a Mexican choreographer based in Berlin. Her work explores the concept of the "Visual Ghost," examining presence, absence, and the correlation between perception and inner virtuality. Her choreography examines how invisible phenomena manifest and how realities are reshaped through interaction.
Her latest work, “The Infinite Gesture”, premiered in December 2024 at Radialsystem, and her upcoming project, “A Scenario Of A System Off”, will premiere in December 2025 at Radialsystem.
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Jean-Baptiste Baele is a freelance Belgian choreographer based in Kristians and Norway. Originally from Madagascar, he grew up in Belgium with his adopted family, and started to dance at the age of 19. Under the mentorship of Valérie Matthieu and Talina Jager, he evolved as a dancer in Belgium for 3 years before moving to London to study at Trinity Laban Conservatory of Music and Dance. After graduating in 2015 with the Marion North Award for Outstanding Performance, Jean-Baptiste presented his piece Rhetorical is the good word, a duet with young Belgian artist Malik Zaryaty, in the Bonnie Bird Theater. He has performed for several choreographers such as Mia Habib, Daniel Mariblanca, Fred Gehrig (Synchronicity, UK), among others. In 2021, Jean-Baptiste created his first auto-biographical solo piece, Nabinam, part of Aerowaves Spring Forward 2023. In 2022, Jean-Baptiste created his own company, Nabinam Dance Company, of which he is now the artistic director. When it comes to choreographing, Jean-Baptiste focuses on investigating the complexity of social behaviours, the historical background of a body and its memories, and physicalities that evolve through space.
w: nabinam.com
i: @nabinam.co -
Juraj Bilený is a dancer and performer exploring intersections with visual art. He only began dancing as an adult while studying Economics and Swedish. His work focuses on themes of spirituality, queer ecology, humour and fairy tales. Last year, he completed his studies at the Academy of Performing Arts and also undertook an internship at the Department of Intermedia at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design.
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Kaide Gonzalez is a dancer, specialising in Hip Hop and House, born and raised in Sweden with Chilean roots. He began his professional dance training at Åsa Folkhögskola (2009) and has returned there over the years to deepen his knowledge of street dance. His journey has also taken him to Broadway Dance Center in New York and later to the Academy of Theatre and Dance in the Netherlands, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in dance pedagogy (2022).
Kaide is one of the founders of the Swedish dance group Majeko as well as a member of the international collective Bakemono. He is also active on the international battle scene while also teaching and performing. In 2025, he is touring with the European project 'Attitudes' with the performance 'Chasing Butterflies' as both a dancer and choreographer.
With respect for the Hip Hop and House dance cultures he is a guest in, Kaide is developing his own freestyle method, Leviathan Flow, focusing on flow and full-body engagement. He also shares insights on dance, mindset, and long-term practice on his YouTube channel Road to Infinity.
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Kara graduated from the Iceland University of the Arts in 2011 with a BA in Contemporary Dance Performance and Choreography. Since then, she has built a multifaceted career as a choreographer, producer and cultural leader within performing arts in Iceland.
In 2016, she founded the collective Trigger Warning, where she has created and produced her own works. Her debut piece 'Hún pabbi' premiered at the Reykjavík City Theatre in 2017, followed by 'Velkomin Heim' at the National Theatre of Iceland in 2019, later adapted for Radio Theatre in 2020. In 2020 she premiered 'BRUM', which was restaged in 2021, most recently Stroke at Tjarnarbíó in 2023 and she has two new works in development.
Alongside her own artistic practice, Kara has served as Executive Producer of Reykjavík Dance Festival since 2015, collaborating with a wide range of local and international artists. From 2020 to 2024, she worked as Project Manager and Head of Marketing at the Reykjavík Arts Festival, overseeing major projects and audience development.
In 2021, Kara founded the production company MurMur, through which she has produced numerous works across dance, opera, theatre and music in collaboration with independent artists and ensembles.
In 2025, Kara took a role as a Producer at the Iceland Dance Company.
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Khamlane Halsackda was born in Laos, grew up in the UK, and now lives in Malmö, Sweden. He has worked within dance for 30 years, and this, as well as turning 50 recently, ignites his reflections on ageing, queerness, connection, community, ecology, and sustainability.
