Johannes Bergmann - Project Manager DIS-TANZ-START

Johannes Bergmann was a student at the Ballet School and a member of the Youth Dance Theater of the Theater Bielefeld. After graduating from high school and doing his community service, he was part of the ensemble of TheaterTotal in Bochum and then studied theater at the Ruhr University in Bochum and musicology at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen and the Free University in Berlin. As an assistant director and stage manager with a focus on musical theater, he was employed at the theaters in Dortmund, Münster and Magdeburg. For the 2015/16 season, he chenged to the Staatstheater Kassel to work there as an assistant to dance theater dramaturg, while also studying management of culture and non-profit organizations at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern. After completing his master's degree in 2017, he began working as a dance dramaturg at the Stadttheater Gießen/Tanzcompagnie Gießen. He has been working for the German Dance Association since August 2021, mainly as a coordinator for the funding program DIS-TANZ-START.

Olaf Brando - Accounting

A Hamburger in Berlin. As senior bookkeeper he is at home in the world of finance and accounting as well as computer science. Controller, IT and commercial manager, business consultant are his career stages. At the office, Olaf Brando takes care of the bookkeeping and supports processes with programme developments.

Marianne Cesto-Vincent - Intern

Marianne has been passionate about dance since she was a child, and since then it has been an important part of her life. After completing a master's degree in business administration, she gained her first professional experience in the areas of event management and office organization, as well as sales and customer service. Since February, she has been working as an intern at the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland.

Julia Decker - Coordinator for the project tanz digital

Cultural manager with heart and soul. Julia Decker studied cultural management and worked part-time for various film festival and music festival productions. After her studies, she completed a traineeship as a television editor and specialized as a speaker and moderator. Stays abroad took her to Latvia and Vienna. Since 2018, she has been living back in Berlin and has worked as an office manager at the Kleines Theater am Südwestkorso, among other places. She has been supporting the umbrella organization Tanz Deutschland since March 2021 as project coordinator for the funding program tanz digital.

Nicole Fiedler - Project Manager for DIS-TANZEN, Tanzland and overarching funding issues

Nicole Fieder has worked at Dachverband Tanz since 2016 and is currently project manager for DIS-TANZEN, especially for the program part DIS-TANZ-IMPULS, for Tanzland and responsable for overarching funding issues. She also oversees the Network of German Dance Archives and has established the Kreativ-Transfer funding program with Jana Grünewald from 2019 to 2020. On the side, she serves as the team's representative and is available to answer any confidential questions, help with technology issues, and, when there is time, enjoys doing graphic work for the DTD. With a Bachelor's degree in Italian and Musicology (Humboldt University Berlin) and an MA in Dance Science, she also works alongside her work for Dachverband Tanz as a dance teacher for social dance, passing on the joy of dancing.

Friederike Geisler - Project Manager DIS-TANZEN (Parental leave replacement)

Friederike Geisler has been working for Dachverband Tanz Deutschland in the DIS- TANZEN project since June 2021. Born in Berlin, she completed her bachelor's degree in cultural studies at the University of Koblenz-Landau. She also completed her master's degree in dance studies at Freie Universität Berlin. From 2017 to 2021, she supported the Chair of Dance Studies at Freie Universität Berlin under Prof. Dr. Gabriele Brandstetter, where she took on various tasks related to current research topics as well as supervising students. From 2017 to 2018, she was also responsible for coordinating the Association of Friends and Supporters of the Staatsballett Berlin. In addition to her studies, she completed various artistic internships at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the show production company battleROYAL GmbH, in the music theater pedagogy of the Junge Staatsoper Berlin and the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Friederike was a member of the ballet group of the young ensemble at the Friedrichstadtpalast in Berlin for 11 years, where she received her stage training.

Indra Genning - Project Collaborator tanz digital

Indra Genning studies theater, history and philosophy at the Freie Universität Berlin. After graduating from high school in 2019, she completed a voluntary cultural year in the public relations department of the Staatsballett Berlin and was subsequently taken on as assistant to the artistic director until January 2021. For the umbrella organization Tanz Deutschland, Indra is responsible for tanz digital as a project staff member and supports the public relations department in the area of social media.

