Our Team at Dachverband Tanz Deutschland

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.

 


Valentina Boroni

 


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.


Jette Büchsenschütz - Project collaborator for the project DIS-TANZEN

Jette Büchsenschütz has a background in sinology as well as dance studies. After extensive time in China, studying at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, and as an intern at the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation in Shanghai, she completed a bachelor's degree in Chinese Studies at the Free University of Berlin. Following this, she spent time as a trainee and assistant director at Berlin's municipal theaters and finally completed a master's degree in dance studies, also at the FU. Since then she has been working in the independent dance scene as a journalist and dramaturge. Since January 2021 she supports the funding program DIS-TANZ-IMPULS at Dachverband Tanz.

 


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.


Clara Dolinschek


Martin Eisenbeiß - Layout and Coding

Martin Eisenbeiß studied business administration at Pforzheim University and has worked for the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland since 2012. He is responsible for the development and technical support of all TYPO3-based websites of the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland, gives trainings for editors and is the contact person for technical questions and dealing with TYPO3.


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.


Michael Freundt - Managing Director

Michael Freundt studied theatre science, philosophy and dance science at the theatre academy "Hans Otto" and the university of Leipzig. He worked as a freelance journalist and critic, among others for zitty, Wochenpost, Theater der Zeit and Berliner Zeitung. He belonged to the directors' team of numerous independent theatre projects and worked for euro-scene Leipzig from 1997 till 2002. After his collaboration on productions in the genres of theatre, dance and ancient music Michael Freundt became deputy managing director of Internationales Theater Institut (ITI) - Zentrum Deutschland at the beginning of 2003. Since 2004, Michael Freundt has been involved in the meetings of Ständige Konferenz Tanz, he coordinated its development into a registered association, and in March 2006 was named managing director of SK Tanz, now called Dachverband Tanz Deutschland.


Robert Gather

 


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).


Emma Heidelbach - Production Office manager, Project Collaborator for DIS-TANZEN (on parental leave)

Emma Heidelbach studied business administration with a focus on marketing and business management at the Technology Art Sciences TH in Cologne. With a further extra-occupational study at the German Hotel Academy, she graduated in 2017 with a degree in hospitality management with a focus on event management and has always been active in the field of (event) production and event management at various festivals, theater and dance productions as well as in the cultural and live communication sector. Various stays abroad have taken her to Uganda, South America and Asia, among others. Since 2019, Emma has been working as a freelance artist in the field of deco construction, stage design, event design and layout. Since October 2020, she has been devoting herself in particular to event organization and communication as an employee in the production office of the Dachverband Tanz.


Caroline Helm

Caroline Helm studiert Theaterwissenschaft transkulturell. Geschichte, Theorie & Praxis an der Universität Leipzig. Sie absolvierte eine Ausbildung im Bereich Bühnentanz an der Staatlichen Musikschule B. Stavenhagen in Greiz. Neben ihrem Studium wirkt sie projektbezogen im Tanzarchiv Leipzig e.V. mit und ist seit 2023 als wissenschaftliche Hilfskraft im Projekt „Kulturerbe Tanz in der DDR“ des Instituts für Theaterwissenschaft der Universität Leipzig und der Sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig beschäftigt.

Seit 2020 unterstützt Caroline Helm den Dachverband Tanz Deutschland als Projektmitarbeiterin in der Plattform-Entwicklung und Redaktion von tanz:digital.


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- student assistant at DIS-TANZ START

Ilaria Iannaccone completed her dance training in contemporary dance at Leggere Strutture Art Factory in Bologna and a degree in theater studies in Rome. Since graduating, she has worked as a freelance dancer and dance teacher. In addition to her artistic and teaching activities, she is studying for a Master's degree in Dance Studies at the Free University of Berlin. She has been supporting the DIS-TANZ START project as a working student since 2022.

 


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 (on parental leave)

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.


Raquel Moreira


Anne Phillips-Krug

 


Lucia Noemie Reussner- student assistant in the project tanz digital

Lucia studied contemporary stage dance in Munich and Berlin. In 2022 she deepened her dance practice at the Ecole des Sables (Senegal), where she studied the diverse traditional dances from the South African region and was also taught the "Acogny technique". In addition to her work as a freelance dancer and dance teacher, Lucia is studying Theater Studies, Spanish Philology and Latin American Studies in her Bachelor's degree at the Free University of Berlin. Since January 2022 she supports the German Dance Association as a working student in the area of the project tanz digital and is part of the editorial team for the platform development.


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.


Livia Rutishauser - editorial staff tanz digital

Livia Rutishauser completed her training as a contemporary stage dancer (diploma) at balance1 in Berlin and studied cultural studies, cultural history and comparative social sciences (BA) as well as cultural management and cultural tourism (MA) at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) and Paris 1, Sorbonne-Panthéon. Complementing stage practice and academic training, Livia Rutishauser has worked in theater, dance, film and festival productions as well as in guest management at numerous festivals. She is also co-founder of IAF Basel, an annual cross-disciplinary contemporary arts festival dedicated to the African continent and its diaspora.
For The Federal Association for Dance in Germany, she coordinates the platform development and editorial work of tanz:digital.

 

 


Giovanni Sabelli Fioretti


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.


Celina Schröter - Project Collaborator for the project Kreativ Transfer

Celina Schröter studied dance and choreography at the Fontys Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in the Netherlands. She worked with choreographers Jelena Kostic and Pia Meuthen (Panama Pictures), among others, and was involved in various projects in cooperation with the theater De Nieuwe Vorst. Since 2023 she has been working for the German Dance Association in the project Kreativ Transfer and at the same time is completing her master's degree in dance studies at the Freie Universität Berlin.


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.

Kristina Skaro



Nicola von Stillfried - Project management cultural-political dialog TANZPAKT / qualification formats / production office

After studying languages and literature in Berlin and spending time in Barcelona and Caracas, Nicola von Stillfried took over production at the Theater am Halleschen Ufer (HAU 2), where she started to build up 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 a PR and media manager. Since December 2020, Nicola von Stillfried has been working in the production office and cultural-political dialog of TANZPAKT Stadt-Land-Bund to network, qualify and strengthen the dance scene.


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.


Jonas Wonneberger - IT-Support

Jonas Wonneberger studiert seit Oktober 2021 an der Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin Informatik mit einem Schwerpunkt auf Kultur und Gesundheit. Seit Mai 2023 unterstützt er den Dachverband Tanz Deutschland in IT-technischen Belangen und gewährleistet einen reibungslosen Ablauf der technischen Arbeitsprozesse für alle Mitarbeiter:innen.