Performance Practise

Winston Arnon
Tarek Assam
Marine Besnard

Marine Besnard is originally from Geneva. She trained at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Leeds (UK). She has worked with British choreographers such as Akram Khan, Company Chameleon, James Cousin, Lea Anderson and Jessica Kennedy in Dublin. In 2014, she completed a Masters in Arts Management in London and founded “Marine Besnard Choreography”.
In 2017 she worked for “ZUP”, the successful production of “La Compagnie Urbaine in Geneva”, as assistant to the Artistic Director. In 2018 she has danced for Jozsef Trefeli and Mike Winter for their latest creation at l’ADC, Geneva. As choreographer she has created and toured four productions, as well as various short films. She has also been commissioned to create pieces for Muda Kunstzentrum in Gent and ZHdK’s Bachelor for Contemporary Dance in Zurich.
Joëlle Bouvier
Marco Cantalupo
Isabelle Chaffaud & Jérôme Meyer
James Cousins

James has been recognized by Time Out magazine as one of the future faces of dance, called “a rising star” by The Independent and described by Matthew Bourne as “one of the UK’s most promising choreographic talents”.
In 2012, he was the winner of the inaugural New Adventures Choreographer Award, selected by Matthew Bourne for his “refreshing desire to entertain”. The award culminated in a sold out performance at Sadler’s Wells, London, where his work was critically acclaimed as “outstanding”, “visually breath-taking” and “spellbindingly beautiful”.
As a freelance choreographer James has been commissioned to create work for companies around the world including National Ballet of Chile, Oper Graz, Royal Ballet of Flanders and Scottish Ballet.
As a dancer James has performed in Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake on an international tour including a four-week run at the New York City Centre, and also appeared in the 3D film version of the show. He has also performed internationally including tours with Marc Brew Company, Yorke Dance Project and also appeared in Joe Wright's 2012 film Anna Karenina staring Keira Knightley choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaou.
James is a Work Place artist at The Place and in summer 2015 he was selected to be a part of Sadler’s Wells’ four year Summer University programme.
Adrijana Danchevska
Craig Davidson
Félix Duméril

Félix Duméril studied at the Swiss Professional Ballet School (SBBS) in Switzerland, the John Cranko School in Germany and the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, Netherlands. He has danced in various ensembles and in numerous performances staged by famous choreographers such as Martin Schläpfer, Jirì Kylìan, Wiliam Forsythe and Hans van Manen. He has had engagements with the De Rotterdamse Dansgroep, the Stuttgart Ensemble T®ansform, the Pretty Ugly Dance Company, the Pool Company in Zurich and many another dance groups. Duméril joined the Stadttheater Bern in 1994 (director: Martin Schläpfer), and in 1999 he was named Ballet Director and Resident Choreographer of that venue. During his tenure he was able to get guest choreographers to create new works for the Bern Ballet, or else stage revivals. These choreographers included Jirì Kylìan, Orjan Anderson, Stijn Celis, Jo Stromgren, Amanda Miller, Foofwa d’immobilité, Phillippe Saire, Jacopo Godani, Jennifer Hanna, Nils Christe, Antonio Gomes, Gisela Rocha, Gisela Rocha, Robert North, Denise Namura & Michael Bugdahn and Pierre Wyss. Since August 2004, Duméril has also worked as a freelance guest choreographer, dancer, actor and educator both in Switzerland and abroad. In 2005, he choreographed for a project on the occasion of the opening of the new Paul Klee Centre in Bern, and in 2006, he created two performances for the Jacobson Company at the Mussorgsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. He has also choreographed for the dance theatre ensemble at the Tiroler Landestheater in Austria. Between 2006 and 2008, Duméril danced in various productions staged by the InFlux company (choreographer: Lucia Baumgartner), including productions for the STEPS #10 Festival and for a tour in South Africa.
His additional work and achievements include:
Diverse productions with the Heshiki dance company in Zurich.
2007: Choreography for ArtEZ University of the Arts in the Netherlands.
2008: Creation of “Ein Haydnspass” for Tanztheater Dritter Frühling. 2008: Completion of an MA in Cultural Management at the University of Basel.
2008–2010: Creation of two performances for the Cathy Sharp Dance Ensemble in Basel.
Since 2009: Creation of four choreographies for the CINEVOX Junior Company.
2011: Collaboration with the former soloist Catherine Habasque on the piece “Entre Nous”.
2011: Invitation to create a performance for the ProArt company in the Czech Republic.
2014: Commissioned to create “Efimeros” for BALLET NACIONAL DE CHILE.
2006: Establishment of T42 DANCE PROJECTS with dancer and choreographer Misato Inoue. The company has a repertoire of 17 choreographies that have been performed with great success in Switzerland and around the world (D, F, P, I, GB, NL, CZ, SR, FI, HU, PL, CY, RUS, CAN, USA, MEX, JAP, THA, ZA, MOC, CU, DOM).
It has won several awards in Serbia, Germany, Finland and Switzerland.
Felix Duméril himself has also acted in various Swiss features and short films.
Philipp Egli