Jana Grünewald - Project Coordinator for KREATIV-TRANSFER

Jana Grünewald has been working at the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland since 2013, where she oversees the Creative Transfer funding program and the InfoPlus Producers initiative. Since 2015 she has been part of the editorial team of touring artists, an information and consulting service for internationally mobile artists and cultural workers (www.touring-artists.de). She worked for Club Sisyphos in Berlin, in the areas of artist support and accounting (2013-2016). Jana holds a Bachelor of Dance (Codarts) and a BA in Social Sciences (Humboldt University in Berlin).

Marlene Hänig - Project Collaborator for DIS-TANZEN and DIS-TANZ START

Marlene Hänig completed her B.A. in theater and film studies with a focus on dance studies at the Free University of Berlin and her M.A. in transcultural theater studies at the University of Leipzig. During and after her studies she was an intern and assistant director at the Deutsches Theater Berlin, the Schauspiel Stuttgart, the Schauspiel Chemnitz and in the independent scene in Berlin. She worked as a guest- and artist supervisor at the Theater der Welt Festival in Hamburg and at Tanz im August (2017). She performed the Greek and English versions of the project “Home Visit Europe” by Rimini Protokoll at the international Buffer Fringe Performing Arts Festival in Cyprus (2018/19).  Recently she was part of the organization team of  the Theatertreffen Berlin (2021) and responsible for the project- and artist supervision.

Sophia Herzog - Projects Collaborator for Kreativ-Transfer

Sophia Herzog is a performer, dance educator and production manager. Born in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1993, she started her dance career in 2012 with dance pedagogy studies at ArtEZ University of the Arts (Netherlands). She deepened her studies with further studies in stage dance at the Fontys University of the Arts (NL) and has since worked as a dance teacher in various educational institutions. Since 2017 Sophia is a founding member of the circus and dance group KNOT Kollektiv, where she explores the different ways of cultural mediation. Since September 2020, she has been working at the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland and actively supports the Kreativ-Transfer project.

Sarah Holzmann - Project Collaborator

Sarah Holzmann studies cultural studies and aesthetic practice - cultural policy in international comparison with a focus on theater and music in Hildesheim. In the past she has been involved in the organization of various festivals and events in the field of dance, contemporary circus, music and theater in Germany and abroad. She is also part of the performance collective Mate Ebene. She is particularly interested in the recontextualization of contemporary circus in combination with music and dance, and how politically relevant issues can be addressed through artistry.

Ilaria Iannaccone- studentische Mitarbeiterin bei DIS-TANZ START

Ilaria Iannaccone absolvierte ihre Tanzausbildung in zeitgenössischen Tanz bei Leggere Strutture Art Factory in Bologna und ein Studium der Theaterwissenschaft in Rom. Seit ihrem Abschuss arbeitet sie als freischaffende Tänzerin und Tanzlehrerin. Neben ihrer künstlerischen und pädagogischen Tätigkeit studiert sie in Master Tanzwissenschaft an der Freie Universität in Berlin. Seit 2022 unterstützt sie als Werkstudentin das Projekt DIS-TANZ START.

Alexa Junge - Public Relations

Alexa Junge studied Ethnology and Religion at Freie Universität Berlin and at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, with the focus on Hinduism, Medical Anthropology and Dance. Since 2007, she has worked in the area of culture management, among others as assistant to the artistic and organizational direction of Zukunft@BPhil, the education department of the Berlin Philharmonic, and at Tanzplan Potsdam: artists in residence teaching and research program at fabrik Potsdam. Since 2007, she has worked freelance in the area of dance at the International Theaterinstitut ITI Germany. Since 2013, she has been responsible for public relations at Dachverband Tanz Deutschland and for office management at the Gesellschaft für Tanzforschung.

