Bodywork/ Body Action

Dancer, teacher and choreographer Alfonso Bordi, born in Mexico, followed his dance education the Boston and Atlanta Schools of Ballet. Following different dancing engagements in Canada, Ireland and Germany, he is now among the most outstanding protagonists at Düsseldorf company NEUER TANZ under the direction of visual artist VA Wölfl.

Bridget is a longtime member of the teaching staff of tanzhaus nrw, as well as a working choreographer for german theater. She is the movement and dance trainer for the acting students at the Schauspielstudio at Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus. She has recently choreographed such productions as "Cabaret" und "Zauberberg" for Düsseldorf, "Liebe, Mord und Adelspflichten" for Krefeld, and "Shockheaded Peter" for Thalia Theater Hamburg. She has more than 35 years dancing, teaching, and choreographing experience. Her workshops and classes are characterized as well-rounded, fun, high-energy, and challenging. 

Elisa Marschall ist eine deutsch-nicaraguanische zeitgenössische Tänzerin, Performerin, Choreografin sowie Tanz-, Yoga- und Theaterpädgogin. Sie absolvierte ihr Tanzstudium an der Folkwang Universität der Künste in Essen und an der ArtEZ Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Arnheim (Niederlande). Bisher hatte sie Gelegenheit mit Regisseur*innen und Choreograf*innen wie Susanne Linke, Anna Holter, Maura Morales, Philipp Stölzl, Andreas Rosar, Carlus Padrissa sowie mit artcenisco performing arts, Sepidar Theater und das Theater der Klänge u.a. zusammen zu arbeiten. Im Jahr 2014 zertifizierte sie sich in Indien zur Yogalehrerin. Seitdem unterrichtet sie leidenschaftlich gerne Gruppen sowie einzelne Personen. 2020 absolvierte sie eine Ausbildung zur Theaterpädagogin in BuT® an der Akademie off-theatre in Neuss. Seit 2021 ist sie Mitglied des Forumtheaters Inszene in Köln, wo sie als Schauspielerin sowie Moderatorin in der kulturellen Bildung tätig ist. Derzeit absolviert sie neben ihrer künstlerischen Tätigkeit einen Master in Szenischer Forschung an der RUB.

Irina Hortin first studied linguistics and literature in Germany, France and Argentina before going on to study contemporary dance in Cologne and Munich. She performs internationally, regularly choreographs for Schalktheater in Zurich, heads youth dance theatre projects and teaches contemporary dance, contact improvisation as well as tango at international festivals. The encounter with Frey Faust, an important figure within French contemporary dance and editor of movement dictionary Axis Syllabus, was of special importance for Irina’s vocational biography, and Irina, as a certified Axis Syllabus (AS) teacher, references the dictionary. The interdisciplinary AS research network surveys the functions of the human body in motion. In the process, information from biomechanics, anatomy, physics and medicine come into use to analyse our motion apparatus and to have it start to move in a functional and caring way. The focus always lies on a respectful contact with oneself and others – and, of course, on the fun in dancing!

Dance educator Joseph P. Cooksey deploys Zena Rommett Floor-Barre Technique®, modern dance, modern ballet and jazz in his classes. He taught at the Juilliard School, at the Dance Theater of Harlem, at the Alvin Aily American Dance Center and at the Philadelphia College for the Performing Arts. He is a certified Zena Rommett Floor-Barre Technique® teacher as well as a Master Teacher at their respective annual certifications.

Kunie Baba has been a part of the tanzhaus nrw teachers’ team since 2010, convincing her participants (and us, too), with an irresistible mix of heart and knowledge. She was long active as a ballet dancer before finding her way into yoga. She is both a Federal Yoga Assocation and Yoga Alliance certified teacher, specialising in power yoga, hatha yoga and raja yoga.

Dance has been occupying a large part of Laura Virgillitto’s life since she was three years old. Following a five-year stay in New York where she studied at the renowned Martha Graham Dance School and at other places while also learning to utilise the GYROTONIC EXPANSION SYSTEM® for her dancer’s career, the native Italian came to Germany in 1997. She worked as a dancer with several different choreographers and companies. Today, Laura is mainly active as a freelance instructor with different companies and institutions both nationally and internationally, among them the Folkwang Tanzstudio, Stadttheater Bielefeld, PACT Zollverein, VA Wölfl’s NEUER TANZ, and also at tanzhaus nrw for about 15 years now. She is a GYROKINESIS® master trainer and heads her own studio in Cologne. She teaches the GYROKINESIS® movement system which puts an emphasis on somatic aspects, addressing both people with and without prior dance experience, as well as a contemporary training for professional dance creatives at tanzhaus nrw. 

Details will follow.

Wibke Hartewig ist seit ihrer Jugend begeisterte Tänzerin und trainierte u.a. Ballett, Modern Dance, Zeitgenössisch, Butho, Tanztheater, Contact Improvisation, BMC, Tango und Gaga bei Tänzer*innen wie Tadashi Endo, Anna Pocher, Minako Seki, Frauke Havemann, LaborGras, Frey Faust, Catharina Gadelha und Ale Jara. Als promovierte Tanz- und Theaterwissenschaftlerin (Ruhr-Universität Bochum und Royal Holloway, University of London) unterrichtete sie u.a. an der Folkwang Universität der Künste im Studiengang Tanz und seit 2013 an der Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main im Studiengang Contemporary Dance Education. Sie ist als freischaffende Tanzpädagogin und Tanzwissenschaftlerin tätig. Durch ihre zusätzliche Ausbildung zur Integrativen Tanztherapeutin DGT cand. bringt sie eine besondere Sensibilität für den Umgang mit persönlichen Themen der Tanzenden mit. Mit ihrem jüngeren Sohn entwickelte sie ihr „Tanzen mit Baby“, das sie seit 2017 in Köln anbietet.