Khamlane’s work questions, "How can all our perspectives exist in one place at the same time?" He leans on this philosophical question as a way to welcome diverse perspectives and lived experiences into his creative work, embracing dialogue and curiosity.
w: nyarorelsen.com
i: @khamlane -
Kiko López is a Spanish artist from Valencia and a creator in the performing arts. He has been trained in urban dance, contemporary dance, jazz, tribal dances, and mask theatre. His work explores the intersection of artistic languages on stage.
His collaborations include renowned companies such as Zero en Conducta, Les Impuxibles, Physical Momentum, Lali Ayguadé, Iseli Chiodi, Thomas Noone, Daniel Morales, and Cía. Baal, among others. His company is known for its unique ability to blend diverse artistic languages into a single voice, merging urban and contemporary dance with mask theatre to create a distinctive essence and identity.
The Valencian artist maintains a strong connection with both his artistic creations and teaching, working throughout Latin America and Europe.
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Kosta Karakashyan is a Bulgarian-Armenian director, choreographer, and writer exploring empathy through movement and storytelling. He creates bold, concept-driven productions across stage, film and immersive experiences that move, provoke and connect. His work has been presented by the Columbia Ballet Collaborative, One Dance Festival, The Gabrovo Biennale of Humor and Satire, and he is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honouree and a member of the European Film Academy.
w: studiokarakashyan.com
i: @kostakarakashyan
f: @kosta.m.karakashyan
t: @kostakarakashyan -
Kysy Fischer uses humour to confound the disciplines of dance, performance and theater. Since 2017 she has been creating and laughing with ABA NAIA.
As a choreographer, she is interested in minimalist exaggeration and sharp contradictions. In her work she seeks forms of contact with the audience and criticizes the hierarchies of artistic practices. Fischer is a graduate of the MA Choreography at HZT Berlin and her work Super Superficial opened the Tanztage Festival 2025 at Sophiensaele.
w: www.abanaia.com
i: @kysyfischer@aba.naia
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Laura Alcala Freudenthal is a creative director, choreographer, and movement director. She co-directs the dance company LaSúbita. Among her most recent projects are POP. A Dance Monologue (2023), Flesh and Flowers for Tanzkollektiv Bremen (2024), and ONA, a dance and live music performance for early childhood (2025, Mercat de les Flors), as well as the choreography for Rigoberta Bandini’s latest music video directed by Cèlia Giraldo. She is also a lecturer at ERAM and Shifta by Elisava.
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Lilian Steiner is an Australian dancer and choreographer, now based in Stockholm. From 2010, Lilian worked in Australia as a major performer/collaborator with Lucy Guerin Inc. Company, and many independent choreographers and artists working with live performance and film in the fields of visual arts, experimental sound and architecture/design. Since 2023, Lilian has been working with the renowned company Cullberg, performing works by Alexandra Bachzetsis, Hooman Sharifi, Alma Söderberg, Halla Ólafsdóttir and Renan Martins. Lilian’s choreographic practice spans live performance, text, sculptural installation and teaching. Her work has been presented in Australia, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Latvia, Sweden, the UK, and Hong Kong.
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Originally from Lyon, Malika Djardi trained in contemporary dance at UQAM in Montreal and the National Center for Contemporary Dance in Angers (2009 – 2011). She has performed for Mélanie Perrier, Joris Lacoste, Ola Maciejewska, Alexandre Roccoli, among others, and collaborates with Pierre Droulers. Developing her work with the solo Sa prière, created in April 2014 at La Raffinerie in Brussels, she continues to explore performance as an object of documentation, notably by interviewing her mother, who converted from Catholicism to Islam.
The duo Horion was created at the Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales of Seine-Saint-Denis (France) in May 2016. For the Charleroi Dance Biennale (Belgium) in 2017, she conceived the piece-lecture 3, addressing the genre of science fiction and the issue of emotions in a disenchanted fertility ritual. She was in residence for creation at the National Center for Dance (France) in 2019 – 2020 for PIER 7, which starts with a dialogue with professional skateboarder JB Gillet. Her latest piece, Martyre, a tribute to her mother suffering from Alzheimer’s, premiered on March 27, 2024, as part of the Le Grand Bain festival with the Gymnase CDCN in Roubaix.
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Márcio K. Canabarro was born in 1985 in Brazil. He is a dancer and choreographer with a BA in Social Communication, a Performing Major from SEAD, and a certified Embodied Myoreflex Therapy Practitioner.
