Kysy Fischer (BR) uses humor to confuse disciplines such as dance, performance, and theater. As a choreographer, she is interested in the minimalist exaggeration as well as playing with contradictions. Kysy thinks often about psychoanalysis and class matters. Through her work, she seeks forms of contact with the audience and critiques the hierarchies of artistic spaces and practices. In her academic research in Brazil, she explored performance art as an applied philosophical practice. Since 2017 she is the director of the collective ABA NAIA, through which she mainly explores feminist humor. Kysy Fischer's last work "Super Superficial" opened the TanzTage Berlin 2025 at SophienSaele. She also formed part of the production team of "Kill Me" between 2023 and 2024, by the Argentinian choreographer Marina Otero. Languages: Portuguese, Spanish, German and English.

www.abanaia.com

Fabian Rosonsky was born in Lutherstadt Wittenberg in 1989 and studied comparative literature and political science in Berlin. From 2016 to 2019, he worked as an assistant director at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus and was subsequently part of the production team for the “Theater der Welt 2020/21” festival. Since then, he has been a freelance production manager for various national and international projects between festivals, digital and independent production in theater and performance. At the same time, he also works as a director and is co-founder of the collective “Polyformers”. His productions have been shown at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Theater der Keller in Cologne, Theater Regensburg, Volksbühne am Kaulenberg in Halle and Theater unterm Dach in Berlin, among others.

Therese Schmidt, born in Potsdam in 1979, works as a music theater director and author in Berlin. She realizes various projects at the interface between music theater, new music and performance and develops musical performances and music-theatrical formats under the label mehrblick&ton.
She writes libretti, concept and theater texts, as well as cultural-political studies and collaborates with artists and theater collectives in the independent scene. In addition to productions at various municipal and state theaters, she taught drama at the universities of Dresden and Berlin. Until 2019, she worked in the Performing Arts Program of LAFT Berlin and has since been advising artists in the independent scene on independent work and conceptual work.

Kai Schubert, *1973 in Bochum, is a director and author. Kai has worked as an assistant, dramaturge and director at Theater Dortmund, Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin and Staatsschauspiel Dresden, as well as on various independent productions in Germany and France, and has carried out theater projects with schools and young people as part of TUSCH and the “Cultural Agents for Creative Schools” program. Since 2005, he has premiered 15 plays, including at the Sophiensäle Berlin, Theater Ingolstadt, LTT Tübingen, Wuppertaler Bühnen and Gärtnerplatztheater Munich, as well as productions in Dresden and Berlin and open-air productions in Brandenburg and the Ruhr region. Kai is a lecturer at the UdK Berlin in the field of theater pedagogy, was artistic director at Theater Poetenpack Potsdam 2020-2021, co-founder of MORPHtheater and 2019-2023 artistic director of Kulturpalast Wedding.

Max Schumacher works as dramaturg, curator, producer, director, lecturer, workshop facilitator, author and coach. After studying dramaturgy (Humboldt University Berlin) and performance studies (NYU) he has been working in more than 50 cities in 20 countries. His main occupation is as artistic co-director of Post Theater, a performing arts unit with focus on media-enhanced performances. Since 2020 he also serves as artistic director of DIE BÜHNE, Technical University Dresden’s theater. Max is interested in transdisciplinary work that questions its own means. According to Max, performing arts should constantly reinvent themselves. They should be responding to vibrant topics of the present, both in terms of content AND form.

www.posttheater.com

Silvia Albarella is an artist and stage-costume designer. Her work focuses on the interface between theatre, film, performance and virtual reality. She has lived in Berlin since 1996, where she realises her own projects and collaborates with other artists and theatres.

www.silviaalbarella.de

Nora Amin is an author, performer, choreographer, theater director and scholar/researcher/instructor. She is a grant recipient of the Center for Theater of the Oppressed in Rio de Janeiro, the founder and artistic director of the independent theater group Lamusica and the national Egyptian project for Theater of the Oppressed and its Arabic network, a grant recipients from the Academy of the Arts of the World in Cologne, the International Research Center for Interweaving Performance Cultures at the FU, the Valeska-Gert guest professor for dance studies and a former mentor for the Flausen+bundesnetzwerk. She is a board member of the German center of the International Theater Institute and a member of the academic advisory board of the Barba Varley Foundation. She is a graduate of the cultural management course of studies at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and a former guest instructor at the Institute for Cultural Policy of the University of Hildesheim.

Romina Geppert (social media manager, communication manager, dancer and choreographer) studied communication studies (B.A.) and communication management (M.A.). Over the course of her professional career, she has specialized in the field of social media management with a focus on the visual art and the performing arts. She was responsible for the establishment of the social media department at the Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig (MdbK) which she led for many years. In addition, she completed a training program in dance education, performance and choreography. She has worked independently as a dancer, dance educator and choreographer for several years. Romina Geppert has worked as a dancer for choreographers such as Marie Zechiel, Melissa Kieffer or Leonie Naomi Baur and was the lead choreographer for the theater piece Das Kalte Herz (directed by Swaantje Lena Kleff) at Deutsche Nationaltheater Weimar. She is currently studying contemporary dance for the stage.

Nora Gores has been working for several years at various theatres and cultural institutions in and around Berlin. She has worked for performances, dance and theatre as well as for exhibitions, mostly in the context of press and public relations. Since 2015 she has also been working as a consultant, coach and mediator. She began her studies in Theatre and Latin American Studies in Munich before moving to Barcelona, Mexico City and finally Berlin. In 2007, she trained to teach German as a foreign language at the International House Freiburg. In 2012, she also completed a compact course in communication management at the German Press Academy in Berlin and has since specialised in developing strategies for PR and marketing concepts.

