This class aims to encourage a sense of body awareness and efficiency as well as physical articulacy. It will start with simple exercises to build strength and to form a good foundation in order to get the body ready for the day. Special emphasis will be made on healthy body mechanics, efficient use of weight and musicality.

Avatâra Ayuso (ES, UK) | Dancer, Choreographer, Teacher
Born in Madrid (Spain), Avatâra is a freelance choreographer, teacher and dancer based in London. Avatâra's professional qualifications include a Postgraduate Degree in Professional Dance (Palucca Schule Dresden – Hochschule für Tanz, 2007), a Certificate in Higher Education (London Contemporary Dance School/University of Kent, 2005), a BA in Linguistics (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 2004) and a professional Ballet Degree (Conservatori Professional de Música i Dansa de Mallorca, 1999). In 2005 she joined the D.A.N.C.E. programme where she worked and performed internationally under the artistic direction of William Forsythe, Wayne McGregor, Frédéric Flamand and Angelin Preljocaj. Since 2007 she has worked as dancer for Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company (London) and recently as rehearsal director for "Detroitus", Shobana's latest work for the Beijing Dance Academy Company (Beijing).
She teaches regularly contemporary dance, ballet and interdisciplinary workshops in several institutions in England and Spain. Her passion for teaching took her in 2006 to create “didΛctance” Educational Dance Group to broaden the dance experience among all range of people. Avatâra has been creating her own work since 2005, some of which have been presented in Belgium, France, Spain and United Kingdom. Her last production, Looking Backward to To-Morrow, was produced 2009 by Tanzplan Dresden and included a two month residency at HELLERAU - European Centre for the Arts Dresden.

The class is a combination of different traditions of dance. It aims at improving technique, increasing physical strength, working on the activation and refinement of muscles, analyzing the connection between movements and dynamics, developing coordination, approaching the modern dance vocabulary through classical technique. A special emphasis is put onto musicality through timing of movements in variety of rhythms. Working within the academic tradition, dancers are taught to give movement its freedom and articulation in space, learn to be able to speak the language of dance through their own bodies, experiment with the constant fluctuation between technique and artistry and become independent. Therefore they reach for higher standards on both classical and contemporary dance scenes and bring more inspiration and joy to this form of dance.