Márcio is interested in exploring the intersections of narratology, performance and mindfulness practices. His work focuses on the so-cio-emotional implications of accessibility, specifically how cultural biases around vision shape the intimacy, self esteem, and social roles of the blind and visually impaired community.
Márcio also works as a freelance dancer for Hodworks (HU), CRANKY BODIES/a company (DE) and Meg Stuart/ Damaged Goods (BE/DE). In the past he has collaborated with Benoit Lachambre, Sara Shelton Mann, Mark Thompkins, Keith Henessy and others.
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Maria Solei Järvet is an Estonian choreographer, dancer, and researcher working and creating across Europe. She studied in Copenhagen and has performed at the Estonian National Opera, Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava, Dansekapellet, Aveny-T, Centro Coreográfico de La Gomera, and Dansverkstæðið.
Her work explores the body as a living archive – using movement to reclaim empathy and uncover what lies beneath the surface.
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Mariia is a choreographer from Ukraine. In her artistic practices, Mariia questions art’s f_utility during significant crises and gross human suffering. A substantial part of her exploration of bodily movement is the potency of the mixed-ability dance practice. Her recent works incorporate auto-ethnographic elements and storytelling about the politics of touch and the weight of time. She is a certified DanceAbility teacher and holds an MFA degree in Experimental Choreography from the University of California Riverside.
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Michiel Vandevelde studied dance and choreography at P.A.R.T.S., Brussels. He is active as a choreographer, curator, writer and editor.
Currently he is the artistic director of CAMPO, an arts centre and production house in Ghent (BE). Previously, as a programmer/curator he worked for International Arts Centre DE SINGEL, Extra City Kunsthal, Bâtard festival, Precarious Pavilions.
Vandevelde’s artistic work is presented and supported throughout Europe by Münchner Kammerspiele, Kaaitheater, Concertgebouw Brugge/Dans in Brugge, Platform-K, PACT Zollverein, Wiener Festwochen, steirischer herbst, STUK, Viernulvier, Theater Neumarkt, among others.
From 2017 to 2021, Michiel Vandevelde was artist in residence at Kaaitheater (Brussels, BE). In 2021-2022, Vandevelde was Creative Ambassador of the city of Leuven (BE). From 2023 to 2025 he had a Maker Trajectory at Dans in Brugge (Brugge, BE).
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Ming Jou Chen is a choreographer, performer, and multidisciplinary artist based in Amsterdam. A graduate of the SNDO (School for New Dance Development) at the AHK and a dance degree at the University of Taipei, her artistic practice is deeply influenced by her fascination with underwater ecosystems and nonhuman phenomena. Drawing on her experiences as a scuba diver and her observations of coral reefs, she uses body movement, visual media, and sound to create immersive, otherworldly spaces for her audiences. By integrating diverse sensory elements and nonlinear storytelling, Ming Jou invites viewers to reconsider traditional narratives and connect with a range of perspectives and lifeforms. Her work explores the potential for connection across human and non-human experiences, continually seeking ways to decentre the human spirit and discover the beauty of our interconnected world.
In recent years, her work has been showcased at venues such as Frascati, Brakke Grond, Cinedans, CTM Berlin, and Miaobei Art Center in Taiwan.
Ming Jou Chen’s recent work, The Terrestrial Gathering of the Mermaids - PURE, dives into East Asian female self-consciousness, inspired by her personal experiences and cultural roots. In this piece, she crafts an oceanic landscape filled with love songs, struggles, moments of disorientation, and healing rituals. Through this evocative setting, she challenges and reinterprets societal narratives, creating a space where political and personal identities seamlessly intertwine.
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Nataša Kustura is a dance artist and researcher based in Croatia. She enrolled in the BA programme in Contemporary Dance at the Academy of Dramatic Art, University of Zagreb, graduating in 2022. During her studies, she developed her technical and performative practice by working with various Croatian and international dance artists.
Since 2015, she has been an active member of the Zadar Dance Ensemble. She has also performed in works by Ida Jolić, Matea Bilosnić, Josipa Štulić, among others. In 2022, she co-authored and performed Melusine , presented at the Perforations Festival in Buenos Aires in collaboration with the Zagreb-based Domino Association. That same year, she performed in the Croatian Pavilion at the 59th International Exhibition of Visual Arts – La Biennale di Venezia.