Kerstin Karge - Projects Collaborator for Kreativ-Transfer

Kerstin Karge contributes experience from architecture (weißensee kunsthochschule berlin), gallery operations and cultural management, and spent in event organization at the bildungswerk des bbk berlin for 11 years. Since 2009, she has been particularly active in the independent scene in the field of art in context as a coordinator for project spaces, co-founded the Netzwerk freier Berliner Projekt­räume und -initiativen in 2010, coordinated it for some years. In this connection, she has been actively involved in Berlin's cultural policy. In the last few years, she has also taken on public relations, press management and exhibition coordination for several Berlin art festivals and individual artistic projects. Since March 2023 she has been working for the neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst and since May with great pleasure in the Dachver­band Tanz Deutschland (German Dance Association) in the team Kreativ-Transfer - responsible for the field of visual arts.

Bea Kießlinger (*1964 - † 2022)

Bea Kießlinger studied architecture and taught at the TU Stuttgart on the subject of movement and space. In her work, she has focused on contemporary dance for many years, as managing director of cultural institutions, networker, artistic project manager, curator, dramaturge, juror and advocate. She directed Tanz- und Theaterwerkstatt e.V. Ludwigsburg from 1998 to 2007, was a member of the management team of Tanzplattform Deutschland in Stuttgart in 2006, and worked at Theaterhaus Stuttgart as artistic director. In 2009, she founded the state-wide network "TanzSzene BW," on whose board she was active till 2022. For the German Dance Association, Bea Kießlinger was involved in the board from 2010 to 2017, was a member of the initiative group Stadt-Land-Bund, and has been leading the cultural policy dialogue in the funding program TANZPAKT Stadt Land Bund from 2017 till2022. For the German Dance Association, she was also tasked with maintaining regular cultural-political exchange with other associations such as the German Cultural Council, the Alliance of the Liberal Arts, and the Action Alliance for the Performing Arts, and with further developing dance topics in terms of content.

Veronika Knaus - Project Collaborator

Veronika Knaus studied theater and cultural studies in Hildesheim and Berlin. During her studies she was part of the management team of the live art festival State of the Art and co-curated the congress "(How) do we want to work in the future?" of the European performance festival transeuropa. After various assistances, among others for the US-American directing duo 600 HIGHWAYMEN, she worked as a freelance production manager for CHICKS*freies performancekollektiv. Most recently, she worked in the management of Fonds Darstellende Künste. Since August 2021 she supports Dachverband Tanz Deutschland as a project staff member in the programs Dis-Tanzen and Tanzpakt Stadt-Land-Bund.

Clara Manderscheid – Project Manager German Dance Award, Porject Coordinator for the project DIS-TANZEN

Clara Manderscheid completed her dance studies at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, where she worked with a number of choreographers including Szu-Wei Wu, Mark Sieczkarek and Rainer Behr, among others. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in 2017, she took up a master's degree in dance studies at the Freie Universität Berlin. At the Institute of Theater Studies, she was a student assistant in the DFG special research project "Awareness. Techniques of Realization and Subjective Reappropriation of Time in Contemporary Dance" led by Prof. Dr. Gabriele Brandstetter. Since 2019 she works for the German Dance Association.

Christina Menne - Office Management

Christina Menne completed her training as a dancer and dance teacher at Rotterdamse Dansacademie, the school for dance and theater in the Netherlands, and at the dance school in Leipzig. Since then she has worked as dancer, director, choreographer and dance teacher in various theatres and institutions both at home and abroad, among others at Musiktheater im Revier in Gelsenkirchen, Städtische Bühnen Münster, Stadttheater Konstanz, Luxor Theater Rotterdam and Musical Theater Füssen. Before the birth of her second daughter she was the director of the dance department at Heinrich-Schütz-Konservatorium in Dresden, advisor for Verband Deutscher Musikschulen Landesverband Sachsen e.V. in the area of dance, as well as mentor for the subject of dance education in modern dance, childrens' dance and jazz dance at Palucca-Schule Dresden - Hochschule für Tanz. In collaboration with mime centrum in Berlin, she started the childrens' dance project “Kindertanzprojekt Bethanien” at Kunstquartier Bethanien. Since 2012, she has been office manager of Dachverband Tanz Deutschland.