Gamal Gouda (EG, D) | Ballet Master
Gamal Gouda was born in Port Said (Egypt) and trained at the Cairo Academy of Arts, He finished his studies at the Cairo Higher Ballet Institute with teachers from Moscow and St. Petersburg and received his Diploma in 1977. After graduating, he joined the Cairo Ballet Company, where his repertoire as a soloist and principal included Basil (Don Quixote), the Pas de Deux from “Le Corsaire” and Solos in “The Nutcracker”. In 1979 he joined John Neumeier’s Hamburg Ballet where he remained until 1998, being promoted to Principal as early as in 1983.
John Neumeier created more than a dozen of leading roles for him, such as Mordred (The Saga of King Arthur), The Sea Witch (Ondine), the title role in “The Blue Garden”, The Music (Windows on MOZART), Fenge in the new version of “Hamlet” and further principal and soloist roles in St. Mathew Passion, Requiem, Secrets, Gustav Mahlers Sixth Symphony, Shall we Dance?, I got rhythm, Peer Gynt and Last Solo for Gamal.
Gamal’s Hamburg repertoire included Count Alexander in “Illusions – like ’Swan Lake’”, Catalabutte, the Blue Bird, and The Wicked Fairy in “The Sleeping Beauty”, Puck, Lysander and Thesus/ Oberon in “A Midsummer Night's Dream”, Joseph in “Joseph’s Legend”, Gaston and Des Grieux in “The Lady of Camellias”, Benvolio and Mercutio in “Romeo and Juliet”, Hilarion and Peasant Pas de deux in “Giselle”, Oliver in “As You Like It”, Dorkon in “Daphnis and Chloë”, Tristan and Odysseus in the eponymous ballets, Drosselmeier in “The Nutcracker”, The Moor in “Petrushka”, Eros, Thyrsis and Orion in “Sylvia” and Orsino in “VIVALDI or What You Will”.
Gamal danced further solos and leadings roles, as well in ballets by John Neumeier (The age of anxiety, Scenes of Childhood, Bach Suite 2 and 3, Désir Pas de Deux, Le Sacre du Printemps, Precursors, Vaslaw, Soldier Songs, Rückert Lieder, Mozart 338, Rondo, Rain Songs) as by other choreographers, such as John Cranko (The Taming Of the Shrew), George Balanchine (The Four Temperaments and Stravinsky Violin Concerto), Gigi Georghe Cacileanu (Pedestrians), Leonid Jacobson (Miniatures), Lar Lubovitch (Symphonia Concertante) and Mats Ek (Grass).
Gamal danced the Pas de Deux from “Scheherazade” with Carla Fracci and made guest appearances in Brussels, Vienna, Munich, St. Petersburg, Cairo, Berlin, Hanover, Stuttgart and the World Ballet Festival in Japan. He worked together with famous choreographs as Ray Barra, Patrice Bart, Jacopo Godani, Jiří Kylián, Graeme Murphy, John Neumeier, Martin Schläpfer, Hans van Manen and Peter Wright.
He was awarded with the Hamburg Dr. Wilhelm Oberdörfer Prize in 1981 and – as first dancer ever – with the Silver Mask of Hamburger Volksbühne in 1991.
Since 1999, Gamal worked as Guest Ballet Instructor and Ballet Master with the following companies: Ballett der Deutschen Oper am Rhein, Ballett der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Cullberg Ballet, Ballet of Staatsoper Hannover, Ballet Nuremberg and the Bavarian State Ballet.
In September 2009 he joined the Dresden SemperOpera Ballet as a Ballet Master.

This class prepares the participants for the pleasure and challenges of the dancing day. The aim is to look inside the body, to “see” and mobilize the bones and joints and to tone the muscles that move them. We will begin with a training that combines elements from the somatic practices of the Feldenkrais Method, Yoga and Pilates, and continue by integrating this “internal” investigation with its practical applications to dance improvisation.

Jenny Coogan (USA) | Teacher, Dancer, Choreographer 
Jenny Coogan was born and raised near Boston, Massachusetts USA. She studied at Amherst College/ Massachusetts and at the University of California7Berkeley.  In 1981 she received a BFA Degree in Dance from the Juilliard School in New York City under the direction of Martha Hill. As a dancer and choreographer she has worked with a variety of companies including, Lucas Hoving, Daniel Lewis, Susan Marshall, Tanzprojekt München, Tanzatelier Wien and at the German State Theaters in Nürnberg, Darmstadt and Freiburg. For over ten years she directed the repetory company, Coogan Dancers. Productions of the company’s work have been presented in Europe and abroad at festivals and theaters including: Documenta/Kassel, Spring Dance Festival/Utrecht, Tanzwerkstatt Europa/München, Tanz im August/Berlin, International Dance Week/Prag, Riverside Dance Festival/New York,  Wiener Festwochen/Wien, Tanzplattform Deutschland/ Berlin as well as the Tage der zeitgenössischen Musik/Dresden.
Her teaching style integrates principals of the Humphrey-Limon tradition with somatic practices. As a licensed Feldenkrais practitioner, she works both with students at the Palucca Schule and in private practice. Jenny has been intermittently on the faculty of the Palucca Schule since 1995, since 2004 as a Professor for Contemporary Dance.

In this course, we are concerned with the border area between language and movement. Not, however, so much in the sense of how a text can be interpreted in dance or how language can be used to comment on dance. Rather, it is much more about investigating how language and movement are bound up with each other, what connects them and what divides them. The central topic of investigation and play is the concept of a gesture as a movement which has both linguistic and choreographic meaning. After a warm-up, we work with different movement, language and written scores.

