Teachers & Facilitators

Learn more about our talented community.

Teachers & Facilitators

Here are the people who offer events, dance classes, retreats and much more in SerVivo.

Aude Fondard

“Aude _ poet in motion” initially trained for stage acting in France and in London (2005-2009) and reconnected with dance in Sydney thanks to Mira Mansell, Entity Dance Company. From 2011 she delved into the contemporary dance world with Stella Zannou, Britta Pudelko and Rakesh Sukesh at Tanzfabrik, Berlin. She eventually joined Atsushi Takenouchi’s Jinen Butoh School in Tuscany (2016-17).
She regularly attends Contact Improvisation festivals and intensives (Katie Duck, Jules Beckmann, Daniel Werner and Anjelika Doniy influenced her attitude to dance) and frequent butoh workshops (with Minako Seki, Yumiko Yoshioka, Lorna Lawrie, Sachiko Ichikawa.)

“One of my focus as a dance artist is landscape. I am especially interested in the spirit of the place and its impact on human beings. When I am not performing or writing poetry, I facilitates Contact Improvisation jams and classes, butoh-inspired dance journeys and dance with nature sessions.”

Find out more about Aude at http://oddinmotion.info/en/aude_fondard/

Carlota Oliveira

Carlota is a movement artist and practitioner that flows between contemporary dance, circus and contact improvisation. Dedicated and passionate about performing arts and the dialogue between it and community. In her Academic training she went to Chapitô School of Circus Arts, in Lisbon, the Academy of Music and Theater Arts, Dance & Choreography, in England, and more recently, FOR Dance Theater with Companhia Olga Roriz in Lisbon. In her artistic body she is interested in the idiosyncrasies of human beings, the relationship with the world and their conditions in the body. Carlota has been developing work with the community, within a range of immense different backgrounds relative to movement practices, as a facilitator, teacher and director of creative processes.

“The constant discoveries of a mutant and ever evolving sense of being, as well as the possibility to share it with the world, are my reasons to continue navigating.”

Esther Kasenda

Esther Kasenda is an Artist, Dancer and Movement Facilitator. 
Founder of Conscious Soul Center, a center for art, healing and movement. 
‘’I see life as a dance and understanding how to flow and move through it, makes me feel so alive. Dance helps me to stay present physically, mentally and close to my heart.’’  
Helping people to (re)connect with their own bodies and get them into movement, expression and dance for healing is one of my missions here on earth. 
Her background is in Urban Dances, Theatre and Arts Therapies with specialization in Dance and Movement Therapy in the Netherlands, where she shared her work for the past 8 years within groups of people of all ages. 
Make your life dance! I hope to see you soon! 

Fabienne Gonzalez

Fabienne is a French clown-actress and director. After her master degree in Chinese langage, she studied Beijing Opera for 2 years in Taïwan. Twenty five years ago, she discovered the art of clowning and devoted herself to an intensive learning of this discipline (attending Philippe Gaulier’s Drama School and Michel Dallaire’s Clown School). She worked as a clown with various dance and theater companies, and created 2 solos in which her clownish character likes to talk and dance. She has also trained in martial art (Aikido), release techniques (body mind centering, feldenkraiss), yoga, contact-dance, and more recently she started practicing taiqi, forro, 5 rythms, ecstatic, gaga dance and Lisa Nelson Tuning Score. She has worked with theater directors and choreographers using improvisation and cross artforms, such as Ariane Mnouchkine, Robin Orlyn, Joao Fiadeiro, Julyan Hamilton, Marcus Borja and Joël Pommerat.

Jennie Zimmermann

Jennie Zimmermann works in the intersection of somatics, dance and soundart. Within her experience as a CI Dancer and Somatic Practitioner she offers movement improvisation based workshops and facilitates festivals. As a musician she arranges durational minimalistic polyphonic setups for performance and dance, experimenting with layers of subtle sounds, voice and field recordings. Her research and work is influenced by Contact Improvisation, Roy Hart Theatre Voice Work, Experiential Anatomy, Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies and Body Mind Centering®.

Find out more about Jennie at www.jenniezimmermann.de

Jo Bruhn

Since 2001, Jo had dedicated his life to the performing arts in various facets. For more than 15 years he performed with the company “Mosaique – Fire Art and Artistry” at countless events all over Europe. In 2007 dance without fire arrived in his life. Delicate encounters with Contact Improvisation began and over time he focused more and more on CI, attending advanced training, festivals and workshops.

“One day I reached the point where I felt that I wanted to open the horizon in other directions. This motive brought me to the “Dance Intensive” at the Tanzfabrik Berlin where I finally acquired the skills to go deeper into the different levels and concepts of Contact Improvisation and performance. The intensive work with Nancy Stark Smith ultimately gave me the foundation and confidence to teach and to integrate Contact Improvisation into my dance projects.”

Find out more about Jo at www.jo-bruhn.de/welcome

Lydia Müller

For 19 years, Lydia has been working professionally as a dancer, dance teacher and choreographer in the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Latin America, Singapore and Europe. She received her diploma of dance at Codarts, Dance Academy Rotterdam and has been working since then for several professional dance companies, community art projects and interactive streettheater performances. Lydia gives workshops, retreats and private sessions.

Find out more about Lydia at www.lydiaconnection.com AND https://www.facebook.com/LydiaDanceProject

Natalia Vik

Natalia received her dance education at Copenhagen Contemporary Dance School, Denmark. She is a certified teacher of Gaga after completing her teacher training in Tel Aviv in 2012. For the last 10 years she has shared her movement research around Europe, Brazil, Argentina and the US. Bringing movement classes to dance educations, dance companies, festivals and Gaga people classes open for the public. Natalia is also a practitioner of qigong (taijiwuxigong) and spends a lot of time in nature which is a great influence for her movement research and general curiosity/inspiration for life.

Pedro Paz

Pedro is a researcher in the field of Movement and Contact Improvisation and has a background in classical and contemporary dance techniques. He has directed artistic projects, companies, retreats and gatherings, including Arrábida Labs. In total he has about twenty years of professional experience as a dancer, teacher and choreographer. Focused on the theme of “Self-awareness for the Collective Energetic Field”, Pedro believes that dance is a liberating tool for truthful interactions, empowering us through our embodied Presence.

Virgílio Beatriz

Since 2009, Virgilio has been a facilitator / trainer / space holder with the mission of helping people to awaken their essence. On his path of self-discovery, he realized that the body is a great tool for meditation and for achieving inner peace. Since then, conscious movement and voice, as forms of connection and creative exploration, are part of his proposals to awaken the essence.
Virgilio is founder and facilitator of Ecstatic Dance Portugal (Lisbon and Arrábida).

Find out more at https://virgiliobeatriz.wordpress.com/