Swiss choreographer Philipp Egli has worked for over 25 years in the field of contemporary dance and cultural education. He has initiated, elaborated and choreographed diverse productions, has created dance in various spaces and done nearly 60 choreographies until today. He is engaged in the freelance as well as in the established scene and has worked as a dancer/performer, choreographer, company leader, ballet director and as an instructor.
At present Philipp Egli is engaged mainly as the artistic director and choreographer for “egli_items” and “MOIRA tanztheater”, as the director and teacher at “TANZraum” in Affoltern am Albis, and as an instructor at “Tanzwerk 101” and the Heilpädagogische Hochschule in Zurich.
Philipp first started working as a dancer with Cie. Philippe Saire and ROSAS (Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker) in Brussels continuing with his own work with the founding of his own company “MOLTeNi” in Zurich in 1995. He thereafter led the dance company of Theater St. Gallen and the theater’s dance school from 2000–2009. His series of site-specific works became famous and his dance in the train engine depot (“Kultur Zentrum Lokremise”) helped establish it as the new cultural centre of St. Gallen.
In 2009 Philipp co-led the Swiss-wide first course of education for contemporary dance at Zurich University of the Arts.
2012 to 2016 he co-led the legendary Swiss visual and masked theater group “Mummenschanz”.
In the same period, he founded his new label “egli_items”, aiming to promote further experimental, contemporary dance, having the objective to design and realize unusual, original choreography with the main focus on movement.
Itzik Galili

After having been member of the “Bat Sheva Dance Company” and “Bat Dor Dance Company” in his country, he moved to the Netherlands in 1991, where he founded his own company. The Dutch Ministry of Culture nominated him in 1997 as Artistic Director of a new company with public funding, “NND/Galili Dance” based in Groningen. In 2009, he moved to Amsterdam, invited by the newly appointed city Company of Amsterdam for contemporary dance: “Dansgroep Amsterdam” (DGA) as co-artistic director together with Kristina de Chatel.
He has built an oeuvre of more than 60 works and has created for and worked with international companies such as: Bale da Cidade de São Paulo, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, Batsheva Dance Company, Bayerisches Staatsoper Munich, Cisne Negro, Diversions Dance Company, Dutch National Ballet, Gulbenkian Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Nederlands Dans Theater II, Norrdans, Royal Finnish Ballet, Rambert Dance Company, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Scapino Ballet and the Stuttgart Ballet.
Romain Guion

Romain Guion was born in 1979 in France. He trained at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris and then worked with various dance companies, including Charleroi-Danses, National Dance Company Wales, Dance Theatre of Ireland, John Scott’s Irish Modern Dance Theatre, Gelabert-Azzopardi Companya de Dansa, Eun Me Ahn Dance Company, PVC Heidelberg/Freiburg, the Ballet at Staatstheater Mainz, Constanza Macras – Dorky Park and Les Ballets C de la B. During the 2013–2014 repertory season, Guion assisted Alain Platel with the creation of the latter’s “Coup Fatal” project and also collaborated with Koen Augustijnen on his “Sehnsucht, limited edition” Bach evening at the Oldenburgisches Staatstheater. Guion has been working as a teacher and training director since 2000, and since 2010 he has been the Art Director of the Berlin based “Lucky Trimmer” dance and performance festival.
Francesca Harper

Francesca Harper is a dancer, actor, singer, choreographer and Artistic Director of the Francesca Harper Project. She has graced numerous stages appearing with Dance Theater of Harlem, the Frankfurt Ballet and many other dance companies. She approaches ballet technique with a keen sensibility to the magic of performance, and her workshops promote improvisation, movement development, diligence and self-motivation.
After performing with the Dance Theater of Harlem, she danced as a soloist in William Forsythe’s Frankfurt Ballet from 1994–1999. She returned to the USA in 2000, and has since performed in various Broadway productions, including “Fosse”, “The Producers”, “The Frogs” and “The Color Purple”. She played the role of Helene opposite Molly Ringwald in a national tour of “Sweet Charity” in the USA, as well as the role of Judith in a revival of “Sophisticated Ladies”.
Harper’s choreographic career began while she was still in Germany, where she choreographed her first full-evening work for the Holland Dance Festival. She then choreographed works for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, Tanz Graz and her own company – The Francesca Harper Project – whose work reflects Harper's own artistic vision. Here, classical dance is analysed in detail and fused with text, music, film and video.
Harper premiered her well known one-woman show, “The Fragile Stone Theory”, at the 2002 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Her latest commissioned work, “Documotion: ONE – Rave”, was performed at the Apollo Theater in New York as part of the 50th anniversary celebration for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center (Artistic Director: Judith Jamison). The Francesca Harper Project performs at Harlem Stage, in the Bloomberg Culture Series, at Central Park Summerstage and at the Venice Biennale.
Francesca Harper is a Fellow at New York University. She also teaches in the Fordham BFA Program, at The Ailey School and at the Susan Batson Studio.
In addition, Harper served as a ballet consultant for the feature film “Black Swan”, which was directed by Darren Aronofsky and starred Natalie Portman, who won an Oscar for her performance.
Karin Hermes
Nunzio Impellizzeri

