Dachverband Tanz: Personal Members

Dr. Leonard Cruz

Born in Pampanga, Philippines, Leonard Cruz grew up in San Antonio, Texas. He began dancing Filipino and Hawaiian folk dances at the age of four and received his bachelor's and master's degrees in dance from the University of California, Los Angeles.

He worked with Robert Wilson and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane and Co. In 1993 he was a guest at the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch and a member of the Folkwang Tanzstudio. From 1994 to 2001 he danced at the Bremen Stadttheater (Linke and Dietrich). His dissertation was under the title "Laban Movement Analysis as a Methodology for Promoting Creativity and the Arts. Across the Curriculum" and successfully defended it in 2013.

Dr. Cruz is the founder of The Creative, Arts, and Resilience Project Network, a platform for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), LGBTQUIA+, and special needs/ability artists, empowering each other through storytelling, support, and healing through virtual workshops, webinars, informal screenings, and performances. Cruz has taught at M.I.T, Harvard, Duke University, Folkwang University of the Arts, and many other institutions. Cruz is currently Adjunct Faculty at HBK in Essen and NYU Tisch School of the Arts (ITP).

Portrait Claudia Feest; ältere Frau mit kurzen grauen Haaren und Brille — Claudia Feest © privat

Dr. Claudia Feest

Graduate biologist, teacher and therapist of breathing and movement, former dancer, choreographer, co-founder of Tanzfabrik Berlin and its artistic director until the end of 2003. Initiator and until 2004 Artistic Director of TanzNacht Berlin and Tanz made in Berlin - Forum for Contemporary Dance.

Co-founder and since 2006 board member of the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland e.V. (DTD) and 2006-2009 head of the AG Tanz(Aus)Bildung. 1999 to 2003 member of the Rat für die Künste Berlin, founding member of Zeitgenössischer Tanz Berlin (ZTB), 2003 to 2007 second chairwoman of the Gesellschaft für Tanzforschung (GTF). Teaching and research in the field of elementary breathing and movement theory and body awareness. Since 2012 teaching and coaching / mentoring at the HZT Berlin, 2004 - 2009 teaching at the postgraduate program TanzKultur at the University of Bern, Switzerland and at the University of Music and Performing Arts (HfMDK) in Frankfurt am Main, as well as working as a freelance breathing and movement teacher in Germany and abroad and as a breathing therapist in independent practice in Berlin.

2006/07 Coordinator at the Senate Department for Science, Research and Culture Berlin for the Inter-University Center for Dance - Pilot Project Tanzplan Berlin. 2009 to 2011 project management and conception for the Berlin project TanzZeit - Zeit für Tanz in Schulen. Since 2007 jury member for dance and performing arts in Berlin, North Rhine-Westphalia and at federal level and since 2014 jury member for ChanceTanz in der Kulturellen Bildung. Since 2015 mentor in the PAP mentoring program of LAFT Berlin, 2016 chairwoman of the Tanzkommission NRW, member of the advisory board of TanzSzene Baden-Württemberg, 2017 to 2019 member of the executive board of Aktion Tanz - Bundesverband Tanz in Bildung und Gesellschaft e.V. and since 2019 on the advisory board of Aktion Tanz.

Sabine Gehm

Sabine Gehm, artistic director of the international festival TANZ Bremen, freelance curator, dramaturge and cultural manager

Decades of work in various cities, projects and constellations in the field of dance and performance have provided me with a wealth of experience in many respects, which I would like to contribute to the Dachverband.
Thanks to my program research at home and abroad, my international networks and my many years of voluntary work as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Fonds Darstellende Künste, I am constantly gaining up-to-date insights into the national and international dance work of artists. In addition, as a long-standing festival director, curator, coordinator, project manager, jury member, applicant and consultant, I am familiar with day-to-day project work in the performing arts from a wide variety of perspectives. Especially as an artistic director, I see myself as a host not only for invited artists or speakers, but also for spectators or participants and as a mediator or moderator between art, politics and the public.

