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. 

Charlotte Kreft works as a coach for managers and teams in the context of transformation projects and self-mindfulness. As a certified mindfulness trainer, she leads workshops for self-development and further training with a systemic approach based on the motto “Change always starts with yourself.” Together with Ray, she is interested in the interplay of coaching, mindfulness and dance - let's try something new!

BODY ON MY MIND
Workshop mit Charlotte Kreft & Ray

Sun 15.06.2025 11:00 – 13:00
1 date
All levels
Age group 16-99
Course number: 2512F280

When Dawna Dryhorub first started ballet dancing at age three, the decision was already taken: “I want to be a dancer!” She took additional classes in tap dance, jazz dance and folkloristic dance, subseqently pursuing her dance education at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre where she specialised in Graham and classical dance. She received an invitation to collaborate on a project in Düsseldorf during the mid-1990s and swiftly became an artist close to the “Werkstatt”, the precursor of tanzhaus nrw. The native Canadian remained in Germany and participated in various productions by, among others, Rodolpho Leoni and Samir Akika. She offered trainings at Folkwang Tanzstudio for many years and was a guest lecturer for classical dance at the Folkwang University of the Arts. 2020 will see Dawna concluding her Master’s degree in dance sciences from Bern University in 2020.

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.

Ivana Kisic is a freelance dancer and dance pedagogue with Croatian roots. She started out doing classical ballet in her youth, later dancing in shows and taking part in numerous competitions. Following her studies at ArtEZ University of Arts in Arnhem to become a dance pedagogue, she was in charge of the children, youth and adult sections of several dancing schools in Düsseldorf and the Ruhr Area. Ivana has also been teaching at tanzhaus nrw since 2007. She was part of the tanzhaus project “Take-Off: Junger Tanz” and took the stage as a performer in the production “the common people” by Belgian choreographer Jan Martens, also at tanzhaus nrw.

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.

Eray Gülay is a freelance dancer, choreographer, dance teacher and model. After successfully completing his dance studies at the Folkwang University of Arts, he worked in the dance company “Folkwang Tanzstudio” in the 2017/18 season and has since performed in dance pieces by renowned choreographers such as Ben J. Riepe, Jérôme Bel and Reinhild Hoffmann. In addition, Eray worked as a choreographic assistant and participated in the pieces “wilderness tender” by Stephanie Miracle (2018) and “Femina Saga” by Marie Zoe Buchholz (2020).
He has worked commercially with companies such as Tamaris, Vogue CS, Men's Health and Schwarzkopf. He has danced for German artists such as Salomea and Frida Gold and choreographed long-term for pop singer Matthew Wood. He has performed live on stage with international artists such as Cakes Da Killa, TT The Artist and Barbara Tucker.
Since 2014, Eray has also been part of the ballroom scene and a member of the House of Elle. As an active member of the scene, he teaches voguing at tanzhaus nrw and gives international voguing workshops. He also works in the Shapes & Shades collective and organizes workshops, panel talks and balls as part of Ballroom.

Ronaldo Navarro was born in São Paulo/Brazil and successfully completed his ballet education in the Royal Academy of Dancing style. An engagement at Bremerhaven’s municipal theatre led him to come to Germany in 1993, where he would go on to later freelance work as a dancer with dance theatre icons such as Reinhild Hoffmann or Johann Kresnik at his Choreographical Theatre at the Volksbühne am Rosa Luxemburg Platz in Berlin. Ronaldo has been living in Düsseldorf since 2007, working as a classical ballet teacher. In July of 2016, he published his third book in Brazil, this time revolving around his experiences in dance: “Etapas de um artista da dança“.

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.

Zero zählt zur ersten Generation der Voguing-Tänzer*innen hierzulande und ist ein Gründungsmitglied der deutschen Ballroom Community. Von 2013 bis 2025 hat Zero Voguing und die dazugehörige Kultur vermittelt. Zu Zeros Mentor*innen sowie Inspirationsquellen zählen Künstler*innen wie Alaïa Miyake Mugler, Leiomy Maldonado aka Wonder Woman of Vogue, Power Pumps Twins, Cisco Ruelas & Danielle Polanco aka Heels Royalty. Als Performance-Künstler*in und Movement Coach ist Zero deutschlandweit als auch international tätig, arbeitete in Inszenierungen für Häuser wie das Junge Schauspiel Düsseldorf, die Deutsche Oper am Rhein und u. a. für diverse Künstler*innen vor und hinter der Kamera. Zero choreografierte während der Berlin Alternative Fashion Week 2017 für Patricia Field, die vor allem für die Kostümausstattung der Serie Sex and the City bekannt ist. Bei den Brit Awards 2019 in London wirkte Zero als Haupttänzer*in in den Performances von Calvin Harris, Sam Smith und Dua Lipa mit. Im Frühjahr 2021 war Zero als Tänzer*in in der TV Werbekampagne für Penny Markt mit der Drag Künstlerin Olivia Jones zu sehen. Zero war dort als Movement Director & Co-Choreograf*in für die Voguing-Choreografie während der Produktion und am Set zuständig. Derzeit performt Zero (seit Nov 2022) in dem Musical Cabaret im Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, choreografiert von Bridget Petzold, inszeniert von André Kaczmarczyk.