Martin Nachbar (D) | Dancer, Performer, Choreographer
Martin Nachbar was educated at the SNDD (Amsterdam), P.A.R.T.S. (Brussels) and in New York. He currently lives in Berlin. He was a co-founder of the B.D.C./Plischke collective and has worked with Les Ballets C. de la B., Vera Mantero, Meg Stuart, Nicole Beutler, Carlos Pez, Thomas Lehmen and Joachim Schlömer, among others.
His works tour internationally and are regarded as pioneering in relation to the interplay of dance, choreography, dramaturgy, text and visual media.
In addition, he implements site-specific performance tours in various contexts and cities, teaches improvisation workshops, mapping, physical dramaturgy and writes for various European dance and theatre magazines.
His most recent stage works include: Repeater (a dance piece with his father), -iller (Schillertage Mannheim) and “PROFIT & LOSS one shared object” (in collaboration with Martine Pisani).

The aim of this course is to bring together the principles of contemporary dance (change of levels, rhythmical and spatial complexity) with some of the fundamentals of ballet (precision, alignment and coordination). The course works its way from the floor into technical preparations and builds up to challenging jumps and combinations. By the end of the week, physical and dynamic duet material will be developed in order to apply these principles in partner work. This energetic class is designed to be both physically and mentally challenging.

Avatâra Ayuso (ES, UK) | Dancer, Choreographer, Teacher
Born in Madrid (Spain), Avatâra is a freelance choreographer, teacher and dancer based in London. Avatâra's professional qualifications include a Postgraduate Degree in Professional Dance (Palucca Schule Dresden – Hochschule für Tanz, 2007), a Certificate in Higher Education (London Contemporary Dance School/University of Kent, 2005), a BA in Linguistics (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 2004) and a professional Ballet Degree (Conservatori Professional de Música i Dansa de Mallorca, 1999). In 2005 she joined the D.A.N.C.E. programme where she worked and performed internationally under the artistic direction of William Forsythe, Wayne McGregor, Frédéric Flamand and Angelin Preljocaj. Since 2007 she has worked as dancer for Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company (London) and recently as rehearsal director for "Detroitus", Shobana's latest work for the Beijing Dance Academy Company (Beijing).
She teaches regularly contemporary dance, ballet and interdisciplinary workshops in several institutions in England and Spain. Her passion for teaching took her in 2006 to create “didΛctance” Educational Dance Group to broaden the dance experience among all range of people. Avatâra has been creating her own work since 2005, some of which have been presented in Belgium, France, Spain and United Kingdom. Her last production, Looking Backward to To-Morrow, was produced 2009 by Tanzplan Dresden and included a two month residency at HELLERAU - European Centre for the Arts Dresden.

An intensive course for those interested in exploring the creative interface between improvised dance & video dance practice.
Each session will start with a warm-up aimed to awaken the body and sharpen the senses. The remainder of the course will consist of focused practical sessions that look at different issues for dance and film, ones that use improvisation as the primary creative method.
My aim as facilitator will be to seek a perfect balance between teaching, experimentation, enquiry and support. The nature of improvisation is process, on-going investigation and the practice of giving. We will look at ways in which improvisation can be used to generate video dance material – that is, work that will be experienced on-screen. We will also explore how camera techniques can capture the characteristics of improvised dance performance – spontaneity, energy, presence, connection to the audience. We will look at examples of editing as a next step in the process, although due to time limitations, only in-camera editing techniques will be practiced. The workshop will be geared towards generating ideas, questions and debate; as such there will be periods for discussion.
The course is open to anyone interested in exploring the creative possibilities of improvised screendance and how it might relate to their own artistic practice. Some people may participate as on-screen performers only, others as camera operators and some may chose to move between the two areas of activity. During some parts of each session, the entire group will work and watch together, and at other times, smaller groups will form to explore particular ideas, tasks or projects.
Participants should if possible come with some experience of filming and should bring a video camera and know how to use it, allowing us to move immediately into the creative, aesthetic and philosophical areas of the discipline.
Participants are invited to come with a spirit of open-mindedness, so that this week can hold surprises and discoveries for us all.