Biographical information
After completing my studies in applied cultural sciences, I worked from 1988 to 2004 as head of organization at the Hamburg International Summer Theatre Festival. In 1994 I joined the artistic management team at Kampnagel Hamburg, where I was responsible for the dance program and various festivals (including Junge Hunde, Independance Days, Tanzplattform Deutschland 2000) until 2001. Until 2005, I coordinated the international network for emerging performing artists JUNGE HUNDE, which I co-founded.
Between 2006 and 2016, I was artistic director of the first four editions of the Tanzkongress, a flagship project of the German Federal Cultural Foundation (2006 in Berlin, 2009 in Hamburg, 2013 in Düsseldorf, 2016 in Hanover).
Since 2004 I have been working as artistic director of TANZ Bremen, an international festival for contemporary dance.
As a freelance curator and cultural manager, I curated the conferences of the academy series ON THE ROAD of the Federal Association for the Independent Performing Arts in 2017/2019, managed and organized international exchange programs for artists and have been working as a dramaturge for the project “Vorpommern tanzt an” since 2019.

In addition, I have been working as a mentor (e.g. Performing Arts Program Berlin) and as a consultant for various artists for several years.

I have been Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Fonds Darstellende Künste since 2015, have been a member of various specialist juries (including in Hamburg, Bremen, Utrecht and Paris) and the IETM, and represent the Festival Tanz Bremen in the State Association for the Independent Performing Arts Bremen.

Nele Hertling

After studying German and Theatre Studies at the Faculty of Philosophy at Humboldt University in Berlin, which she completed in 1958, she worked freelance for radio and theatre. After a one-year stay in London, she joined the music and performing arts departments of the Academy of Arts in 1962 as a research assistant. Since 1974 she has also worked as Secretary to the Senate.

In 1987 she took over the management of the “Werkstatt Berlin” to develop the programme for “Berlin - European Capital of Culture 1988”, in 1989 she founded the Hebbel Theatre and took over the directorship until 2003. From summer 2003 to the end of 2006, Hertling was director of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Programme. In 2006, she was also elected Vice President of the Akademie der Künste.

She is also a member of and involved in numerous committees and networks, including the I.E.T.M. (Informal European Theatre Meeting), ‘Theorem’, Gulliver Clearing House, Amsterdam, a member of the ‘German-French Cultural Council’ since 1995 (President since 2001), the Performing Arts Advisory Board of the Goethe Institute and the Board of Trustees of the German Federal Cultural Foundation. She represents the initiative ‘A Soul for Europe’ as spokesperson.

Walter Heun

Walter Heun is a cultural manager, dance and theatre producer. For over 20 years, he has been committed to contemporary dance education and the development of institutional structures for contemporary dance in Germany.

In this context, Heun was a co-founder of Tanztendenz München and the Nationales Performance Netz. Heun has also been co-founder and co-director of Tanzplattform Deutschlands, a showcase for German contemporary dance, since 1994. He has been director of the Munich festival Tanzwerkstatt Europa since 1991 and took over the management of Tanzquartier Wien in 2009.

Heun is a board member of the Bavarian State Association for Contemporary Dance.

Reinhild Hoffmann

Reinhild Hoffmann, a multiple award-winning pioneer of German dance theatre, has been working as a freelance choreographer and director with a focus on musical theatre since 1995. Her productions include ‘Tagebuch eines Verschollenen’ and ‘Pierrot Lunaire’ at the Frankfurt Opera; Sciarrino's ‘Die tödliche Blume’ and ‘Macbeth’ in Lucerne, “Begehren” by Beat Furrer (scenic premiere 2003, Steirischer Herbst and Ruhrtriennale), ‘Ariadne auf Naxos’ at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden; 'Das Mädchen aus der Fremde' (music theatre by Reinhild Hoffmann, Isabel Mundry, Brice Pauset, premiere at the Mannheim National Theatre), “Ein Atemzug - Odyssee” by Isabel Mundry (premiere at the Deutsche Oper Berlin), “Tristan und Isolde” at the Bremen Theatre and “Salome” at the Aachen Theatre.

www.reinhildhoffmann.de

Susanne Linke

Susanne Linke received her education from Mary Wigman in Berlin before studying at the Folkwang-Hochschule in Essen. From 1970-1973 she was a dancer at the Folkwang Tanzstudio with the Artistic Director Pina Bausch. At the same time she developed her own first choreographic works and headed the Folkwang Tanzstudio until the summer of 1985. At the beginning of the 1990s she was an artist in residence at the Hebbel-Theater, Berlin. From 1994 until 2000 she was Director of Dance Theater at the Bremen Theater.

