Born in Brazil in 1956, Lia Rodrigues studied classical ballet in São Paulo, before founding Grupo Andança in 1977. Between 1980 and 1982, she came to France and joined the Compagnie Maguy Marin where she participated in the creation of 'May B'. She then returned to Brazil, where she settled in Rio de Janeiro and founded her company, the Lia Rodrigues Companhia de Danças in 1990. In 1992, she founded the annual Contemporary Dance Festival Panorama de Dança, which she ran until 2005.
Lia Rodrigues’ Company - Companhia de Danças - is recognized nationally and internationally, and is part of the movement which promoted contemporary dance in Brazil. Stimulating discussion, promoting debate forums, raising individual awareness to the issues of contemporary art, generating intellectual and festive encounters, supporting and investing in training and information for new audiences, are just some of the Company’s actions.
In 2004, invited by the Company’s playwright Sylvia Soter, Lia Rodrigues decided to invest a part of the city of Rio which was so far little known to contemporary artists, the favela of Maré. Lia Rodrigues' commitment to Maré is reflected in the daily presence and active involvement of her dance company here since it started, through the presentation of her shows and repertoire, as well as through educational and artistic projects which integrate the local Maré community. Lia Rodrigues also created, in partnership with the association Redes de Maré, the Centro de Artes de Maré in 2009 and the Free School of Dance of the Maré.
The French government awarded Lia the medal of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2005, and in 2014 she received the prize of The Prince Claus Foundation of the Netherlands. In 2016, she received the SACD Choreography Prize.

Luc Vaes did his basic musical studies at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent in Belgium, in France, Cologne and Buffalo's State University of New York. He worked with composers such as Earle Brown, Mauricio Kagel, Lou Harrison, Frederic Rzewski, Ned Rorem, George Crumb, Kevin Volans, Helmut Lachenmann, John Cage, Edison Denisow, etc. and creates new works each year, most of them written especially for him. He made numerous recordings for television and radio both in Europe and in the USA and played solo concerts at renowned venues and festivals. He has conceived and co-ordinated concerts and festivals in Ghent, Brussels, Toronto, New York and Chicago. He was director of the Belgian new music ensemble Champ d'Action and founded the Flemish leg of the international November Music festival organization, of which he is currently director. Besides being invited as a member of the jury of international competitions, Luk Vaes has written and produced programs for the Belgian Radio and recorded several CD's. His repertoire contains not only 'classics' from the traditional piano literature and the major works and styles of the 20th century music but also the complete works by Mauricio Kagel, programs presenting New Music of the Russian Commonwealth, musical theatre, Post Modernism, slide shows, an 8 hour marathon of American music, etc.

Lucy Grauman trained as a classical singer after having had some experience in theater and singing jazz. Her eclectic career has mainly focused on contemporary music, as a soloist and in ensembles. She has practiced free improvisation with electronics as well as singing classical recitals. In the past ten years she has developed as a choir conductor. Se presently leads a children’s choir ‘Shanti! Shanti!’ and conducts and composes for a women’s ensemble ‘Ik zeg adieu’ (Music-Theater creation in 2016 with director Marijs Boulogne). Since 2009 she has been gathering songs, taught to her by people from all over, and particularly from asylum seekers. She has been arranging these songs for amateur groups that perform regularly (Voix de Voyageurs, Stemagnifique). As a teacher she has been coaching actors and dancers for many years and has been teaching at P.A.R.T.S. since the beginning.

Ludo Abicht is a philosopher and writer. He has taught philosophy, German literature and European Studies at universities and institutes for higher education in the United States and Belgium. After his retirement he is still visiting professor at P.A.R.T.S. and at the universities of Antwerp and Ghent. He has published a lot on issues such as utopia, Marxism, the Middle East and leftist nationalism.

A reoccurring focus to much of Marcus Bergner’s artworks and related research has been in shifting and rethinking points of intersection that operate between/within the worlds of visual art, literature, art history, film, and performance. As part of these investigations he has made over 25 experimental films that have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions/screenings in museums, galleries and cinemas across Australia, Europe and North America. These films are divided into three distinct lines of production: language/poetry, spatial/performance, and visual art areas. Between 1985 and 2000 as a member of the Australian sound poetry group Arf Arf, Bergner performed extensively throughout Australia and Europe. In 2010 he completed a PhD research project (University of Melbourne) that considers experimental film in light of changing approaches to the discipline of art history. Since 2009 he has conducted on-going experimental film and performance workshops at the Czech Film Academy in Prague (FAMU), as well as lecturing on media history at the University of New York, also in Prague. In 2013 he was invited to take part in the unique exhibition/performance event ‘Words Live’ in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. He will premiere a major new film and performance work commissioned by the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart early 2017. Presently he lives and works between Australia and Europe and is completing a series of essayistic pieces that demonstrate and explore the noetic and conspiratorial necessity of instigating forms of ‘incomprehensible art criticism.

Marie Goudot (b. 1978, France) studied dance at the Rudra Béjart School in Lausanne. She joined the Béjart Ballet Lausanne in 1998 and left in 2000 to pursue a freelance career. She was introduced to contemporary and contact dance over a period of several years while working with Russell Maliphant in London, and later with the Alias Company in Geneva. In 2005 she joined Michaël Pomero and Julien Monty to found the Loge 22 collective, a space for choreographic research and collective creations. Loge 22 has created a dozen or so dance productions to date, films and choreographies included. Loge 22 is a cofounder of Europe’s SPIDER Festival, staging events in Slovenia, Croatia, Greece, France, and Belgium. In 2010 Goudot joined Rosas for Cesena and Vortex Temporum, and also took part in Work/Travail/Arbeid and Così fan tutte.