Katrina McPherson (UK) | Screendance artist
Award-winning artist Katrina McPherson has been creating screendance for over 20 years. She has wide experience as a dancer and choreographer, as a director of television arts programmes for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 and as a video dance-maker.
Katrina has collaborated with many different dance artists and companies. Her works are regularly screened at international festivals and include ‘Pace’ (Marisa Zanotti, BBC, 1995), ‘Moment’ (Winner, Best Screen Choreography, IMZ dance screen 2000), ‘Sense-8’ (Katy Dymoke, Touchdown Dance, 2001) and ‘The Truth’ (Paulo Ribeiro/Fin Walker/Ricochet Dance Productions 2003). Most recently, Katrina has been collaborating with improvising dance artist Kirstie Simson on a new film called ‘Force of Nature’.
Katrina is a much sought-after teacher and has led master-classes and workshops in Scotland, London and Australia. She is the author of ‘Making Video Dance - a step by step guide to creating dance for the screen.’ (Routledge 2006).
Since 1996, much of Katrina’s work has been made with editor/artist Simon Fildes. They co-direct the Scottish Highland-based production company Goat and are responsible for many single screen, installation and web-based projects including www.hyperchoreography.org and the hugely successful www.move-me.com project, which toured the UK, Holland, Australia and New Zealand.
For more information, please visit: www.makingvideodance.com | www.left-luggage.co.uk | www.go-at.co.uk | www.move-me.com | www.hyperchoreography.org

The aim of this course is to develop conscious presence while improvising in a performance. Each session begins with exercises that explore relationships between thought, movement and presence in the immediate environment. By promoting a greater awareness of sensory input, the performer becomes better equipped to realize each moment's potential for composition.
The session continues with examples of structured and non-structured improvisation that include such elements as dance, music, text, and light. Through practice and theory, participants explore a process by which they collectively experience spontaneously created compositions. Artists of all disciplines are welcome at this course.

Michael Schumacher (USA, NL) | Dancer, Choreographer, specialist for improvisation techniques
Michael Schumacher is a performing artist with roots in classical and modern dance. He has been a member of several groundbreaking companies, including Ballet Frankfurt, Twyla Tharp Dance, Feld Ballet, Pretty Ugly Dance Company, and Magpie Music Dance Company. A collaborative figure in the productions of Peter Sellars, Schumacher has appeared in Bible Pieces, Peony Pavilion, El Niño, Bach Cantatas, and La Passion de Simone.
Working as dancer, choreographer, and teacher, Schumacher has developed a unique approach to the discipline of improvisation. He has collaborated with many pioneering musicians, including percussionist Han Bennink and cellist/composer Alex Waterman, with whom he has collaborated on several occasions - most recently in Dance Out!, produced by the Joyce Theater and the City Parks Foundation of New York City in July 2008.
For the dancers of Netherlands Dance Theater III, Schumacher conceived and directed The Moment (2001). Together with Jiří Kylián and Sabine Kupferberg, Schumacher created Last Touch First for the Holland Dance Festival (2007). Recently, he collaborated with the dancers of the Dutch National Ballet, creating From Where You're Sitting Now, which premiered at the Holland Festival in June 2008.
Schumacher began dancing in musical theatre productions in his hometown of Lewiston, Idaho. After moving to New York, he received a B.F.A. in Dance from the Juilliard School. He currently resides in Amsterdam and conducts workshops in movement analysis and improvisation worldwide.

By definition the field of Somatics investigates the interrelation process between awareness, biological function and the environment. In this course we will focus on the relationship between movement and thought, the notion that increased mental awareness and creativity accompany physical improvements. We will investigate a variety of dynamic ways to improve movement skills and discover new options on how to approach movement with a better understanding of the functional organization of the body. The object of this "organic" learning is to remove outside authority from the learning process as awareness and efficiency increase while moving.