In the years 2000-2001 Susanne Linke was a founding member of the Choreographisches Zentrum Essen and its designated Artistic Director. In den Jahren 2000 bis 2001 war Susanne Linke Gründungsmitglied des Choreographischen Zentrums PACT Zollverein Essen und dessen designierte künstlerische Leiterin. She also created new choreographies for the Limén Dance Company New York, the Paris Opera, the Kibbutz Dance Studios, the Nederlands Dans Theater, the Choreographisches Theater Bonn and the Aalto Ballett Theatre Essen.

www.susanne-linke.com

Ivan Liška

Ivan Liška trained at the Prague Conservatory. After his graduation in 1969, he left his home country and joined the Ballet der Deutschen Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf. From 1974 to 1977, he was a soloist at the Ballet of the Bayerische Staatsoper (Staatsballett since 1989) before joining the Hamburg Ballet as principal dancer, where he danced and created the leading roles in numerous works by John Neumeier. Guest appearances worldwide, including as Onegin with Natalia Makarova in Paris, London and New York. He danced the role of Armand alongside Marcia Haydée in the film version of Lady of the Camellias.

At the Plissetskaya competition he was awarded the prize as 'best partner in dance' Choreographies at the Hamburg Ballet Workshops and in 1997 in Brno (Der Streit). Director of the Bayerisches Staatsballett since the beginning of the 1998/99 season, he has presented numerous new choreographers for the Bayerisches Staatsballett. In spring 2007, Liška was awarded the medal for special earnings to Bavaria in a united Europe by the Bavarian State Ministry.

In autumn 2008, the Chinese Ministry of Culture honoured him with the Outstanding Contribution Prize for Cultural Exchange.

Bertram Müller

Bertram Müller is a member of the board of the Gesellschaft für Zeitgenössischen Tanz NRW e.V. He graduated in philosophy and theology at the University of Heidelberg in 1971 and in psychology at the University of Bonn in 1978 with a degree in psychology and clinical psychotherapy.

Since then he has worked in independent practice as a trainer in Gestalt therapy at various institutes in Germany and abroad. In 1978, he was the founding director of ‘Die Werkstatt e.V.’ in Düsseldorf, the forerunner of today's tanzhaus nrw e.V. Düsseldorf, which he headed for many years.

In 1993-96, Bertram Müller was an expert for the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany/Association of German Cities as part of the EU programme ‘Kaleidoscope’ as well as for the European Commission, Unit A3, ‘Arts Education and Training Initiative’. Founding member of the European Institute of the Arts (ELIA). 1998 Opening of the tanzhaus nrw Düsseldorf. Co-founder of the European Dance Development Centre (EDDC) Arnheim/Düsseldorf.

Chairman of the International Delphic Arts Commission since 2003. Since 2006 project director of "Take-Off: Junger Tanz. Tanzplan Düsseldorf". In 2008, he initiated the European-Chinese festival and exchange project ‘Chin-A-moves’.

Since 1994 he has been a jury member of the Theatre Advisory Board of the City of Düsseldorf, advisor to the NRW State Representation in Berlin and ‘Create NRW’ (International Ballet Competition Seoul/Korea).

Bertram Müller has been a member of the board since November 2008.

[Translate to English:] Porträt von Martin Puttke

Prof. Martin Puttke

Prof Martin Puttke studied dance at the Berlin State Ballet School from 1962 to 1966 and was a dancer at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin from 1966 to 1970.

From 1970 to 1975 he studied to become a ballet teacher/ballet master at the GITIS theatre academy in Moscow under Professor Nikolai I. Tarassov. From 1975, ballet teacher at the Berlin State Ballet School, where he was artistic director from 1979 to 1995 and also director from 1981 to 1991.
1988 Professorship at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts Berlin. From 1990 to 1992 artistic director of the ballet of the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, 1995 to 2008 ballet director of the Aalto Ballett Theatre Essen.
Lectures, seminars on the methodology of classical dance and ballet lessons in Germany, the Netherlands, England, Italy, USA, Japan, Austria and Brazil. His master students have won gold medals and top prizes at the world's most important ballet competitions.

Co-editor of the books ‘Erlebnis Ballett oder der anspruchsvolle Weg zum Tänzer’ and also as translator of ‘Pas de Deux im Klassischen Tanz’ by Nikolai Serebrennikov, as well as editor and translator of the reference book ‘Klassischer Tanz - Die Schule des Tänzers’ by Nikolai I. Tarassov, all Henschelverlag Berlin. Co-editor and co-author of ‘The Neurocognition of Dance’, Psychology Press, England, USA, Canada.

Since 1994 2nd chairman of the ‘Deutscher Berufsverband für Tanzpädagogik e.V.’ and the ‘Förderverein Tanzkunst Deutschland’.

From 1999 to 2009 1st spokesman of the German Federal Ballet and Dance Theatre Directors' Conference (BBTK).