Merel Roozen - Project Collaborator DIS-TANZEN, Administration

Merel Roozen studied contemporary dance and choreography at the ArtEZ university of the Arts in Arnhem. She has worked as a dancer in the free scene in the Netherlands, Austria, England and Germany. She also has taught dance- and movement classes at various places and contexts. This was followed by a master's degree in choreography and performance at the Institute for Applied Theater Studies at the Justus Liebig University in Gießen and at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt am Main. She has received structural and financial support for her choreographic work and is active in initiating projects and productions. Since August 2021 she supports the team of the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland in the area of administrative.

Susanne Schade - Administration

Susanne Schade has been working for Dachverband Tanz Deutschland since the beginning of 2019, first as an intern, then as a project employee. She takes on changing tasks and supports the area of administration. In October 2019, she also began her studies in cultural studies and public law at the University of Potsdam. Prior to that, she was able to gain diverse experience in the field of intercultural and sociocultural education, especially during a longer stay in England as well as a three-month European Voluntary Service in France.

Burkhart Siedhoff - Project Collaborator

Burkhart Siedhoff worked as an actor and director in Germany and abroad for about 25 years. At the tri-bühne theater in Stuttgart, he was intensively involved in cooperation with theaters and artists from Eastern Europe in the 1980s and 1990s. From this network he conceived the Stuttgart European Theater Meeting SETT, which has been organized biennially ever since. Stations in his career included the Katona Jòzsef Theater Budapest, Stadttheater Münster, Ernst Deutsch Theater Hamburg and Landestheater Linz. After completing a master's degree in cultural management in Bremen, he worked in the management of independent theater, dance and performance ensembles and for many years directed a program of cultural education for children and young people in Hamburg. For the Dachverband Tanz he works as production manager for the digital realization of the symposium Positionen:Tanz and since 2021 he is a collaborator in the project DIS-TANZEN.

Rosi Steinbrück - Press and Public Relations

Rosi Steinbrück has been working at the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland in the field of press and public relations since January 2023. Previously, she was a press and public relations officer at Schauspiel Leipzig for 13 years. She completed her studies in cultural studies, theater studies, and communication and media studies at the University of Leipzig with a master's thesis on the institutionalization, professionalization, and self-perception of the Oriental dance scene in Germany. During her studies she worked at the Tanzarchiv Leipzig, at the Zeitgeschichtliches Forum Leipzig and was also active as a board member of the Studiobühne.

Nicola von Stillfried - Project Coordinator TANZPAKT Project Collaborator DIS-TANZEN (qualification formats), Production Office

After studying languages and literature in Berlin with residencies in Barcelona and Caracas, Nicola von Stillfried took over production at the Theater am Halleschen Ufer (HAU 2), where she began building an international artist management team. At the Milan-based production company Change Performing Arts, she produced and distributed interdisciplinary co-productions for theaters and festivals worldwide. She worked as an assistant for GLITZ. Contemporary Art Project and as PR and media manager for Swiss clients in Germany. From December 2020, Nicola von Stillfried will be devoting herself to dance again in the field of production for Dachverband Tanz Deutschland..

Ellen Vetter - Project Collaborator for the project DIS-TANZEN

She began her artistic career as a dancer at the age of seven, being a scholarship student at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York, Royal Academy of London, among others. At the age of 16 she began her career as a prima ballerina. She is a dancer of classical, contemporary and dance-theatre dance. Choreographer, dance school director, multiplier, director of the artists' union, curator, director of the association of choreographers, are some of her professional experiences in her more than 40 years of international professional experience. In addition, she has a degree in law recognised as a Master of Laws.

Tabea Wittulsky - Projektmitarbeiterin im Programm DIS-TANZ-START

Sie erhielt ihren Bachelor of Art- Bühnentanz, in 2015 von der Palucca Hochschule für Tanz in Dresden. Seit dem, ist sie freischaffend als Tänzerin, für das Tanztheater Erfurt, die Oriantheatre Dance Company, Elio Gervasi und anderen tätig. Seit 2022 unterstützt sie das Projekt DIS-TANZ-START.