Nunzio Impellizzeri was born in Sicily. After completing his art studies, he discovered dancing, which he was immediately drawn to.
He began to deepen his knowledge and perfect his skills in classical and contemporary dance, and in 2000 he began his dancing career as a soloist with the Compagnia Zappalà Danza in Sicily, under the direction of Roberto Zappalà. He then went on to work with well known choreographers such as Enrico C. Musmeci, Linda Magnifico, MDA Production and Aurelio Gatti. He has been involved in important international collaborations – for example in Spain with the Compañia Metros Dansa (directed by Ramon Oller), in Austria and Switzerland as a soloist with the choreographers Jacqueline Beck and Kinsun Chan, and in Germany for the Ballett-Theater Augsburg and for the Stadttheater Kempten Allgäu (directed by Jochen Heckmann).
Throughout his dancing career, he has developed a passion for choreography as well, and his work here received very early international acclaim.
In Italy, he works as a choreographer for the Gruppo Iarba theatre company, Genius Loci and Studio Ferrera. In Switzerland, he is a choreographer for the Gisela Rocha Dance Company, the ZHdK BA programme in Contemporary Dance, the Faa-Zone Dance Company, the Cinevox Junior Dance Company, the SZZ_Junior Company and the ZTTS course of study in Zurich. In Germany, he cooperates with Giorgio Madia and the Staatstheater Cottbus.
In 2009, Impellizzeri was one of the four choreographers chosen for the Platform 12 Min. Max. at Tanzhaus Zürich. In the following year, he was one of six choreographers selected for “SiWiC 2010” (The 14th Swiss International Coaching Project for Choreographers), which was directed by Reinhild Hoffmann. He participated in ChoreoLab 2013 in Zurich and Warsaw, which was directed by Tanzhaus Zürich and Centrum W RU-CHU Warsaw, and in 2012 and in 2013 he won the Ballet-ex Rome choreographic competition.
In 2014, Impellizzeri directed the short dance film “Quieta ... Inquietudine”, which in 2016 was awarded the audience price for the 60secondsdance competition at the Loikka Dance Film Festival in Helsinki.
Olga Labovkina
Denise Lampart
Noemi Lapzeson
Annabelle Lopez

The Colombian-Belgian Annabelle Lopez Ochoa completed her dance education at the Royal Ballet School of Antwerp, Belgium. After a 12-year long career in various European dance companies Annabelle decides in 2003 to focus solely on choreography.
In that same year she was hailed “rising star of the Dutch dance scene” (NRC newspaper) and only seven years later the Temecula Performing Arts Examiner wrote: ”Ochoa is truly a masterful choreographer with an edge for what dance can and should be in this constantly changing industry”.
In April 2012, she creates her first full-length ballet “A Streetcar named desire” in collaboration with theater director Nancy Meckler for the Scottish Ballet. “Streetcar” was acclaimed by both press and public, and received several awards; South Bank Award, National Dance Award for Best classical choreography, and a nomination for the Olivier Award. Since then she has been invited to create more narrative work such as “Dangerous Liaisons” for Grand Rapids Ballet, “Broken wings; the life and work of Frida Kahlo” for English National Ballet, “Red Riding Hood” for Ballet Black, UK and “Vendetta, storie di mafia” for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens.
Ms Lopez Ochoa is a versatile choreographer who works regularly within the dance field but also creates for theatre, opera, musical theatre and in 2006, for the celebrated Dutch fashion designers Viktor & Rolf’s project in the Van Gogh Museum.
She belongs to the Theater-Dance collective “Fantasten” with whom she created successfully five full-length physical theater plays, which have been performed in numerous theaters and festivals throughout the Netherlands. Annabelle has been invited to the faculty of Jacob’s Pillow Summer School 2016 as a guest contemporary choreographer and classical choreographer in 2018.
Dor Mamalia & Dariusz Novak