Since graduating from the London School of Contemporary Dance in 1991, Mark Lorimer has worked as dancer, choreographer, teacher and rehearsal director.His main collaborations as a dancer have been with Rosas/Anne-Teresa De Keersmaeker (1994 - present) and with ZOO/Thomas Hauert (1997- 2005). Alongside these he has worked on many projects with (among others) The Featherstonehaughs/Lea Anderson, Bock & Vincenzi, Mia Lawrence, Jonathan Burrows, Deborah Hay, Alix Eynaudi and Boris Charmatz. As a choreographer he has made two full-length evening works "To Intimate" with cellist Thomas Luks and fellow Rosas mainstay Cynthia Loemij, and "Dancesmith - Camel, Weasel, Whale" again with Cynthia plus graphic artist and dancer Clinton Stringer. In March of 2016 he made a piece for Bodhi Project SEAD, Salzburg - “Darwin’s Gypsy Dance” that is currently touring. He has also made works with students of the Laban Centre, London, and a duet with Chrysa Parkinson - "Nylon Solution". As a rehearsal director he has worked on several creations with Rosas and continues to tour with "Vortex Temporum" while dancing in Boris Charmatz's "Manger" and the second collaboration with Alix Eynaudi - “Edelweiss”. Future projects include assisting and performing for new work with Anne-Teresa De Keersmaeker/Rosas, a solo with musician George Van Dam and video artist Manon De Boer, a new work of Alix Eynaudi “Chesterfield”, a short project with theatre-makers Marlene Saldana & Jonathan Drillet “The Rite of Arab Spring”, a collaboration with artist Juergen Staack for a gallery piece in Toulouse, and a reprise of Alain Buffard’s “Les Inconsolés”. Last summer 2015 Mark was a member of the collective DanceWeb leadership at Impulstanz in Vienna alongside teaching and performing in the festival. He teaches regularly at P.A.R.T.S., Manufacture, Lausanne (generating personal material and musical choreographic writing), CDC - Toulouse, and for other institutions and independent dance organisations.

Marta Coronado, born in Spain, studied ballet technique and graduated as a ballet dancer from Escuela Oficial de Danza del Gobierno de Navarra. She was part of the contemporary dance company Yauzkari until she moved to Brussels. She attended the two years dance program of P.A.R.T.S. first cycle. In 1998, she became a member of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's company Rosas. She danced and participated in the creations of Rosas such as: Drumming, I said I, In real time, Rain, April me, Bitches Brew, Kassandra, Rain Raga and D' un soir un jour. In the season 2002 she was awarded a Bessie (New York Dance and Performance Award) for sustained achievement as a performer. She co-directed at P.A.R.T.S. for the Rosas repertory graduation projects. In 2011 and 2014 she teaches a Rosas repertory piece, Rain at the Paris Opéra. In 2015 she teaches Drumming at the Opera de Lyon. She had the opportunity to teach Rosas Repertory and composition workshops worldwide. She has been invited as a guest choreographer to La Salle Singapore, CDC Toulouse and Compañia Fueradeleje. She teaches technique at Rosas Company, Les ballet C. de la B. the Ballet de Marseille, P.A.R.T.S., Ultima vez company, ImPulsTanz, Charleroi Danses, Thor Company, La Raffinerie, Conservatorio superior de Madrid and Theater school Amsterdam. Nowadays she free lances for Rosas and is part of the new collective House of Bertha. Their first piece White Noise premiered in MDT Stockholm in 2011.

Martin Kilvady was born in 1974 in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia, where he graduated from secondary school. Subsequently, he enrolled in a program for teacher education in contemporary dance at the Comenius University in Bratislava, the School of Music and Dramatic Arts where he received his "Master of Arts".

Martin Nachbar is dancer and choreographer and writes for several dance and theater magazines. He received his training at the School for New Dance Development (Amsterdam), in New York and at P.A.R.T.S. (Brussels). In 2010, he received a master’s degree at the Amsterdam Master of Choreography (AMCh). He is currently a PhD candidate at the HCU Hamburg. His collaborations include engagements with Les Ballets C. de la B. and Vera Mantero, shared works with Thomas Plischke, Jochen Roller and Martine Pisani, with composer Benjamin Schweitzer and with dramaturge Jeroen Peeters as well as a cooperation with visual artist Paul Hendrikse. He received several grants and prizes, among which the first Choreography Award Ludwigshafen 2006. His pieces, including “Repeater – Dance Piece with Father”, “Urheben Aufheben – Reconstructing Dore Hoyer” and “Animal Dances”, tour internationally. Martin Nachbar teaches regulary in improvisation, contact improvisation, choreography/composition and physical dramaturgy since 2001.

Matteo Fargion studied composition with Kevin Volans at the University of Natal, South Africa, and later with Howard Skempton in London. He has written music for many dance pieces collaborating, among others, with Siobhan Davies, Russell Maliphant and Jeremy James. He met Jonathan Burrows in 1988, and has since written music for most of his pieces, including ‘Dull Morning’, ‘Stoics’, ‘Very’, ‘Our’, ‘Hands’, ‘The Stop Quartet’ (with Kevin Volans) and ‘Things I Don't Know’, in which he also performed ‘Donna Che Beve’ for 3 amplified cardboard boxes. In 2000 they made Both Sitting Duet together, which has toured to 17 countries and won a Bessie Award in New York. In 2005 they premiered their next collaboration, The Quiet Dance, in Munich, which is currently touring. He and Jonathan are currently working on a third piece. Apart for concert music, Matteo has also written music for theatre including an oratorio (‘Das Kontingent’) commissioned by and performed at the Schaubühne Berlin and TAT Frankfurt, a chamber opera (‘Le Bellezze d’Hortensia’) at the Theaterhaus in Stuttgart, as well as incidental music for many productions at the Residenz Theater Munich and the Stuttgart Schauspielhaus. In 2004 he wrote music for Thomas Ostermeier’s prize winning production of Jon Fosse's new play ‘The Girl on the Sofa’ shown at the Edinburgh International Festival, and in 2005 he collaborated and performed in Canadian choreographer Lynda Gaudreau’s ‘Document 4’ in Gent, Belgium. His piece ‘Duets’, written in collaboration with Kevin Volans, is released on Black Box Records. He is currently collaborating with Siobhan Davies on a piece which will open in her new building in May this year, and incidental music for a new Botho Strauss play starring Bruno Ganz. Matteo also has taught 2nd year composition workshops at P.A.R.T.S. since 2000.