Honorary member of the Aaltotheater Essen and the BBTK since 2009.

Ulrich Roehm

Ulrich Roehm was born in Essen in 1933. He studied at the Folkwang School in Essen under Kurt Jooss up to masterclass level. He received his first engagement with the Ballet de Wallonie, now the Ballet Royal de Wallonie, as Premier Danseur Etoile. There, from 1958 to 1961, he interpreted the leading male roles in great classical ballets such as ‘Giselle’, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘Swan Lake’, in productions by the former Danseur Etoile of the legendary Ballets Russes de Montre-Carlo, George Skibine, then director of the Paris Opera Ballet.

In 1962, he was invited to the ballet of the Städtische Bühnen in Essen as principal dancer and appeared as a guest dancer with the “FOLKWANG BALLETT”, newly created by Kurt Jooss.

As a soloist with the Folkwang Ballet, Ulrich Roehm appeared between 1961 and 1969 in guest performances in Berlin (West and East), Dresden, Paris, Brussels, London (plus on the BBC with ‘Green Table’), Rome, the Salzburg Festival, Milan and many other places in England, Belgium, France, Italy and Holland, in Kurt Jooss' ballet ‘Der Grüne Tisch’, but also in other choreographies by Jooss, Lucas Hoving and Antony Tudor. At the same time, he was engaged as first solo dancer at the ballet of the Städtische Bühnen in Essen (1963 to 1969) and made guest appearances at the Ballet de Wallonie, the Zagreb State Opera Ballet and at various theatres in the Ruhr region as well as at the ‘Ruhr-Festspiele Recklinghausen’. He also performed at the Salzburg Festival in 1968.

Following an offer from the National Ballet of Canada, Ulrich Roehm went to Toronto in 1969. Ulrich Roehm began his teaching career in Canada, where he set up three ballet studios. After passing the examinations of the Royal Academy of Dancing (RAD) in London, he became a member of the academy (A.R.A.D. Associated Member of the RAD). From 1975 Ulrich Roehm was the RAD representative for Germany and Austria, and is also a member of the Canadian Dance Teachers Association.

After his return from Canada, Ulrich Roehm opened his own ballet studio in Essen in 1973, which he directed for over thirty years. In 1975, he was instrumental in founding the German Professional Association for Dance Education (then known as the ‘Association of Ballet Schools in Germany’) and has been its first chairman ever since. In 1983, he realised the idea of an “honourable prize” for dance - and so the “ Deutscher Tanzpreis” was born. During the award ceremony for the German Dance Prize to Pina Bausch in March 1995 at the Aalto Theatre in Essen, Ulrich Roehm was awarded the ‘Federal Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit’ by Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker for his services to dance in Germany.

From the founding of the Ständige Konferenz Tanz until 2014, Ulrich Roehm was a member of the board of the Dachverband, renamed ‘Dachverband Tanz Deutschland’.

Vera Sander

Vera Sander is director of the Centre for Contemporary Dance and Professor for Contemporary Dance at the University for Music and Dance Cologne and has since been central to its development as a teacher, publisher and organizer. Choreographer, dancer or teacher with e.g. Tanzforum Köln (D), Dansgroep Krisztina de Chatel (NL), Itzik Galili (NL), Semperoper Dresden (D), DV8 (UK), Adventures in Motion Pictures (UK), verasanderartconnects (D).

Her interest centres on choreographic and body knowledge as a source for interdisciplinary and intercultural creativity. She has been regularly invited to choreograph, to teach as well as to collaborate in lectures and is occupied with the development of study programs and exchange formats in the field of dance. From 2010 -2016 she was one of the four speakers of the Dance Education Conference (AK|T) and as such member of the steering group of the Dance Education Biennale. As artistic director of the 5th Dance Education Biennale Vera Sander has taken over the task of curating and developing an artistic-content conception. According to the featured topic “feedback and reflection” she promoted together with Mariella Greil the design of the Cologne Biennale as a collaborative and participatory process. Among others she participated in the research project “Dance Technqiues 2010” initiated by Tanzplan Deutschland.