In addition to her artistic and academic work, Nataša is a co-founder of OS, an artistic organisation that focuses on creating contemporary and interdisciplinary performing art practices.
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Neda Ruzheva is the artistic director of Amsterdam-based choreographic label Trevoga. From hope-fanatics to doomers and affect aliens of all kinds, Trevoga is a chaotic intersection of performance artists who move against the flow. United by a desire to most literally be stressed – to let the present crawl under their skin and feel the world pressing against them – they channel anxiety not as a metaphor but as an embodied, visceral experience, where the future is still up for grabs – raw, uncertain, alive, and still worth losing sleep over. For Trevoga, the capitalist body is not a temple – it is an abandoned shopping mall, littered with consumerist relics, synthetic chemicals, and sexually suggestive imagery. Their work scavenges for the most unsettling undertones beneath the glossy surface of urban hyperreality. Twisting popular tropes and cultural symbols into sensuous, dissonant forms, they stitch together reflections of a perplexingly grotesque present – dissecting themselves as symptoms of its countless addictions and using the stage as a means to disentangle its many dissonant processes and conflicting forces. Trevoga is an Aerowaves Twenty24 Artists. Their debut performance “11 3 8 7”, co-produced by ICK Amsterdam and One Dance Bulgaria, was awarded “Best of Amsterdam Fringe Festival” and was mentioned in NRC NL as part of their critique’s top 5 performances of dutch season 23/24. Trevoga's second work "Xx-63" will premiere during Julidans Festival 2025.
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Nela is a performer and choreographer. She studied at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (Dance Theatre and Performance, Choreography). As a performer, she has participated in projects by S. Kúdeľová (Intensive Tense), B. Janáková (ANSWER_ring), S. Vlk Vlčeková (Veľký nádych), M. Štefančíková (Offline assemblages), amongst others.
Her choreographies were presented at festivals as Tanečno, Kiosk, Movefest Ostrava and NuDanceFest. She is part of Tantelab curated by the Tantehorse company.
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Patryk began his dance career in 2007. He works in contemporary dance, dance improvisation, and hip hop street dance, where he first began. He uses the techniques and knowledge provided by each of these disciplines, allowing him to create his own movement language which is reflected in his work.
An active dancer, he collaborates with choreographers and directors from the Polish theatre and dance scene. As an independent artist, he has produced performances such as 'Sport', 'Connected/Disconnected', 'Osiedlowy Dowód Słuszności', 'A Bunch of Crap', 'To-Do List', 'Ściana-biała-papier-las', and co-choreographed performances including 'Panic', 'Craving', 'Kwiat Paproci' (Fern Flower with co-creator: Michał Strugarek), and 'Show' (co-creators: Paweł Malicki and Daniel Michna).
A graduate of Dance in Physical Culture at the University of Physical Education in Poznań with a specialisation in Dance Choreotherapist, Patryk is also currently a lecturer in this field.
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Rachel Ní Bhraonáin is an artist making multidisciplinary shows and short films from her hometown of Waterford. With storytelling at the core, her work combines dance, writing and sometimes aerial, to create vivid and emotionally honest work.
Rachel also works regularly as a dance teacher and a movement director for theatre. She has directed, choreographed and collaborated on a number of shows presented in Ireland and the UK, including most recently The Maker by Dan Colley, MOSH, Losing Your Body, DancingxCrossroads, Clarity and Glimmer.
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Rita Mazza is a Berlin-based performance artist, artistic director, and sign language choreographer specialising in visual sign performances. Born in Turin, Rita studied at the University of Music, Performing Arts, Film and New Media before leaving due to limited sign language communication opportunities. They travelled across Europe, gaining stage experience and establishing themselves in the sign language communities of Germany, Italy, and France.
Mazza’s career took a turn when they played the lead role in the award-winning play Children of a Lesser God. Mazza curated sign language art at the Theaterformen Festival in 2023 and currently consults on sign language access for various projects.
Rita’s recent notable works include: Space 1880 (2021), co-produced with SOPHIENSÆLE; Matters of Rhythm (2023), selected for Tanzplattform Deutschland in 2024; The Voice (2024 – 2026), co-produced by Tanz im August, Mousonturm, and Kampnagel.