Mattijs Van Damme, composer, was born in 1975 in Bruges. After taking classes in piano and chamber music at the Stedelijk Conservatorium Brugge, he undertook advanced studies in piano, music theory (harmony, counterpoint and fugue) and composition at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. Among his professors you find pianist Jan Michiels and composers Jean and Franklin Gyselynck. During several international summer academies, such as Centre Acanthes in Avignon (France) and Bartòk Seminar in Szombathély (Hungary), Mattijs Van Damme had meaningful encounters with such composers as Jonathan Harvey, Helmut Lachenmann and Michael Jarrell, who were a major influence on his further evolution as a young composer. ‘Nescio’ for eleven strings, premiered by the Kamerorkest Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel and later, ‘Interview’ for violin solo, commissioned by the Handelsbeurs Gent and premiered by Patricia Kopatchinskaya, was as a debute enthusiastically received by the audience and the press: “...Interview sounded most convincing as this creation – with its webernian balance of musical means – fitted perfectly in the context of this refined concert...” (Knack magazine). Other commissions folowed for Transitfestival (Festival van Vlaanderen, Vlaams-Brabant), Holland Festival (Amsterdam) and Concertgebouw Brugge. Mattijs Van Damme lives and works in the city of Ghent and is associated to Stedelijk Conservatorium Brugge as a teacher of piano and music theory.

The work of Mette Edvardsen is situated within the performing arts field as a choreographer and performer. Although some of her works explore other media or other formats, such as video, books and writing, her interest is always in their relationship to the performing arts as a practice and a situation. With a base in Brussels since 1996 she has worked for several years as a dancer and performer for a number of companies and projects, and develops her own work since 2002. She presents her works internationally and continues to develop projects with other artists, both as a collaborator and as a performer. A retrospective of her work was presented at Black Box theatre in Oslo in 2015. She is currently a research fellow at Oslo Arts Academy.

Choreographer and dancer Mette Ingvartsen graduated from P.A.R.T.S. in 2004 and has been developing her own projects since 2002. Her work deals with the change of perspectives and the perception of the body within different frameworks of presentation. In 2008 she took part in '6M1L - SIX MONTHS ONE LOCATION' a project confronting questions around education, structures of production and artistic exchange initiated by Xavier Le Roy and Bojana Cvejic. She is part of the collective COCO’s who presented Breeding, Brains and Beauty in 2008 and has collaborated with Jan Ritsema and Bojana Cvejic on several theater performances. In 2010 she turned her attention to projects dealing with notions of artificial nature. In this context she created 'Giant City' and 'Evaporated Landscapes' and also 'The Artificial Nature Project' (2012). In October 2014 she returned with the premiere of '69 positions', the first part of her 'Red Pieces' cycle focusing on the relation between the politics of the body and structures of society. This was followed by the second work of the series '7 pleasures' in 2016. Mette Ingvartsen is part of the new artistic team at the Volksbühne in Berlin under the direction of Chris Dercon. She holds a PhD in choreography from UNIARTS/ Lunds University in Sweden.

Michael Beil studied piano, music theory and composition. In 1996 he taught music theory and composition at the music conservatories in Kreuzberg and Neukölln in Berlin as director of the precollege department and the department of contemporary music. At this time Michael Beil also directed the Klangwerkstatt – a contemporary music festival in Berlin and founded in 2000 together with Stephan Winkler the team Skart to present concerts based on interdisciplinary concepts. In 2007 he became the professor for electronic music at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne and director of the studio for electronic music.

Michel Debrulle is a percussionist who got his basic musical formation at the I.A.C.P. in Paris and at the Conservatoire Royal de Liège, where he studied also improvisation and Jazz. He took master classes at the Creative Music Studio in the USA with Trilok Gurtu (India), Nava Vasconcellos (Brazil) and Amadu Garre (Sierra Leone). A scholarship of the foundation S.P.E.S. gave him the opportunity to travel to India and Cuba to perfection his musical knowledge and skills. Active both as a musician and a pedagogue, Michel Debrulle toured extensively in Europe, USA, Canada, Marocco with various music ensembles, amongst which Trio Bravo, La Grande Formation, Tous Dehors Big Band, Trio Grande, Rêve d’Eléphant Orchestra and contributed to many CD registrations. He is involved as a musician in theatre and dance performances and gives different types of rhythm classes and workshops to actors and dancers. In his pedagogical work he concentrates on the organic understanding and internalisation of the rhythm, privileging the relation between earth and air. Important element in this process is the practise of various oral rhythmical traditions linked to analysis of and improvisation on different approaches of time and space.

Michiel Vandevelde studied dance and choreography at P.A.R.T.S., Brussels. He is active as a choreographer, curator, writer and editor. As a freelance curator he worked or works for: Extra City Kunsthal, Het Bos, Bâtard festival, Z33, Precarious Pavilions. He is involved as an editor in the Disagree. magazine, and he has written articles for Etcetera, De Witte Raaf, Rekto:Verso, Mister Motley, etc. From 2017 to 2021 Michiel Vandevelde is artist in residence at Kaaitheater (Brussels, BE). In his work he investigates the elements that constitute or obstruct the contemporary public sphere. He explores which other social, economic and cultural alternatives we can imagine in order to question, challenge and transform dominant logics and ways of organizing. He has been developing a variety of projects both in public space and in (performing) arts institutions.

Miquel de Jong is the choreographic assistant and movement coach of Panama Pictures training the performers and working in close collaboration with choreographer Pia Meuthen. Next to this he works as a dancer, a rolfer and a teacher giving workshops in many countries such as Russia, Spain, Germany and China. His dance career started at Scapino Ballet, the Netherlands and then brought him to France where he worked as first soloist at the renown modern dance company L’Opera de Lyon and Ballet Preljocaj and later to London where he danced for choreographer Russell Maliphant. Through the inspiring work with Russell he came in contact with a variety of movement styles and techniques such as improvisation, contact improvisation, capoeira, acrobatics and body-mind techniques like yoga, thai chi, rolfing and meditation. His view on dance and movement changed entirely and led him to discover his own method for teaching improvisation and instant composition called improXchange.