Since 2018 Dor and Dariusz are working in close artistic collaboration. Together they choreographed the duet “into me, see” which premiered in May 2018 at the Kibbutzurich Festival. The same work has already been performed in Korzo Theatre in The Hague, Amsterdam, Paris, Moscow, Regensburg, St.Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Tel Aviv, and Warsaw. In 2019 they were commissioned by Context Diana Vishneva to create their piece “Wood Rabbit” which premiered and performed in Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London and Susanne Dellal Centre in Tel Aviv. Mamalia and Nowak have also created two works for Zurich University of the Arts in 2 consecutive years, at Anton Bruckner Academy in Austria and Maslool Professional Dance Program in Tel Aviv.
In 2019 they are commissioned to create a piece for Provincial Contemporary Dance Company in Russia, and Vertigo International Dance Program in Jerusalem. They are also commissioned by Curtain Up Festival, directed by Mate Moray and Itzik Galili in Tel Aviv, to create a new work that will premier in November 2019 and will tour in Israel.
Due to their unique movement language and contemporary dance technique, Mamalia and Nowak are also enrolled in teaching workshops and guest classes around the world.

Dor Mamalia is a renowned and accomplished dancer who was awarded the Israeli Ministry of Culture prize for “Best Cast Performance” in 2013 and 2014. He also received the “Audience Award” at the prestigious Copenhagen Choreography Dance Competition in 2014; and in 2006, he received the ZOA scholarship for young artists.
Dor started his dance training at The Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company Workshop Institute in Ga'aton, Israel. There, he had the chance to work with many choreographers including – but not limited to – Nils Kristy, Sussane Linke, and Avi Keizer, Rinus Sprong & Thom Stuart. In July 2004, he joined the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company 2 under the direction of Rami Be’er. Upon leaving The Kibbutz in 2007, Dor joined Fresco Dance Company directed by Yoram Karmi. In August 2010, he worked with “Theproject”, dancing pieces by William Forsythe, Jacopo Godani, Emanuel Gat, Marco Goecke, Yoram Karmi, and Idan Sharabi. At the end of 2011, he participated in a co-production between Suzanne Dellal Centre and choreographer Barak Marshall and performed in Israel and South Korea. Later in 2011 and early 2012, Dor participated in the project “Hacking Wagner” by Saar Magal in collaboration with Munich Opera House in Germany. When he returned to Israel, Dor was invited to join Vertigo Dance Company with choreographer Noa Wertheim. In September 2013, he performed a solo piece, “Dive”, choreographed by Keren Rosenberg. At the end of 2013, Dor joined Idan Sharabi & Dancers. With Sharabi, he performed across the world, taught workshops based on Sharabi’s material and staged Sharabi’s creations in many reputable dance companies such as the Netherlands Dance Theatre 2.
In August 2016, Dor joined the Tanz Luzerner Theatre ensemble under the direction of Kathleen McNurney. In November 2016, he premiered his solo creation “I Choose You” at the Diana Vishneva Gala Concert in the Stanislavsky Theatre in Moscow as well as at Holland Dance Festival opening ceremony gala in January 2018.
Dariusz Seweryn Nowak is an accomplished freelance dancer and young choreographer who graduated from the Dance Theatre Department in Poland. In 2015, Dariusz was a finalist of the SzólóDuó Fesztivál in Budapest. There, he presented a collaborative dance duet “Three Days of Snow”. The same work received two main prizes at the International Choreography Competition “3...2...1...Dance!” 2015 and the “Sense of Move”, as well as later has performed at many international festivals across Europe. Dariusz is also a winner of the Artists in Residence Project, organized by the Stalker Teatro-officine CAOS in Turin. In 2017, the same year Dariusz graduated with a Master of Arts degree in theatre arts, the Polish Institute of Music and Dance offered him an artist development funding for supporting his international dance activity.
In the 2016/17 season, Dariusz was a member of Wee Dance Company, and since July 2017, he has worked with Vanessa Cook Dance (Switzerland). In 2018 he worked with Saar Magal, participating in her interdisciplinary dance performance „extinction/i’m still here”. The same year, he bounded a closer collaboration with Dor Mamalia (Israel).
Moreover, Dariusz works as a contemporary dance teacher at The Dance Theater Department in Poland and in the meantime, he is preparing himself to begin his PhD studies.
Barak Marshall

