Forum - Day 2

Programme
June 19, 09.30 - 16.00 h
For Accredited Professionals

The accreditation badge gives you access to the programme, however, admission is subject to capacity and operates on a first come, first served basis. We therefore encourage you to arrive in good time.

For all workshops, we kindly ask everyone to register in advance no later than the day before, as places are limited. To register, please contact: benjamin@tanztriennale.de

09.30 - 11.30 h
Session 8 | Beyond the Binary: Gender, Training, and Representation in classical and contemporary dance
Theatersaal

Roles in ballet and contemporary dance have long been shaped by established gender codes, defining who performs which roles on stage and thereby which stories they can tell. This has, in turn, affected how bodies are trained and categorized. These structures, deeply embedded in the art form's history, have determined how dancers move and what they are taught. This discussion examines what it means to challenge and reimagine these conventions, from training to the stage. How are choreographers, dancers, and institutions rethinking the gendered traditions embedded in technique, casting, and repertoire? What new training approaches are emerging to support a more expansive understanding of the dancing body? And what does ungendered representation on stage ask of the art form itself — its aesthetics, its pedagogy, and its relationship to its own history? As dance continues to evolve, this conversation asks not only how we diversify who dances, but how we transform what dance can be and who it speaks to.

Guest speakers: Rémy Fichet (Ballet Director Leipziger Ballett), Ricardo Urbina (Founder and Director URBINA platform), Palucca University of Dance Dresden, Long Zou (Dancer Deutsche Oper am Rhein),

Moderator: Vivien Arnold (Head Dramaturg Hamburg Ballet)

09.30 - 11.30 h
Session 9 | Methods in Motion: Artistic Research Meets Dance Studies
Tanzsaal EG

What happens when dance research opens up to artistic practices – and when artistic practices engage with academic research, especially when it extends to other disciplines and fields of study? Where do they meet, where do they rub against each other? What gets lost, what becomes enhanced and strengthened? And how might this shift what we understand research in dance to be and the role dance studies may play in other research fields and sectors? This discussion brings together Sebastian Matthias, Anna Wieczorek, Katja Schneider and additional guests for a conversation about artistic research — understood here as the development of new methods that emerge from artistic practice itself. The discussion explores how practice-based, interdisciplinary approaches challenge established forms of dance research, and how they can enrich them in surprising, generative ways.

Guest speakers: Prof. Dr. Sebastian Matthias (Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences), Prof. Dr. Katja Schneider (Hoch­schu­le für Mu­sik und Dar­stel­len­de Kunst Frank­furt), Dr. Anna Wieczorek (Universität Mozarteum Salzburg)

Designed in Cooperation with Gesellschaft für Tanzforschung (gtf) & AG Zukunftswerkstatt Tanzwissenschaft

09.30 - 11.30 h
Session 10 | Revisiting theirstories and Transmitting Dance
Tanzsaal West OG

Curating contemporary dance in an international context raises questions about how artists' bodies and identities can relocate and reshape our understanding of the world. This discussion opens with a lecture by Dr. Ya-Ping Chen on dance history through an oceanic lens and brings together artists and choreographers across Southeast Asian and archipelagic contexts to elaborate on how their stories matter in the making. From colonial history and political entanglement in the past and now to social justice, you are invited to dance with theirstories and knowledge.

Guest speakers: Dr. Ya-Ping Chen (Professor and Dean of the School of Dance, Taipei National University of the Arts), Wu-kang Chen (choreographer and dancer), Pichet Klunchun (choreographer and dancer), Ljuzem Madiljin and Baru Madiljin (Artistic director and Dance director of Tjimur Dance Theatre), Mang Tri Ray Dewantara (choreographer and dancer)

Moderator: River Lin (Artist and curator)

11.30 - 12.00 h
Coffee Break

12.00 - 13.30 h
Session 11 | Hip Hop, Theatres and Institutions: Whose Culture, Whose Stage?
Theatersaal

The relationship between hip hop dance culture and institutional spaces has developed significantly in recent years — more artists are being programmed and leadership is beginning to shift. This panel takes stock of an evolving landscape: to acknowledge what has changed, to evaluate what is still needed, and to reflect on the motivations and pathways of all involved. It recognizes the fluid reality of many artists' lives, moving between stage productions, battles, cyphers, and community practice, and what it means to build structures that honour rather than constrain the culture. Together, the panelists explore what fair, authentic and meaningful collaboration could look like: collaboration that respects both the artistic integrity and the living, evolving culture at the heart of hip hop.