Myriam Van Imschoot is based in Brussels where she works across media as performance and video. She has a background in dance and literature. From 2007 her work as a sound and performance artist has been presented in Europe, Australia and the United States. In a first cycle of works (2007-2011) Myriam Van Imschoot used archives as her medium. The duet Pick-up Voices 2007 with Christine De Smedt, Fax Film (2008) and the juke box sound installation Black Box 2009 showed an interest in the performative potential of archival documents and the construction of alternative historiographies through them. Her solo Living Archive 2011 was a personal testimony of what could be any 'girl living next-door with a passion for mixed tapes'. The interest in sonic archival materials led Myriam Van Imschoot from 2010 to engage her own vocal and gesturing body, as it is inhabited by multiform sonic realities of the past and present. Voice became a main vehicle for performances that investigate techniques (internal) and their applications in urban, rural, theater spaces and various social constellations. Fascinated by phenomena of long-distance communication, she studied yodelling and made pieces that involve crying, waving and bird calls. Myriam Van Imschoot switches between works that are made in situ and those that can tour, between small occasion pieces or bigger productions, with an ongoing interest to explore and traverse contexts. In parallel to the performance work Van Imschoot develops a series of films that link with themes in the performance and installation work, like landscape, architecture, archive, folklore and broken voices. In Brussels she has been crucial in curating contexts for research and exchange amongst artists coming from different fields, for example, through the Voicelabs, Soirée Paroles and other events that she curated for the workplace Sarma, an organisation for discursive practice founded by her in 2001. After a sabbatical she founded with Oral Site a new branch within Sarma for multimodal artist publications on the net Oral Site (2012-now) based on new software Olga, especially designed for this purpose. In October 2015 Van Imschoot launched Volume SP, a compilation series for sound poetry. Upcoming in 2016 is an Online Gallery that she co-curates for one year with Kristien Van den Brande, including temporary and permanent contributions by artists. Through all these activities Van Imschoot occupies an idiosyncratic place in the larger art field. Her approach cuts through media, nurtured by her careful attention for overlooked gestures, phenomena and voices.

Born in Paris in 1987, Noé Soulier studied at the National Ballet School of Canada and P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels. He received a master’s degree in philosophy at La Sorbonne University (Paris IV) and took part in Palais de Tokyo’s residency program: Le Pavillon. In 2010, he won the first prize of the competition Danse Élargie, organized by Le Théâtre de la Ville in Paris and Le Musée de la Danse with the trio Little Perceptions in which he started an ongoing research on ways of defining movement. With the solo Movement on Movement (2013), he dissociates gestures from speech to question how they collaborate to create meaning. In 2014, he explored the syntax of ballet vocabulary with Corps de ballet for the CCN – Ballet de Lorraine. In Movement Materials (2014) and Removing (2015), he develops further the research initiated with Little perceptions on the perception and interpretation of movement. In October 2016, he publishes Actions, mouvements et gestes, a choreographic research that takes the form of a book, with the press of the Centre national de la danse.

Qualified shiatsu practitioner and certified teacher of the European Iokaï Shiatsu Association, Palle Dyrvall teaches Iokaï shiatsu in Brussels and assists Thierry Camagie, vice-president of EISA, for level 2 et 3 en Belgium. Before dedicating himself to shiatsu Palle managed a career as a dancer, during which he practiced several somatic techniques such as Release Technique, Alexander Technique and Body Mind Centering, which allowed him to develop a deep knowledge of the human body and its energetic system, and to acquire empirical as well as intuitive knowledge. In parallel, he is practicing since twenty years oriental arts of health like Do-In, Qi Gong and Yoga. He is also a graduate of the Yoseido Shiatsu Academy (Master Yuichi Kawada).

Paul Craenen is a composer, teacher, researcher and currently director of Musica, Impulse Centre for Music. As a composer and teacher of music, he links a classical training to work with the newest instruments and techniques. In his role as a researcher and director, he attempts to bridge the gap between existing music practice, scientific findings and the wider cultural context in which musical activity can unfurl. He earned his master’s degree in piano and chamber music from the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven, Belgium. Since then he has taught piano and experimental music at various music schools. He has designed several pioneering educational projects involving new music and the use of new media in music education.

Paul Tucker was an instructor in the British Army Physical Training Corps and responsible for unit physical fitness and physical education of Physical Training Instructors at the Army School of Physical Training. Currently he is the owner of the Paul Tucker Personal Training Studio in Brussels, and teaches defence courses, courses training.

Petra Van Brabandt is a philosopher and wrote a PhD thesis on the moral philosophy of David Hume. She teaches at the art school Sint-Lucas in Antwerp and does research into the field of art & narrativity and art & pornography.

Pieter Smout was born in 1979 in Mechelen, Belgium. From 1997 to 2003 he studied classical piano and free improvisation in the Royal Conservatory in Brussels with Jan Michiels and Kris Defoort. Since 2003 he has been working as a pianist and accompanist, mainly for musical theatre, improvisation, dance, choir, jazz, pop and entertainment. As a freelancer he worked with Rosas, Royal Ballet School Antwerp, Musichall, Joop van de Ende, Brussels Philharmonic, Blindman, Lod and the Belgian Improvisation Liga. Currently he works in Brussels as a musical theatre director at the Royal Conservatory and the Kunsthumaniora. As a ballet accompanist he plays regularly in P.A.R.T.S. and the Academy of Arts in Zaventem.

Robert Steijn (1958), based in amsterdam and mexico city as a choreographer, director, dramaturge, performer and writer.

In Vienna he founded together with frans poelstra the company united sorry they made work for theatres, galleries and the public space. their latest projects were the location event “the forest project” during Steirische Herbst Festival 2014, and the concertperformance “No nothing”( Vienna 2015).

