Open Class: Classical Ballet

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.

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“.