Guest speakers: Muhammed Kaltuk (choreographer, designated Director of dance department at Musiktheater im Revier), Sheree Lenting (choreographer, Programmer Theater Rotterdam), Wanda Puvogel (Designated Co-Intendant Luzerner Theater), Dhélé Agbetou (dancer, choreographer, founder Urban Stylez Festival)

Moderator: Luise März (Dramaturg, Dance Curator Kampnagel)

12.00 - 13.30 h
Session 12 | How Socially Engaged Practice is Shaping the Dance Field
Proberaum EG

Socially engaged practice has grown significantly within the dance field, gaining recognition as a vital and distinct artistic and social force. This discussion explores how that growth is shaping the field — from expanding artistic practices to diversifying who is seen on stage and what narratives are told. It also looks at how artists and institutions are rethinking where and how dance happens, what formats of encounter are possible, and how organisations are forging new partnerships that better reflect and respond to the communities around them, sparking innovative approaches along the way. The conversation will also delve into alternative funding models and more sustainable career growth through community engaged practices, as well as the limitations and needs to ensure the growth continues.

Guest speakers: Roberto Casarotto (Co-Director Aerowaves), Amparo González Sola (choreographer, Associate Artist Dansateliers Rotterdam), Clint Lutes (choreographer, DaPoPa), Markéta Perroud (DanceConnected)

Moderator: Prof. Dr. Sara Houston (Professor of Dance Studies and Community Engagement at University of Roehampton)

12.00 - 13.30 h
Session 13 | Create visibility, change structures: Future prospects for dance professionals with care responsibilities
Tanzsaal OG

Numerous initiatives have brought attention to the diverse challenges that dance professionals with care responsibilities face in their everyday working lives. Concrete recommendations have been developed on how production and funding conditions can be improved. But what comes next? This panel will discuss visibility, perspectives and future steps on how these approaches can be implemented in funding practices and sustainably embed them in cultural policy, while also looking at experiences and examples from other countries.

Guest speakers: Yolanda Morales (choreographer and performer), Dr. Daniela Rippl (Kulturreferat München), Stine Nilsen (Artistic director of Dansenhus Oslo)

Hosted by: German Dance Association

A cooperation between the German Dance Association and Tanzbüro München.

12.00 - 13.30 h
Physical Workshop  | Revisiting storytelling
Tanzsaal West OG
For professional dancers

Inspired by the ancient Sanskrit epic Ramayana, Choreographing Story: “Rama House” was developed through years of field research and collaboration between Taiwanese choreographer Chen Wu-kang and Thai traditional dance master Pichet Klunchun. Their journey across Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Indonesia involved immersive study under masters, allowing them to delicately reinterpret traditional forms through a contemporary lens.

Inviting professional dancers to join a journey of discovery, this workshop includes the sharing of creative contexts with physical practice and open discussion. Together, we will uncover the subtleties hidden within the choreographic process. Participants will explore 'storytelling' through movement and master the art of sustained bodily dialogue in the context of cross-cultural partnership.

Co-led by: Chen Wu-kang (choreographer and dancer) & Pichet Klunchun (choreographer and dancer)

Please note: Participants are recommended to join the morning panel discussion “Revisiting theirstories and Transmitting Dance” from 9.30-11.30 h on the same day.

13.30 - 14.30 h
Lunch Break

14.30 - 16.00 h
Session 14 | Moving Towards Zero - what is the role of artistic practice in the pursuit of ecological sustainability?
Theatersaal

What can a dancing body tell us about our relationship to the environment? How does choreographic thinking offer new ways of understanding ecological crisis and care? This discussion brings together dance artists, choreographers, and institutional leaders to explore these questions at the intersection of artistic practice and ecological sustainability. It looks at how dance and choreographic practice offer distinct ways of sensing and reimagining our relationship to the environment, engaging the body as a site of ecological awareness and collective action. Alongside artistic perspectives, the session also turns to the structural: how are institutions and funding bodies rethinking their practices in relation to sustainability, and what does it mean to support work that is both artistically ambitious and environmentally responsive?