He made two solo performances in the format of lecture performances, “facing the invisíble” about the death of his father (premiere Barcelona 2003) and “a reborn smoker, dweilling in the clouds of imagination" ( premiere san francisco 2010) ”, this is a dance solo testing the magic beliefs of himself and the audience based on shamanic strategies. Now he started to develop a snake dance and teaches this solo to others. This solo is called” shedding skins” Premiere nadaLokal Vienna, december 2016)

He likes to work in duet form with other choreographers from different backgrounds. He worked with choreographers as Latifa Labissi (Rennes), Anne Teresa de Keersemaeker (Rosas/Brussels), Maria Hassabi (New York), Georg Blaschke (Vienna) Christina Rizzo (Bologna)and Laura Rios (Mexico City). In theatre events he works with the choreographer Jessica Huber in Zürich. Lately he is investigating the intimacy of being human, and as a research he made a duet with the Mexican choreographer Ricardo Rubio, called “prelude on love” that premiered in Sao Paolo in november 2015. He made a duet with Angela Schubot, called “Brothers” that premiered in februari 2017 in Berlin. In Mexico he developed artist gatherings around the theme of how to deeal with the violence in society, called” facing the smell of death “ ( Mexico City, Guernavaca, Chihuahua). In 2017 he started a new project with Ricardo Rubio concerning saliva and the glands, called “loverhood “ and he is artist in resident in Ceprodac/Mexico City.

Within the field of visual art he worked with a.o. frans poelstra ( a.o. Lentosmuseum Linz, Fondation Cartier in Paris) and Christine Laquette ( pioneers in New York)

He teaches at theatre-art and dance academies: the SNDO in Amsterdam, p.a.r.t.s in Brussels, Apass in Brussels, Hzau in Berlin, Doch in Stockholm and sometimes during Impulstanz in Vienna.

Roberta Mosca, choreographer, dancer, performer, studied and worked at the School of Dance Teatro alla Scala Milan, John Skull Schule Stuttgart, Vienna State Opera, Leipzig Opera, Aterballetto, Maggio Fiorentino, and danced for many years with the Frankfurt Ballet and the Forsythe Company. Recently she has also collaborated as a free-lance with dance groups including MAMAZA, mk, espz and choreographers as Laurent Chetouane. In 2003 she created in collaboration with Cora Bos Kroese Biarteca an interdisciplinary festival at Valle Cervo (BI), which in 2014 reached its XI edition.

Robin Vanbesien lives and works in Brussels. Vanbesien earned his master’s degree in History at the University of Ghent. He subsequently studied Visual Arts at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and De Ateliers in Amsterdam. His most recent solo and group exhibitions include ‘OMONIA’, 5th Athens Biennial (Athens, 2016), ’Foreign Places’, WIELS (Brussels, 2016); ’citizen without qualities’, Drop City (Newcastle Upon Tyne - Düsseldorf – Brussels, 2016); ‘Gravidade’, Lumiar Cité (Lisbon, 2015). He is the author of the short films ‘Gravidade’ (2015) and ‘assembly for an Oresteia’ (2016), while currently preparing the mid-length film ‘vision for a citizen’, due for completion in Spring 2017.

An active musician on five continents, Robyn Schulkowsky moved to Germany during a heyday of experimental and adventurous classical composition. She has premiered and recorded some of the most important percussion works of the 20th and 21st centuries, working with composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Kevin Volans, John Cage, Morton Feldman and Iannis Xenakis, presenting their works during tours that included the former Soviet Union, India, Africa, South America, Korea, Japan as well as at major European music festivals. Robyn Schulkowsky’s adventurous nature connects her with exceptional project partners and alternative performance spaces. She has collaborated on multi-media projects with legendary African drummer Kofi Ghanaba, avant-garde visual artist Guenther Uecker, the actress Edith Clever and groundbreaking choreographer Sasha Waltz, and has founded - together with Stephan Andreae - the annual festival Drums Summit Bonn. Robyn Schulkowsky is particularly passionate about education. Since 1998, as founder of Rhythm Lab, she has taken drumming workshops to countless cities, incorporating indigenous drumming styles and patterns from around the globe.

Rubén Orio is a musician based in Brussels. Being a percussionist has allowed him to surf and search in the huge possibilities that percussion offers along his career. Don’t be attached to any concrete instrument, and be open to new sources of sounds lead his interest in music. Work together with other artistic disciplines as dance, sound art or performance has been part of his interest in art too. Formed in Barcelona ESMUC (Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya), CODARTS (Arts school of Rotterdam) and HOGENT (Gent University). He has been performing in venues and festivals such as Biennale di Venezia, MaerzMusik Berlin, Opéra de Paris, Festival van Vlaanderen Kortrijk, SPOR festival in Aarhus, OSTRAVA days, Romanian Athenaeum or MIXTUR festival in Barcelona. Cofounder of FRAMES percussion quartet and TheThirdGuy electric guitar-percussion duo, he is a regular player in ICTUS Ensemble in Brussels and deFilarmonie Orchestra in Antwerpen.

Rudi Laermans is senior professor in social theory at the University of Leuven, Belgium. His recent academic publications are situated at the intersection of canonical sociological theory (esp. the Weberian tradition), social systems theory (esp. Luhmann) and post-Marxist critical theory (Negri & Hardt, Agamben, …). He regularly writes on culture & the arts, including contemporary dance.

Salva Sanchis is a dancer, choreographer and dance teacher living near Barcelona. In 1998 he graduated with the first generation of P.A.R.T.S., and he has been both teaching and producing dance performances since then. He has collaborated with choreographers Marc Vanrunxt and Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker on several occasions. Currently, the two last performances of Salva Sanchis are on tour: “Radical Light” (2016), and “A Love Supreme” (2005/2017), made in collaboration with Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker/Rosas. As of 2017, Salva has indefinitely stopped his choreographing activity and is focusing on studying and teaching.