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Rósa Ómarsdóttir is an Icelandic choreographer, graduated from Iceland University of the Arts and P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels. Her work explores encounters between human and non-human forces through interdisciplinary practices merging choreography, sound, and scenography. Rooted in feminist dramaturgy, she creates shifting ecosystems on stage. Her work has been presented in 20 countries internationally and received several Icelandic Theatre Awards.
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Rūta Ronja Pakalne is a Latvian freelance dance and film artist based in Tallinn, Estonia. With a deeply curious and evolving artistic practice, she moves fluidly between choreography, performance, filmmaking, and teaching, exploring the body, presence, and everyday experience as sites of artistic inquiry. Rūta plays an important and active role in shaping the contemporary dance field in Estonia. Through her teaching and mentorship, she prepares a new generation of dancers for professional practice, while continuing to create her own distinctive and interdisciplinary works.
Since 2019, she has been a guest lecturer in contemporary dance technique and dance filmmaking at Tallinn University’s Baltic Film, Media and Arts School (BFM). She has also been teaching at the Latvian Academy of Culture and frequently leads workshops in Estonia, Latvia, and internationally. Her commitment to education as an integral part of her artistic growth is reflected in her ongoing teaching at the Tallinn Ballet School (MUBA) and the contemporary dance school ETA.
Rūta holds a BA degree in Choreography from the Latvian Academy of Culture. She also completed further training at the prestigious contemporary dance school P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels, Belgium — an experience that continues to inform her artistic approach. Following this, her path lead to film and she graduated with an MA (cum laude) in Film Arts from Tallinn University BFM. Over the past decade, Rūta has collaborated with numerous artists across disciplines, contributing to a wide range of innovative and boundary-pushing projects. Her recent performance/dance works include: "BODY OF DREAMS" (2023), "FREEDOM TO LOSE CONTROL TOGETHER WITH THE MANY" (2023), dance film "H61" that is part of a project Dance+City by the Lithuanian Dance Information Centre and ARTE channel and dance film “CENTRIFUGAL" (2024). In parallel with her performance work, Rūta is active in the field of audiovisual art, creating short interdisciplinary projects and experimental dance films that explore the intersections of movement, image, and embodied storytelling.
Her artistic voice is shaped by a deep attention to the present moment, and a belief in the power of movement as both expression and research.
w: www.rutaronja.com
i: @rutaronja -
Sergiu Diță is a performer and choreographer based in Bucharest. He holds BA and MA degrees in Choreography (UNATC) and completed the Academy of Dance and Performance (CNDB). His work uses pop culture as social critique through recycling, sampling, and remixing. His piece MANual (2023) was shown at Mittelyoung 2024, and MEMETICS (2024) was nominated at the 2025 UNITER Awards. He works with Anca Stoica as Platforma 13.
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Shannelle ‘Tali’ Fergus is a London-raised creative working within the dance community and industry across performance, choreography, teaching and talent management. Her style is a blend of street styles and contemporary, leaning towards gesture & pedestrian movement. Tali is the founder, producer and lead facilitator of identity. ideas. industry. (iii) , a programme designed to encourage artists’ curiosity about their creativity and the industry at large, through movement, conversation & literature.
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Soňa Kúdelová is a Slovak choreographer, dancer, and performer. She explores themes of interpersonal relationships, society, and psychology through body-mind research and everyday performativity. She created the solo trilogy "Autopilot", "Autocorrect", "Autonomy", and the trio "Intensive Tense". She is the founder of the NGO CHAOSMOS and a board member of PLAST - Slovak Contemporary Dance Platform, where she also coordinates the Dance Residencies Centre TELOCVIČŇA.
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Stephanie Handjiiska is a Bulgarian dance artist & choreographer based between Sofia (Bulgaria) and London (England). Her work is curious, playful, as well as beautiful, grandiose, visual and physical. She explores topics like femininity, capitalism, the state of the human condition of today, as well as ritual, family and heritage.
Stephanie's work has been presented at Dance Umbrella, ImPulsTanz and Resolution Festivals amongst others. Stephanie is Co-Artistic Director of Surdce Dance Collective, a British-Bulgarian dance company exploring ritual and myth through a feminine gaze.
w: www.surdce.dance
w: stephaniehandjiiska.com
i: @stephaniehandjiiska -
Suvi Kemppainen is an internationally working choreographer, dancer, performer, and performance maker. Kemppainen's artistic works are anchored in their practice around fantastic psychopoetic corporeality, embodied knowledge, immaterial ownership and reframing the concept of spectacle.