From 2016-18 together with musician Holger Mertin she participated as artistic director in „Atlas Workshops“ – a project funded by the DAAD to foster cultural dialog occurring at the exchange between artists and academics (science) as well as German institutions of higher education and universities in the Islamic world. As part of the intercultural project Signifying Ghosts (with Rafaële Giovanola / artistic director CocoonDance Company, Kettly Noël /artistic director Choreographic Centre Donko Seko, Bamako, Vera Sander / artistic director Centre for Contemporary Dance, University for Music and Dance Cologne and Nelisiwe Xaba / Johannesburg) she created NULLSTELLE in 2019, a work that focuses on communication as the basis of collaboration, memory and identity. Vera Sander studied at the London Contemporary Dance School (UK) and Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Amsterdam (NL).

verasanderartconnects.blogspot.de

Gerald Siegmund

Prof. Dr Gerald Siegmund studied Theatre Studies, English and Romance Studies at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main. He completed his doctorate there in 1994 on the subject of ‘Theatre as Memory’. Between 1998 and 2005, he was a research assistant at the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen, where he also completed his habilitation. His habilitation thesis was published under the title "Abwesenheit. Eine performative Ästhetik des Tanzes" published by transcript.

From September 2005 he was assistant professor at the Institute for Theatre Studies in Bern until he was appointed to the professorship for Choreography and Performance at the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies. Gerald Siegmund has worked for many years as a journalist and critic for various newspapers and magazines, primarily in the field of dance. His focus is on contemporary theatre and contemporary dance, theatre theories, performance, intermediality and the diverse border areas between theatre and the other arts.

Stephanie Thiersch

Stephanie Thiersch studied classical and contemporary dance in Wiesbaden and Montpellier, as well as media art with Valie Export at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne.

Fine art, contemporary photography and literature form the basis of her working methods. With her company MOUVOIR, founded in 2000, she develops stage plays, films and installations. Her work has received numerous awards. Since 2009, MOUVOIR has received excellence funding for dance from the state of NRW.

In addition to her ensemble work, Stephanie Thiersch is also a guest choreographer, last year for the Staatstheater Kassel, and a guest lecturer, including at the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies in Giessen and internationally, most recently in Kenya and Tanzania. She is artistic director of the international festival GLOBALIZE:COLOGNE.

www.mouvoir.de

Bettina Wagner-Bergelt

Bettina Wagner-Bergelt, Artistic Director Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch; Artistic Director Bauhaus100, opening festival, Berlin 2019; freelance curator. Deputy Director of the Bayerisches Staatsballett until 2016. 1990-2016 Head Dramaturg at the Bayerisches Staatsballett; Founder/Director of CAMPUS Education.

Jury activities for Neue Wege 2019/2020; various dance awards, art in public space, new media, Philipp Morris Art Prize, Tanzfonds Erbe, Fonds Bauhaus heute; Artistic Advisory Board Tanzkongress 2015/2022, activities in advisory bodies (Ministry of Culture NRW, Ministry of Science Saxony); appointment committees; lectures and publications.

Board member of BLZT, board member of DTD until 2019, member of BLZT, Verband Tanz in Schulen and Landesverband Kulturelle Bildung Bayern.

2006 Founded Access to Dance (symposia, lectures, workshops, ‘DANCE4kids’ 2008, THINK BIG! festival from 2011), Tanzplan Deutschland, together with other Munich dance experts. Artistic director of the Staatsballett's CAMPUS Education Programme, numerous awards and sponsorships (e.g. ART MENTOR FOUNDATION LUCERNE).

Founder of ‘DANCE - International Dance Festival Munich’ 1987, its artistic director 1987, 1989, 2008, 2010; deputy head of music, theatre, dance at the Munich Department of Culture until 1989. Artistic assistant responsible for events at the Gasteig (new music/dance/theatre). Curator of the “New Dance” festival of the Bayerische Staatsoper from 1986-1989.

Artistic consultant at the experimental stage of the Bayerische Staatsoper, dance; freelance collaboration/curator for various publications and exhibition projects, such as “John Cage WATERCOLOURS” - Neue Pinakothek 1991, directed by Ullrich Bischoff, Forsythe-Projekt “PROLIFERATION AND PERFECT DISORDER” Pinakothek der Moderne 2006, with Dr Bernhart Schwenk, curator for contemporary art.

Member of the artistic directorate at the Theater am Turm in Frankfurt am Main until 1985, the first theatre for productions by independent groups in Germany; BesTANZaufnahme - First Festival for Independent Dance (with Reinhild Hoffmann, Bohner, Linke, Newport, Laokoon etc.). Awards: Germany - Land of Ideas; PWC Prize; Kinder zum Olymp Prize, Chevalier de l`ordre des arts et des lettres; Irène Lejeune Dance Prize; DANCE PRIZE of the City of Munich 2016.

Bettina Wagner-Bergelt is married and has two children.