Samuel Wentz, originally from North Dakota, started his professional training at Idyllwild Arts Academy (’06), received his BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts (’09), and was awarded the Teaching Fellowship as an MFA candidate at Bennington College (’16). He has worked with the Trisha Brown Dance Company (2009-present), Wally Cardona + Jennifer Lacey, Mark Morris, Gerald Casel, Jmy James Kidd, and Christopher Williams. He has taught master classes, nationally and internationally, in contemporary technique and repertory. He’s taught at places such as: P.A.R.T.S. (BE), U.W. Seattle, U.W. Milwaukee, U.C. Berkeley, U.A. Tucson, Duke University, Yale University, the ADF Winter Intensive in Pasadena, CA as well as teaching regular classes for the Trisha Brown Dance Company. His class is influenced by his studies with Barbara Mahler, Gerald Casel, and the work of Trisha Brown. Sam is currently based in Los Angeles, California.

Originally from Calgary, Canada, Sandy Williams attended the University of Calgary and Concordia University before relocating to Brussels in 2002 to attend P.A.R.T.S. He is a longtime dancer with Rosas participating in the creations of Zeitung, The Song, En Attendent and Cesena among others. His own creations include The Kansas City Shuffle, Everything Happens So Much and Forming as well as collaborations with Jan Ritsema (Blindspot, KnowH2ow), Andros Zins-Brown (The Middle Ages, Already Unmade, Day In / Day Out, Limewire), Deborah Hay ("I'll Crane For You”) and Loge 22 (Konkretheit). Sandy’s classes and workshops have been presented worldwide including Vienna, New York, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Venice, Montreal and Sydney. Currently, he is co-cordinator at P.A.R.T.S. of the Training Cycle.

Collaborating since 2004, Belgian artists Sarah & Charles draw inspiration from the world of entertainment and more specifically, its invisible structures. Subjects and genres such as make-believe, simulacrum, the story within the story, cinematic experience, the suspension of disbelief and music are playfully and thoughtfully reviewed in their research and practice. They produce architectural interventions and stage designs combining video, photography, sculpture and installation techniques that communicate both artists’ interests.

Shannon Cooney, Canadian choreographer and dancer and dance educator, based in Berlin, Germany since 2006, received a B.F.A honours/dance at York University, Toronto in 1992. Since 1993 her choreography has been presented in Canada, Europe the in the U.K. She danced with Toronto-based Dancemakers (1994-2006), artistic director Serge Bennathan, which toured extensively nationally and internationally. She has worked with several choreographers including; Benoît Lachambre, Kim Itoh, Peter Chin, Marie-Joseé Chartier, Peggy Baker, and Louise Bedard.
Shannon performed in installation works of Visual artists and performed in numerous events of performance improvisations with musicians, performers and artists. Her video work has been exhibited in galleries in Toronto and Berlin. Shannon worked as: an Artistic Director for a Canadian Dance collective for 6 years, an artistic advisor, creative facilitator for choreographers and with students of the BA dance program at the University der Kunst (HZT) in Berlin, as well as a choreogrpaher and artistic coach for circus artists.
Her recent choreographic projects include: Fielding (2017), Taste of Freedom (2016) , every one everyone (2013), acoustic sightlines (2012), Assemblages (2011) and dance-video installation, Spiral Pendulum: dance (2009).
Her recent teaching for; Meg Stuart/Damaged Goods, Universtiy of Art in Berlin, HZT- BA dance program, Cie. Toula Limnaios, Sasha Waltz and Guest's, Tanzfabrik, Laborgras, Berlin, fabrik Potsdam, Theater Bremen (Unusual Symptoms), K3 Hamburg, (DE) for CND Lyon, Lieues, Lyon and CDC le Pacifique á Grenoble, (FR) P.A.R.T.S., Raffinerie (BE), ImPulsTanz, Tanzquartier Wien, Vienna, Circuit-Est, Montreal, Dancemakers, Toronto's Love-In Toronto, Training Society of Vancouver, Mocean DANce (Halifax) (CAN), Dance House, Dublin (IR) , for the independent dance-improvisor scene in Istanbul, Turkey, for the Weld Comapany and Cullberg Ballet, Danszentrum, Stockholm, and ongoing at Tanzfabrik-Berlin.

After graduating as an engineer, Stefan Prins started to study fulltime piano and composition at the Royal Flemish Conservatory in Antwerp, Belgium. Concurrently, he studied "Technology in Music" at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, "Sonology" at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, “Philosophy of Culture” and “Philosophy of Technology” at the University of Antwerp. In May 2017 Stefan obtained a PhD in composition at Harvard University. As a composer he received several important awards in Belgium and abroad. His compositions have been played worldwide by a.o. Klangforum Wien, Nadar Ensemble, Champ d’Action, Ictus Ensemble and many others. Together with Pieter Matthynssens, Stefan Prins is artistic director of the Belgian ensemble for contemporary music, Nadar Ensemble. Performing improvised music is an important part of Prins's musical activities. Together with Thomas Olbrechts & Joachim Devillé he was one of the founders of the long-standing collectief reFLEXible‚ an ensemble that focuses exclusively on free improvised or instant composed music, often including dance, performance, video, film, installation. Since 2011, he plays laptop in the band Ministry of Bad Decisions, together with Yaron Deutsch (e-guitar) and Brian Archinal (drums).

Stephane Bourhis is a professional dancer. He studied at the Conservatoire National de Danse in Avignon. He started his career at the company Ballet du Théâtre de Lucerne where he stayed 4 years and he then moved to the Béjart Ballet Lausanne (Switzerland) where he danced for over 11 years. He is currently following the Yoga Teacher Training in Brussels in order to become certified in Yoga Iyengar for the Base II diploma. During this training, he regularly attends classes from Alexis Simon, Willy Bok and Rita Poolvoerde. He has actively participated to the Belgian National Conventions of Iyengar Yoga where he was trained by reknown teachers as Zubin Zarthoshtimanesh, Christian Pisano, Faeq Biria, Corine Biria, Abhijata Sridhar (B.K.S. Iyengar's granddaughter) and Rita Keller. He also attends regularly the classes and workshops given by Usha Devi in her yoga study center in Rishikesh (India). He is currently teaching yoga for kids in primary school.