After graduating as a dancer from North Karelia College Outokumpu in Finland Suvi Kemppainen continued their choreography studies at the University of Arts Berlin HZT. Their works have been presented at the Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki; Contemporary Art Space Kutomo, Turku; Sophiensaele, Berlin; Zodiak Center for New Dance, Helsinki.
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Since 2010, artist, dance performer and choreographer Tümay Kılınçel has questioned colonial images and shown the emancipatory potential of “belly dance”.
Her performances explore body politics, power structures, feminist themes and hair symbolism, and she mixes up the Western dance canon. A danceWEB fellow at ImPulsTanz, Kılınçel won Düsseldorf’s 2023 Performing Arts Award. “we love to raqs” was featured at Tanzplattform Deutschland 2024; “Melodrama Suits Her” premiered later that year.
U – Z
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Vaiva Paukštė is a Lithuanian dancer and choreographer. She received a BA in Dance from Codarts Rotterdam in 2021, then completed a Master’s in Theatre Directing at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, where she created the artistic research performance ‘Dreaming Beauty’, which was nominated for the Emerging Artist category at the Lithuanian Golden Cross Awards. Now she teaches, lectures, creates dance works, and collaborates on film and video projects.
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Since 2022, Yana Reutova has been active in Prague as a choreographer, dancer, and teacher. She created the triptych Together Alone, children’s performances 'On the Way and Childhood Time', and choreographies 'Womanhood and Paradoxical Bodies'.
Her work has been presented at the Czech Dance Platform and festivals in the Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, Brazil, Italy, Spain and Lithuania. She participated in residencies and projects such as Big Pulse Dance Alliance, EFFEA, Aerowaves, Moving Borders, Let the Body Speak, and others.
Encounters ‘21 – ‘24
Emerging out of the successful Big Pulse Dance Alliance project, 93 artists have benefitted from 16 Visiting Artist Programme encounters at festivals across Europe between 2021 and 2024.
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Natálie Podešvová
Philip Connaughton
Áine Stapleton
Greta Grineviciute
Aloun Marchal
Marcella Quinchavil Steen
Takuya Fujisawa -
Janina Rajakangas
Andreas Hannes -
Yana Reutova
Tiia Kasurinen
Denisas Kolomyckis
Linda Wardal
Alexandra Svensson
Kyrie Oda -
Katerina Jabûrková
Mia Jaatinen
Tatjana Mahlke
Niels Claes
Shanti Vera
Poliana Lima
Gaston Core
Reinaldo Ribiero
Yeinner Chicas
Júlia Godino Llorens
Nidia Martinez Barbieri -
Catherine Young
Eulàlia Bregadà -
Deyan Georgiev
Lisa Bysheim
Mari Carrasco
Olha Svidina
Anders Duckworth
Theo TJ Lowe -
Natálie Vacková
Adrian Carlo Bibiano
Achy Ouafik
Magí Serra
Nicole Neidert
Erik Valentin Berg
Jessica Greer -
Hanne Os Wold
Barbara Cappi
Alyssa Briteramos
Liv Aira
Mia Hellberg
Agata Siniarska
Marie Rechsteiner
Eulàlia Bergadà
Linda Remahal -
Yanitsa Atanasova
David Králík
Marika Peura
Mathilde Caeyers
Angel Duran
Viktorija Khoroshylova -
Eeva Juutinen
Jessie Thomson
Emanuele Rosa
Maria Focaraccio
Oksana Griaznova
Raquel Gualtero
Gabriella Engdahl
Liza Penkova -
Jitka Čechová
Mikko Nimisto
Junior Yusuf
Adriano Bolognino
Rosaria Di Maro
Andrea Hannes
Geir Hytten
Ester Guntín -
Hanne Os Wold
Barbara Cappi
Alyssa Briteramos
Liv Aira
Mia Hellberg -
Aleksandar Georgiev
Žaneta Musilová
Karoliina Loimaala
Isabella Oberländer
Ugné Kavaliauskaité
Anna Johansson -
Martijn Joling
Amy Pender
Núria Guiu Segarra
Lotta Gahrton -
Samuli Emery
Sheena McGrandles