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Barak Marshall is the son of acclaimed choreographer, musician and former star of the Inbal Dance Theatre Company, Margalit Oved.
Since his accidental entrance into dance in 1995, Barak fast established himself as one of Israel’s most innovative and unique voices. His first work, “Aunt Leah”, won 1st prize at the Suzanne Dellal Centre’s Shades of Dance Choreography Competition. His third work, “Emma Goldman’s Wedding”, was chosen to participate in the 1998 “Bagnolet International Choreography Competition” in Paris where it swept the awards-winning first prize, the Prix d’Auteur, the Bonnie Byrd Award and the ADAMI Award. His company went on to tour extensively throughout Europe including performances at Lyon’s Biennale de la Danse, the Holland Dance Festival, Paris’ Théâtre de la Bastille and Berlin’s Haus der Kulturen der Welt.
In 1999, Barak was invited by Ohad Naharin to become the Bat Sheva Dance Company’s first-ever house choreographer. He created several works for both the junior and senior companies before severely breaking his leg in 2001 and leaving dance completely. In 2008, the Suzanne Dellal Centre commissioned Barak to create “Monger”—his first work in seven years. The following year, Suzanne Dellal and the Israeli Opera co-commissioned Barak to create “Rooster”, a work for twelve dancers, an opera singer and Margalit Oved. And in 2011 the Centre again commissioned Barak to create “Wonderland: Part 1”.
Barak has also created works for Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal, Ballet Rambert, Cisne Negro, Bodytraffic and Ballet Junior de Genève. In 2012 he was commissioned by Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic to create the opening piece for their Gala Celebration to music by John Adams. The evening-length version of “Wonderland” will be premiered by the Inbal Dance Theatre Company at Suzanne Dellal’s 2014 International Exposure Festival. Barak and the company recently received a grant from the Israeli National Lottery to create a new work “1973” which will be premiered in January 2015.
Since 2008 Barak’s works have been presented over 800 times throughout Israel, Europe, Asia and North America including performances at Montpellier Danse, Sadler’s Wells, Maison de la Danse, the Joyce Theater, the Banff Centre, the Holland Dance Festival, the Sibiu Festival, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, the Annenberg Center, White Bird, Place des Artes de Montreal, Dance Umbrella UK, Jacob’s Pillow, Switzerland’s STEPS Festival and the Diana Vishneva Festival in Moscow.
Barak is also a singer of Middle Eastern and classical music and has performed as a soloist with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Project. In 2011 his work received first prize at the Joyce Foundation’s AWARD Show. He is the recipient of the Lester Horton Award for Outstanding Choreography as well as a Creative Capital Grant for a new music production with Margalit Oved and Balkan Beat Box. Barak studied social theory and philosophy at Harvard University and currently splits his time between Tel Aviv and Los Angeles.
Estefania Miranda
Joshua Monten
Michele Pogliani
Teresa Rotemberg
Sonia Rocha

I was born in 1976 in Setúbal, Portugal. There at the age of three I started my dance education. With sixteen I started working as a dancer and choreographer. Through the artistic work I got engaged in companies and projects worldwide, where I got in touch with many different people and cultures. Since 1996 I live in Switzerland. In 2005 I started studies in Craniosacral Therapie. I now live in Zürich and I'm married since 2003 to a Swiss musician and composer.
Ihsan Rustem

Choreographer Ihsan Rustem was born in London, where he trained at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. Ihsan is the Resident Choreographer for the NW Dance Project in Portland, Oregon USA. He has created further works for Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, National Ballet of Chile, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago 2, Istanbul State Ballet MDT, Tanz Luzerner Theater, Bern Ballet, Ballett Augsburg, Kazan State Opera and Ballet, Whim W’Him Seattle, Koblenz Ballet, Ballet Regensburg, Würzburg Ballet, Siberian State Ballet, Salt Contemporary Dance, Arts Umbrella Vancouver, National Youth Dance Company and Cinevox Junior Company. He was a featured choreographer for Russia’s popular TV show “The Bolshoi Ballet”. Nederlands Dans Theater have named Ihsan as one of their Up & Coming Choreographers for the 2018/19 season where he is currently creating a new work for NDT2 to premiere in The Hague in June.
His work for the NW Dance Project has been recognized with numerous accolades. “State of Matter” won the 2012 Sadler’s Wells Global Dance Contest as well as the Public Prize at the 25th International Competition for Choreographers Hanover, and Carmen received Dance Magazine’s 2017 Readers’ Choice Award for “Best Collaboration”. Rustem was also the 2014 recipient of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s International Commissioning Project.
From 2000–2014 Ihsan Rustem was a dancer with the Ballet Theater Munich, Introdans, State Theater Bern Ballet, Tanz Luzerner Theater and Adventures in Motion Pictures. He originated roles in creations by Wayne McGregor, Hofesh Shechter, Alexander Ekman, Matthew Bourne, Stijn Celis, Patrick Delcroix, Cayetano Soto, Felix Landerer and worked with choreographers Mats Ek, Jiri Kylián, Paul Lightfoot / Sol Leon, Hans van Manen and William Forsythe, amongst others.
He is the former Artistic Director of the Dance Art Studio Ballettschule Luzern.
Ihsan lives in Zurich, Switzerland.
Martin Schläpfer