Harriet Lesch has worked in various functions and areas of cultural production since 1991. From 1998 she worked at DepArtment, which produced/managed numerous artists and performing arts projects. She has worked in the areas of production and communication for various festivals and congresses. She is co-founder of WILSON*BORLES arts management (2013 to 2021 framework contract agency of the German Federal Cultural Foundation) and was managing director of the 2014 and 2017 Theater der Welt festivals. In addition, she gives further training in the areas of structure, organization and finance and works as a consultant for festivals, institutions and independent artists.

Laia Montoya is an arts manager, producer and professional coach. Based in Berlin, she is co-director of TINA Agency, a multi-local organization that manages and promotes international projects with artists and institutions from the dance field. As a cultural manager, recently she has developed projects with organizations such as Graner in Barcelona, ICEC – Berlin and Catalan Arts, New Theater Institute of Latvia, Studio Alta and Bazaar Festival in Prague, LAFT Berlin, Loom Festival in Barcelona, among others, promoting of the internationalization of the performing arts in their countries.

Elisa Müller studied acting and theater studies. She works as a performer, director and instructor. Alongside numerous solo projects, she founded the Institut für Widerstand im Postfordismus (the Institute for Resistance in Post-Fordism), an interdisciplinary collective of artists who transform societal questions into discursive and aesthetic formats.She was a board member of LAFT – Landesverband freie darstellende Künste Berlin e.V from 2011 to 2022 and was a member of the Speaker’s Circle of the Berlin Coalition of the Independent Arts until 2016. She was a member Rat für die Künste Berlin (Berlin's artist advisory council) from 2016-2022. 

Yasmin Schönmann is a dancer, choreographer and digital artist. She holds a certificate in contemporary dance from the Iwanson International School in Munich and a Master’s of Fine Arts in Dance and Technology from New York University. After completing her studies, she has concentrated on the connection between dance and film and has realized multiple dance films, digital VR spaces and productions with motion capture technology. Yasmin shares her knowledge in workshops and supports others in presenting their art online.

Martin Stiefermann is a choreographer, mentor, curator and concept creator. Following his training and work at the Hamburgische Staatsoper, he has worked as a choreographer alternating between dance direction positions at repertory and ensemble theaters (Theater Kiel, Oldenburgisches Staatstheater) and as a choreographer in the independent performing arts community, especially with his Berlin-based group MS Schrittmacher, which has now existed for 26 years. He directed the residency program at Schloss Bröllin from 2018 to 2021 and has been part of the leadership team of the TANZPAKT project MECKLENBURG-VORPOMMERN TANZT AN since 2018. He has worked as an artistic partner of the label Art Hacking® since 2019 and realizes workshops on the topic of the transfer of artistic processes to business questions. He started the project BRUCHSTÜCKE (FRAGMENTS) in 2022, which is dedicated to the task of established dance and performance in the rural area of Oderbruch. He is a co-founder and board member of MS Schrittmacher-Landgang e. V., a founding member of ZTB e. V. and is a member of LAFT Berlin e. V. and also served as a member of its board from 2014 and 2018. He was a member of the Bundesdeutschen Ballett- und Tanztheaterdirektor*innen-Konferenz (BBTK, the German Federal Ballet and Dance Theater Directors Conference) from 2001 to 2006. He has been a member of schloss bröllin e. V. since 2015, a board member of Tanzregion Mecklenburg-Vorpommern e. V. since 2018 and is also a representative within the network TANZ WEIT DRAUßEN. Since 2022, he has been part of the core group responsible for the establishment of TANZINITIATIVE Brandenburg and has been a member of the board of the newly founded association Tanzinitiative-Brandenburg e. V. since the spring of 2024.

 

Alisa Tretau studied social/cultural anthropology and political science at the FU Berlin (2006-11), theater directing at the HfMT Hamburg (2011-15) and art in context at the UdK Berlin (2022-24). Alisa works as a curator and production manager e.g. with Frauen und Fiktion, Peng! Kollektiv, She She Pop and Klasse Klima, as a mediator with Theatertreffen der Jugend, HKW, UdK Berlin, Viadrina FFO and many more. As a director/author, e.g. WÜSTE ZUKUNFT (2020), BETON WÜSTE ZUKUNFT (2023), TRAVE TALKS (2023), DER VERSCHWUNDENE SEE (2023), Alisa always pursues immersive, often improvised formats and asks questions about the political in the private sphere. In 2018 she published the anthology NICHT NUR MÜTTER WAREN SCHWANGER (edition assemblage). Alisa has two small children.

For more than 35 years, Katharina von Wilcke has been active in various fields of the performing arts – as a producer, curator, mediator and lecturer. She founded the production office DepArtment in 1996, was project manager and programmer at numerous festivals and co-directed four editions of the TANZKONGRESS on behalf of the German Federal Cultural Foundation from 2005 to 2016. Since 2013, she has been working as an expert for the Berlin Performing Arts Program and other cultural and educational institutions, supporting artists and institutions in the conception, application and presentation of their projects in consultations and workshops. She also designs mediation formats to generate new audiences and will soon be able to call herself a transformation manager for sustainable culture.

www.katharinavonwilcke.de