Stine Janvin (NO) is a vocalist, performer and sound artist interested in the flexibility of the voice as an instrument and how it can be shaped and extended by focusing on it’s anatomic features and acoustic potential. Through her projects, created for music theatres, clubs and galleries, Janvin explores the physical aspects of sound, the technical versus the sentimental qualities of the voice, and dualities of the natural/artificial, organic/synthetic, and minimal/dramatic. With an upcoming double LP release with PAN records, introducing a recorded version of her fake synthetic material, and with her ongoing live performances, she continues working between the music and art scene, developing further her methodology of imitation and resonance through audio visual concepts.

Recent presentation of works include Terraforma, IT; Knockdown Center, NYC; CTM festival, Berlin; Berlin Atonal, Kunsthall Oslo; Novas Frequencias, Rio; Météo Festival, Mulhouse; NMASS, Austin TX; Rokolectiv, Bucharest, Issue Project Room, NYC; Lampo/Graham Foundation, Chicago; Norwegian Opera & Ballet, Oslo; Kaaitheater, Brussels; Unsound Festival in Krakow; National Gallery of Warsaw; Oslo Only Connect festival; Performa13, New York.

Stoffel Debuysere (BE, 1975) is a researcher and curator active in the fields of cinema and audiovisual arts. Based in Brussels, he has organized numerous film programs, lectures, performances, and exhibitions in collaboration with a variety of cultural organizations and institutions. He is head programmer for the Courtisane collective and a lecturer in Film Critical Studies at the School of Arts in Ghent where he has recently obtained a PhD with his research project “Figures of Dissent (Cinema of Politics, Politics of Cinema)”.

Taka Shamoto was born in 1975 in Sendai, Japan. At the age of three, she started dancing at the Sendai City Ballet School. For the next ten years, she was taught by Masako Ono. At sixteen, she entered the Balletschule der Hamburgischen Staatsoper John Neumeier in Germany, an education in which classical technique and composition work played a key role. After her three-year education in Hamburg, Taka Shamoto focused on contemporary dance. In 1995 she joined the contemporary dance school P.A.R.T.S. and joined Rosas two years later. She danced in the revivals of Woud and Achterland and contributed to the creation of Just Before, Drumming, I said I, In Real Time, Rain, April me, Bitches Brew / Tacoma Narrows and Kassandra, and the revival of Mozart / Concert Arias. In 2007 she collaborated with Grace Ellen Barkey & Needcompany for The Porcelain Project. In 2010 she performed in Jan Decorte’s Tanzung. Currently she is performing in Avdal and Shinozaki’s projects Field Works-office, Borrowed Landscape, nothing’s for something and as if nothing has been spinning around for something to remember.

Tale Dolven is a Norwegian dancer living and working in Brussels. She has worked with Rosas for 12 years, performing in shows like Fase, Rosas Danst Rosas, Quatuor nr. 4/Bartok, Elena’s Aria, Drumming, and was part of the creation of D’un soir un jour, Steve Reich evening, Zeitung and Golden hours (as you like it). In 2018 Tale works with the theatre group Nature Theatre of Oklahoma, Fieldworks and Rosas, as well as making her own work in collaboration with actor Gabel Eiben and dancer Igor Shyshko. She studied at PARTS.

Theo Clinkard studied at The Rambert School in London before spending twenty years performing work by a diverse range of choreographers, including Yasmeen Godder, Trisha Brown, Wayne McGregor, Michael Keegan-Dolan, Mathew Bourne, Siobhan Davies, Lea Anderson, Rafael Bonachela, Ben Wright, Charles Linehan, Fevered Sleep and Fin Walker among many others.

Currently based in Brighton, UK, his practice spans choreography, pedagogy, performance, design, movement direction and actively initiating dialogue around dance training, working conditions and nature of the art form through the various platforms available to him.

Since launching his own dance company in 2012, he has received invites to tour his choreographic work throughout the UK and internationally (Chile, Ireland, Switzerland, Germany) as well as presenting pieces at British Dance Edition (Edinburgh and Cardiff) and at the Internationale Tanzmesse NRW 2016 (Düsseldorf). Past company work includes Hell Bent (2012), Ordinary Courage (2012), Of Land & Tongue (2014) and Chalk (2014). This Bright Field (2017), Theo’s first large-scale company work for a cast of 13 performers premiered at Brighton Festival in May before touring the UK.

Recent international commissions include Somewhat still. when seen from above (2015) for Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, which was presented as part of the renowned company’s very first evening of new work, and The Listening Room (2016) for Danza Contemporánea de Cuba, which premiered in Havana and toured the UK throughout 2017. Theo regularly choreographs for training institutions and post graduate companies including commissions in England, Austria, Chile, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France and New Zealand. He is currently planning a new duet work for non-theatre and gallery spaces, a new group work that will not be performed for 100 years and a new commissioned work for the inclusive dance company, Candoco.

Since 2015, Theo has been working closely with dance artist, Leah Marojević. Leah has collaborated on most of Theo’s productions within this period and her roles include that of performer, dramaturg, coach, outside eye, artistic advisor and copywriter.

After his studies at the Rotterdam Dance Academy Thomas Hauert worked as a performer with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Gonnie Heggen, David Zambrano and Pierre Droulers. Since 1998 he has been creating dance pieces (e.g. Cows in Space, Verosimile, Modify, Walking Oscar and Accords) with his own Brussels-based company ZOO. Their work has been shown in theaters and festivals all over the world. He has also choreographed pieces for Danças Na Cidade in Maputo/Mozambique, students of P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels and the Laban Center in London and is regularly teaching at P.A.R.T.S. as well as in many other places.

Thomas Plischke is Professor at HZT Berlin. He was born in Aschaffenburg and has been working as a choreographer since he graduated from the Performing Arts Research and Training Studios (P.A.R.T.S.) in Brussels in 1998. His works have received a number of awards and been shown internationally. Since 2001, he has been working continuously with Dr. Kattrin Deufert as the artistwin deufert&plischke.