Ballet director, choreographer, dancer
Martin Schläpfer was born in 1959 and grew up on a farm in the Appenzellerland region of Switzerland. At the age of 15, he became interested in ballet through figure skating. Later, he was engaged by Heinz Spoerli for the Basel Ballet, where he performed brilliantly for ten years as a charismatic soloist. In 1990, he founded his own ballet school, in 1994 he was named Ballet Director of the Stadttheater Bern, and in 1999 he was brought to ballettmainz by Georges Delnon. ballettmainz was restructured under his leadership and became one of the top ballet ensembles in Germany. The “tanz 2010” yearbook described Schläpfer’s achievement in Mainz as bringing about a “ballet miracle” in the “ballet backwaters”. Since 2009, Schläpfer has been bringing about a similar miracle in the Düsseldorf/Duisburg region at the Ballett am Rhein, which has around 48 dancers from 20 countries and is one of the biggest ensembles in Germany. The ballet’s theatre is currently being used to 90 per cent capacity, and there is virtually no personnel fluctuation in Schläpfer’s company. That’s because Schläpfer is not only a talented artist whose love of music shapes his choreography; he also has the ability to get his performers to share his passion. He has succeeded in developing a new repertoire policy with more than 70 performances per repertory season at the two venues in Düsseldorf and Duisburg – and the response of the public and the press has been tremendous. His ballet evenings, which are usually divided into several segments, feature important masterpieces of the 20th century and also focus on contemporary dance. Schläpfer’s own creations draw upon abstract neoclassical ballet. However, he also likes to take things a step further and is always good for a choreographic surprise. Martin Schläpfer is already considered an innovative reformer of ballet in the spirit of George Balanchine and Hans van Manen.
Michael Schumacher

Michael Schumacher has been a member of the Frankfurt Ballet, Twyla Tharp Dance, the Feld Ballet and the Pretty Ugly Dance Company. A key collaborative figure in several of Peter Sellars’ productions, Schumacher has appeared in “Bijbelse Stukken”, “Peony Pavilion”, “El Niño”, “Bach Cantatas” and “La Passion de Simone”. He has been featured in productions of Cora Bos-Kroese, Dana Caspersen, Anouk van Dijk, Mark Haim, Chico Katsube, Ruth Meyer and Paul Selwyn Norton.
As a choreographer, Schumacher has twice collaborated with the dancers of the Frankfurt Ballet, creating “Splendor Shed” (1990) and “Blender Head” (1994). With his brother Steven, he created “Unwrapped” (1995), a solo dance event that he performed in Germany, the Netherlands and the USA. In collaboration with Daniela Graça, Marcelo Evelin and Anat Geiger, he created “ANDAMAMI” (2000) and “Glashuis” (2001). For the dancers of Nederlands Dans Theater III, he conceived and directed “The Moment” (2001).
Over the last ten years, Schumacher’s work has been featured regularly at the Holland Dance Festival, beginning with the duet “Work #1” (1997) with Sylvie Guilliem (choreographed by Dana Caspersen); the solo “Michael Schumacher” (2001) as part of Richard Move’s “MARTHA”; and Piping Hot “Hutspot” (2003), a series of improvised duets with master Dutch musicians Han Bennink, Cor Fuhler and Wilbert de Joode.
A leading figure in the discipline of improvisation, Schumacher has collaborated with cellist and composer Alex Waterman on several occasions: “Heaven Is A Radio” (2003) at the Frascati Theater in Amsterdam, “Dans le Jardin” at the Biennale de la Danse in Lyon in 2004 and at the STEPS Festival in Switzerland in 2006, and “Six Suites” (2005) at the Holland Dance Festival in Den Haag. He continues to perform with Magpie Music Dance Company and conducts workshops in movement analysis and improvisation techniques worldwide.
Michael Schumacher began dancing in musical theatre productions in his hometown of Lewiston, Idaho. After moving to New York, he received a BFA in Dance from the Juilliard School. He currently resides in Amsterdam.
Stephen Shropshire

Stephen Shropshire (Miami, Florida 1972) is a graduate the Juilliard School in New York City and holds an MA in arts and heritage from the University of Maastricht. As an internationally recognized choreographer he has created works for et al. Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, National Dance Company of Wales, Danish Dance Theater, Ballet Augsburg, Iceland Dance Company, and the New Zealand Dance Company. In 2003 his work “The Piper’s Progress” was awarded the Grand Prize and the Public’s Prize at the 8th international choreographic competition “Tendances” in Luxembourg. Additionally, in 2008 his work “Sugarwater” was named one of the top ten dance triumphs of the year by the London Telegraph. He has collaborated on new choreographic works with celebrated international artists, poets, and musicians including the American poet Derrick C. Brown, Dutch songstress Nynke Laverman, and American musicians Emily Wells and Timmy Straw. From 2009 to 2012, Shropshire held the position of artistic director and chief choreographer at Noord Nederlandse Dans in Groningen, the Netherlands.
Emanuele Soavi
Darrel Toulon