Jenny Coogan (USA, D) | Teacher, Dancer, Choreographer
Jenny Coogan was born and raised near Boston, Massachusetts USA. She studied at Amherst College/ Massachusetts and at the University of California7Berkeley.  In 1981 she received a BFA Degree in Dance from the Juilliard School in New York City under the direction of Martha Hill. As a dancer and choreographer she has worked with a variety of companies including, Lucas Hoving, Daniel Lewis, Susan Marshall, Tanzprojekt München, Tanzatelier Wien and at the German State Theaters in Nürnberg, Darmstadt and Freiburg. For over ten years she directed the repetory company, Coogan Dancers. Productions of the company’s work have been presented in Europe and abroad at festivals and theaters including: Documenta/Kassel, Spring Dance Festival/Utrecht, Tanzwerkstatt Europa/München, Tanz im August/Berlin, International Dance Week/Prag, Riverside Dance Festival/New York,  Wiener Festwochen/Wien, Tanzplattform Deutschland/ Berlin as well as the Tage der zeitgenössischen Musik/Dresden.
Her teaching style integrates principals of the Humphrey-Limon tradition with somatic practices. As a licensed Feldenkrais practitioner, she works both with students at the Palucca Schule and in private practice. Jenny has been intermittently on the faculty of the Palucca Schule since 1995, since 2004 as a Professor for Contemporary Dance.

For musicians this is the continuation of the course “Music & Intuition”. Musicians, dancers, actors and people from other artistic fields will all be working together. The course will explore improvisation and intuition, will focus on creativity and awareness, freedom and structure, thereby trying out various approaches to improvisation. Results will be jointly discussed and presented on the last evening of the Workshop week.

Markus Stockhausen (D) | Trumpeter, Composer
Trumpeter and composer Markus Stockhausen is one of the most versatile musicians of our time. Born 1957 in Cologne, he studied initially at the Cologne Musikhochschule and is as much at home in jazz as in contemporary and classical music. For about 25 years he collaborated closely with his father, the composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, who wrote many works for him. As soloist, improviser and composer Markus Stockhausen is in international demand. He has played in and led various jazz ensembles and plays contemporary and intuitive music in the duo Moving Sounds with clarinetist Tara Bouman, as well as with the percussionist Mark Nauseef and others. He has realized several major music projects in close collaboration with his brother, Simon and regularly creates projects in a variety of environments that bring together guest musicians from different cultures, including Arild Andersen on bass, Dhafer Youssef voice, and oud, Angelo Comisso on piano and Ferenc Snétberger on guitar. He also composes for film. Markus has released more than 50 CDs. In 2005 he won the WDR jazz prize in the category of Jazz-Improvisation. Further information about Markus Stockhausen: www.markusstockhausen.de

In this course, Markus Stockhausen will be working on improvisation with advanced musicians of all musical styles. Special emphasis is placed on intuition. In doing so, participants will explore creativity and awareness, knowledge and feeling, and the art of listening, while practical aspects remain prominent throughout the course. Participants should bring their own instruments. A piano is available.

Markus Stockhausen (D) | Trumpeter, Composer
Trumpeter and composer Markus Stockhausen is one of the most versatile musicians of our time. Born 1957 in Cologne, he studied initially at the Cologne Musikhochschule and is as much at home in jazz as in contemporary and classical music. For about 25 years he collaborated closely with his father, the composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, who wrote many works for him. As soloist, improviser and composer Markus Stockhausen is in international demand. He has played in and led various jazz ensembles and plays contemporary and intuitive music in the duo Moving Sounds with clarinetist Tara Bouman, as well as with the percussionist Mark Nauseef and others. He has realized several major music projects in close collaboration with his brother, Simon and regularly creates projects in a variety of environments that bring together guest musicians from different cultures, including Arild Andersen on bass, Dhafer Youssef voice, and oud, Angelo Comisso on piano and Ferenc Snétberger on guitar. He also composes for film. Markus has released more than 50 CDs. In 2005 he won the WDR jazz prize in the category of Jazz-Improvisation. Further informations about Markus Stockhausen: www.markusstockhausen.de