Theatre as a social situation – from the rehearsal together all the way to the performance – is the motor for choreographic form and the artistic expression of deufert&plischke. Their works are written collectively: from their first cooperation in Europe Endless (2002), in which the fictional biography of the artist twin emerged, all the way to a cooperation with over 20 artists in 24h DURCHEINANDER (2015). In between these two poles there are work series (Anarchive I-III, the Entropischen Institute and Emergence Rooms); here deufert&plischke have been developing their model for a new epic theatre.

Thomas Ryckewaert is a Belgian director and actor. He studied biology and philosophy at the University of Leuven and Dramatic Arts at the Antwerp Conservatory. Thomas’ work balances on the borders between theatre, dance and installation. His most recent creations are Homo sapiens (2010), Portrait (2012) and Genesis (I, II, III) (2013). His work is characterized by a visual and ritual style that tends to explore the dramatic potential of everyday actions. He often works with a mix of actors, dancers and amateurs. As a freelance actor he frequently works for theatre, film and television.

Tom Pauwels studied classical guitar in Brussels, Köln and Münster with Albert Sundermann, Hubert Käppel and Reinbert Evers respectively. In 1995, during his studies at the Brussels Conservatory, he was involved in the founding of Black Jackets Company, a Brussels collective of composers and performers. Ever since these early experiments he has been active in the field of contemporary music, both on classical and electric guitar. From 1999 until 2001 he was a regular member of Champ D’Action, the Antwerp-based ensemble for experimental music. Since 2002 he has worked as a performer and co-artistic leader for the new music ensemble ICTUS (Brussels). Project-wise, he performs with the Anglo-Belgian octet Plus-Minus, ‘Elastic 3’ and Letter Piece Company. He has recorded works by Craenen, Lachenmann, Shlomowitz, Van Eycken and for Cyprès (Ictus) works by Oehring, Harada, Romitelli and Aperghis. After a five-year research project on new music for guitar he became a ‘Laureate of the Orpheus Institute’ with the thesis ‘De Echo van ‘t Saluut’. Since 2002 he has been in charge of teaching new music for guitar at the Conservatory of Gent where he has developed an advanced master program with emphasis on contemporary chamber music in collaboration with the Spectra ensemble and Ictus. This program is designed for musicians wishing to combine further specialization in performing contemporary solo & chamber music with developing their professional career (more info here). He is teaching guitar at the International Summer Courses in Darmstadt. His broad interest in performance has recently led to collaborations with choreographers as Xavier Leroy (see ‘Mouvements für Lachenmann), Maud Le Pladec (see ‘Professor’ and 'Poetry') and Andros Zins-Browne (The Funerals).

Tristan Garcia is a writer of both books of fiction and books of theory. After working with Alain Badiou and Quentin Meillassoux at the ENS, he was awarded his PhD for a thesis on the subject of « representation » in human arts, which he had written under the supervision of Sandra Laugier. On the same year, he published his first novel, translated in English under the title: Hate: a romance (Faber & Faber, 2011). Working as a teacher on short-time contract in the University of Amiens, he continued his career as a novelist (Memories from the Jungle, 2010; In the absence of final ranking, 2011; Browser’s chords, 2012; Faber. The destroyer, 2013) and conducted further researches in metaphysics, leading to the publishing of Form and object. A treatise on things, translated into english. As a defender of a de-determined metaphysics, he’s trying to remain at distance between object ontologies and relational ontologies, and to move away from critical thinking without becoming strictly descriptive: believing that nothing should be reducible by thinking to nothing, nor to another thing, he would like to conceive the very chance of anything, including the negative, in order to experience a new carving of the world.

Ula Sickle (CA/PL) is a choreographer and performer based in Brussels. She creates performances as well as works at the interface of several disciplines, in which she probes pop culture as a global phenomenon. She frequently ventures beyond the canon of contemporary dance, introducing elements of street dance, club culture or mass concerts. Her works are the result of a keen observation of the surrounding reality and how our everyday lives are changed by new technologies and popular culture. Frequently centred around strong performers, Ula searches for forms of choreographic writing, where the cultural coding and political power of ‘popular’ dancing can be revealed or where the musicality and materiality of the body itself can take centre stage.

Ula Sickle has been presented in many international theaters and venues such as Kaaitheater, KVS and Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels BE; ImPulsTanz and TanzQuartier, Vienna AT; Zodiak & Moving in November festival, Helsinki FI; Reykjavik Dance festival, Iceland IS; Tangente, Montreal CA; Nowy Teatr, Warsaw PL; B:OM festival, Seoul KR; Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Zurich CH; les Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis, Paris FR, among others. Ula is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Flemish Community. From July to December 2018 Ula is artist in residence at WIELS Centre for Contemporary Art.

Viviana Mucci studied Medical Physiology and obtained MSC in space Physiology and Health. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Vestibular Pathologies. She has a long background in ballet and rhythmical gymnastics, and works as a personal trainer and sport nutritionist.

Born in 1987 in Brazil, Volmir Cordeiro firstly graduated in theater and worked with the Brazilian choreographers Alejandro Ahmed, Cristina Moura et Lia Rodrigues. Volmir Cordeiro graduated in 2012 from Essais, Angers Choreographic Centerʼs experimental dance training, with Céu, a much-regarded solo work that extensively toured European and Brazilian dance festivals, and he is now working on a PhD thesis on the figures of marginality in contemporary dance. Volmir Cordeiro has performed in the projects of Xavier Le Roy, Laurent Pichaud, Rémy Héritier, Emmanuelle Huynh, Jocelyn Cottencin et Vera Mantero. In 2014, he created the solo Inês, and in 2015, the duet Epoque with the Paris based chilean dancer Marcela Santander Corvalán. He has just closed a first cycle of his work, made of the three solos : Céu, Inês and Rue (created in october 2015 at Musée du Louvre, in collaboration with FIAC). Volmir Cordeiro was the associate artist at Ménagerie de Verre in 2015 and since 2017 is associate artiste at Centre National de la Danse (CND - Pantin). Volmir regularly teaches in choreography courses such as Master Exerce in Montpellier (France), or Master Drama in Gent (Belgium).