Darrel Toulon, born in 1964, education in Dominica and UK United World College of the Atlantic Wales, and Central School of Ballet London. Since 1987 he is working as a dancer, singer and actor in Cologne (DE) in 1987, appearing as Soloist with Zürich Ballet Opera. Several Solo roles including: Romeo in “Romeo and Juliet”, Joseph in “Josephs Legend”, Garcia in “Carmen”. As actor Toulon worked for German stage and television. Roles include: Aziz, episode lead role in TV series “Himmel und Erde” for ARD TV, and Antonio in “Club der Träume – Yucatan” for WDR TV, Ramon in “Love! Valour! Compassion!” in Graz. Lysander in “Midsummer Night’s Dream” and Macheath in “Threepenny Opera” at St. Donat’s Arts Center in Glamorgan, Wales.
From 2001 until 2015 Ballet Director of Opera Graz. Curator and producer for over 50 Productions, International Dance Gala and over 40 editions of the Talk-Show-Format “Tanz Nite”.
In 2006, founded “the alpha group”, performing in Austria, Germany and Czech Republic.
As choreographer has created over 30 full-evening productions in Venezuela, Dominica, Kosovo, Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Germany. Teaching and seminars include European Forum Alpbach, Pro Scientia Summer Academy in Mattrei, and UWC Short Course in Imst. Toulon is lecturer at University of Fine Arts in Graz, Zurich University of the Arts and Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität Wien (MUK). He worked as a juror for “No Ballet” International Choreographic Competition in Ludwigshafen, Copenhagen International Choreographic Competition, and Wien Welt Wettbewerb. Dance Expert for “Talent Scouting Days” for Danse Suisse Berufsverband Zürich.
Recent projects: Community Dance Project “Through the open door” created with refugees living in Graz which was performed in Austria and Switzerland, Dance Advisor for Austrian Federal Arts Council and Graz Municipal Culture Council.
In 2002 he received the “Spezialpreis für besondere Leistung im Österreichischen Tanz” award for successfully transforming the traditional opera-ballet of Graz into a contemporary dance company: TANZ,GRAZ. In 2016 he was awarded the “Goldenes Ehrenzeichen des Landes Steiermark”.
Regina Van Berkel
Neel Verdoorn

Neel Verdoorn started her career as a dancer in the dance companies “Reflex” and “Djazzex”. She created choreographies for the following companies: Djazzex, Dance Company Budapest Tanzsinhas, Dansgroep Kriztina de Chatel, Aterballeto Italy, Korzo producties, Ballet Company Pecs, Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, Holland Dance Festival and the International Dance theatre. From 2013 she created work for the International Dancetheatre (ID) “Men of the Tango” and in 2015 the choreography “Crazy Blues” therefore they received the “dancepublic prize” 2015.
In 2015 she created “Silent Songs”, a coproduction with ID/Doelenensemble, in 2016 “Tango/Mania” a ID/TangoExtremo co-production. New productions are “Snowdance for Summer” for the Koorbiennale (2017) and “Hopper”, a co-production (March 2018) with ID/Doelenensemble. Verdoorn is a guest teacher for Modern Dance technique and choreography at Codarts, Zurich University of the Arts, Bacholer dance and other studio’s. She created several choreographies for the dancers. Workshops, other studios: DIP program AED associazione Danza Italy, Elite Programme Budapest Dance Theatre.
Richard Wherlock

Richard Wherlock has been director and head choreographer of Ballett Basel since the 2001/2002 season, and artistic director of the renowned festival “basel tanzt” since 2004.
Richard Wherlock was born in Bristol (GB). After studying at London’s prestigious Ballet Rambert School, he joined their company as a dancer. Wherlock was Ballet Director at Hagen Theatre in Germany from 1991 to 1996, then spending three seasons as director of the Lucerne Ballet before moving to Komische Oper Berlin as artistic director and choreographer of BerlinBallett.
He worked as choreographer with, among others, the following companies: New English Contemporary Ballet, Tanzforum Köln, Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, Finnish Dance Theatre Helsinki, Ballett Staatstheater Braunschweig, Romanian National Ballet, The Icelandic Ballet, Ballet National de Nancy et de Lorraine, Ballet National de Marseille, Ballet de l’Opéra de Nice, aalto ballett theater essen, Europa Danse (UNESCO), Ballett der Deutschen Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf, Singapore Dance Theatre, Ballett der Vereinigten Bühnen Graz, Introdans in Arnheim/ Holland, Ballett des Badischen Staatstheaters Karlsruhe, Phoenix Dance Theatre Leeds and Ballet Contemporaneo del Teatro San Martín/ Argentina. Wherlock also created a full-length ballet for Les Étoiles de l’Opéra National de Paris.
His film and TV work includes the choreography for Claude Lelouch’s cinema production “Hasards ou Coïncidences”, presented in 1998 at the Venice Biennale and at the Montréal and Chicago festivals. In 2000, Wherlock received the Prix Italia for the award-winning dance film “Passengers”, produced by the Swiss broadcasting company DRS, RM Associates and 3SAT. His most recent film success “One bullet left” – also produced by Swiss broadcasting company DRS – was awarded the Golden Rose of Montreux in 2003.
Richard Wherlock’s particular interest lies in supporting talented up-and-coming dancers.
He serves on the juries of numerous international dance competitions.
Renaud Wiser