Guest speakers: Nils Hilkenbach, (Program Fund Zero, Kulturstiftung des Bundes), Catja Loepfe (Director Tanzhaus Zürich), Robert Ssempijja (dancer and choreographer), Sabine Zahn (Choreographer, Urban Researcher, Research Institute of Sustainability)

Moderator: Prof. Dr. Sebastian Matthias (Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences)

14.30 - 16.00 h
Session 15 | Making It Last – Choreographers on Sustainable Creative Lives
Tanzsaal EG

As choreographic careers progress, practitioners accumulate immense expertise — in movement research, conceptual thinking, leading production teams, and the complex craft of building a body of work. Yet surviving as a freelance choreographer over decades means confronting the limits of project-to-project funding cycles, budget cuts, and the constant pressure to secure the next production rather than build something that lasts.

This session is co-facilitated by Shared Leadership In Dance (SLiD), a Hamburg-based collaborative model through which choreographers Jenny Beyer, Antje Pfundtner, and Ursina Tossi share resources, knowledge, and labor to build sustainable artistic structures while preserving their distinct voices and connecting with partners locally and internationally. For this discussion they come together with Emi Myoshi and Angela Stöcklin to reflect on evolving practices and strategies for more stable and meaningful creative lives. What are new models of collaboration — across disciplines, communities, and institutions — as alternatives to working alone within competitive precarious structures. Together they ask what it takes to stay artistically vital while building deeper, more reciprocal connections with colleagues, the public, and other fields.

Guest speakers: Jenny Beyer (choreographer and dancer), Emi Miyoshi (choreographer, Artistic Director SHIBUI collective), Antje Pfundtner (choreographer and dancer, Antje Pfundtner in Gesellschaft), Angela Stöcklin (choreographer, dancer, Kollektiv dance me to the end), Ursina Tossi (choreographer and dancer URSinaTOSSI & EXCESSIVE SHOWING)

14.30 - 16.00 h
Session 16 | Movement in Public Space: Culture, Artistry and Freedom
Proberaum EG

Streets, squares and public grounds are not empty stages — they are charged with history, memory and community life. Why is it important to make and expose art where no ticket is required? How do we hold public space as a site of expression? What does art-making look like within social movements? And what responsibilities do cultural workers carry toward the communities they are a part of or wish to connect with? This panel brings together artists, activists and cultural workers to examine what it means to create and perform in public space today and for whom. Drawing on their own practices, the panelists will share concrete approaches to navigating the tensions between artistic intent, shared responsibility, the unpredictability of public space and the fight for freedom.

Guest speakers: Sevi Bayraktar (Professor of Dance Studies, Music, and Performance in Global Contexts, University of Music and Dance Cologne), DE / Professorin für Tanz, Performance und Musik im globalen Kontext, Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln
Sheree Lenting (choreographer, Programmer Theater Rotterdam), Gintarė Masteikaitė (Director of the Lithuanian Dance Information Centre), Tanin Torabi (dance artist and filmmaker)

14.30 - 16.00 h
Physical Workshop | The Katradi Method: Traditional Arts as a Tool for Social Transformation
Tanzsaal West OG
Open to all

Rooted in the living traditions of Indian classical dance, the Katradi method offers an expansive framework for how traditional arts can be agents of social change. In this workshop presentation, Sangeeta Isvaran, performer, choreographer, and practitioner, shares the fundamentals of the Katradi method and its application across some of the most pressing challenges of our time: health and wellbeing, education, conflict transformation, gender equity, and social justice. Drawing on decades of practice, Sangeeta shares how the methods, modules, and interactive performance formats she has developed have been brought into dialogue with communities and institutions across the globe. Through her practice, Sangeeta Isvaran asks: Why are artists rarely embedded within policy design, institutional reform, or long-term community processes? Especially when they have a proven capacity to work with generational injustice, conflict and social fragmentation through embodied, human-centred approaches.

Led by Sangeeta Isvaran