Renaud Wiser was born in Lausanne in 1979. A recipient of the Migros scholarship for young dancers, Renaud trained with the Ballet Junior in Geneva. In 2000, after completing his training, he joined the Ballet du Grand Theatre de Genève before continuing his career as a dancer with the Ballet National de Marseille, The Gothenburg Ballet, Rambert and Bonachela Dance Company. Since 2010 Renaud performs as a freelance on selected projects.
Renaud is the Artistic Director of Renaud Wiser Dance Company, a London based company created in 2013, and is a founder-member of New Movement Collective (nominee at the 2013 and 2014 National Critic Circle Awards and associate company at Rambert). Twice commissioned by “Dance City” in Newcastle, his work has been presented in key venues in the UK including “The Place”, “Dance City”, “DanceEast”, “Greenwich Dance”, “Pavilion Dance South West” and “Rich Mix” as well as in festivals in Spain, Poland, Latvia, Italy and Switzerland.
Guest tutor at the Architectural Association – School of Architecture, Renaud has a particular interest in collaborative work and in merging practices with a rang of art forms including Architecture, Film, Music, Digital Art and Design. In 2018, Renaud created “The Disappearing Act”, a new work for his company. In 2016, he co-created and performed in “Collapse”, a period drama at the London Southbank Centre with “New Movement Collective”.

Renaud worked as movement director for a production of “Othello” at the Bristol Tobacco Factory. He is a former recipient of the Once Dance UK mentoring programme, took part in “Dance East Rural” retreat for future leaders in 2015 and is an associate artist at Swindon Dance. Since May 2018, Renaud is the new artistic co-director of Newcastle based company “Fertile Ground”. In September 2018 Renaud was part of the winning team of the first Dansathon organized by BNP Paribas and Sadler’s wells and will present their winning project at Sadler’s Wells in September 2019.
Lorand Zachar

Lorand Zachar was born in Hungary 15.09.1969. He started his dance education at the Talentum Hungarian Dance academy in the year 1985, and studied Classical ballet, folkdance and modern dance. He started his professional dance career in Budapest Folkdance Company.
He was member of the Budapest Dance Theatre the Ballet Pecs, The Madach Theatre, Rock Theatre, Djazz-ex, and Danceworks Rotterdam. After finishing his professional dance career he started to make his own works, pieces beside teaching regularly professional and amateur dancers on international workshops.
His work is constantly looking for the meaning behind the movements, sometimes in clear and simple way, sometimes with reaching complex extremities of the body. His experimenter thoughts are mingling with the mastered contemporary dance techniques, so thus his classes and pieces are very interesting and unique.
He made pieces for Budapest Dance Theatre, Inversedance, Ballet Jazz Art, Codarts, BaDora Dance Company, Inversedance, Ballet Debrecen, Contemporary Ballet Company of Szeged, Central Europe Dance Company and Ballet Pecs.
Nadav Zelner

Nadav Zelner was born in Ramla in 1992. He graduated from “Thelma Yellin” High School of the Arts in 2010. During his studies he was awarded the Eli Leon Scholarship for Excellence in the field of Choreography. In addition he was awarded two scholarships by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation and participated in various courses and residencies in the Czech Republic, Austria and London.
Upon graduation he joined the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company for one year, after which he decided to leave, in order to fulfill his dream and pursue an independent career as a choreographer.
Gregor Zöllig

Performance Practise

Winston Arnon

Tarek Assam

Marine Besnard

Joëlle Bouvier

Marco Cantalupo

Isabelle Chaffaud & Jérôme Meyer

James Cousins

Adrijana Danchevska

Craig Davidson

Félix Duméril

Philipp Egli

Itzik Galili

Romain Guion

Francesca Harper

Karin Hermes

Nunzio Impellizzeri

Olga Labovkina

Denise Lampart

Noemi Lapzeson

Annabelle Lopez

Dor Mamalia & Dariusz Novak

Barak Marshall

Estefania Miranda

Joshua Monten

Michele Pogliani

Teresa Rotemberg

Sonia Rocha

Ihsan Rustem

Martin Schläpfer

Michael Schumacher

Stephen Shropshire

Emanuele Soavi

Darrel Toulon

Regina Van Berkel

Neel Verdoorn

Richard Wherlock

Renaud Wiser

Lorand Zachar

Nadav Zelner

Gregor Zöllig