Teacher Info (alphabetical):

If you find a description about yourself, that you want to see changed, of if you are a teacher, and not yet added to this list, please mail to the webmaster

Regularly teachers

Anastasia Bezruchko
Claudia Kratzheller
Kees lemmens
Maaike v.d. Westeringh
Oliver Artur (he/they)
Patrick Johnson
Raul Saldarriaga
Sara Licher
Sebas van Wetten
Tom Goldhand

Former and iregularly teachers:

...this info might be outdated

Kristien Sonnevijlle
Monika Förster
Natanja den Boeft
Rita Vilhena
Robin Berkelmans
Tim Justo
Thalia Laric

Enrique van Doezelaar
Hillary Blake Firestone
Iris van Peppen
Pawel Konior
Sarah Kate Gardiner
Suzan Lemont

Musicians

Sometimes we have life musicians at our jam.
- Since about 2023 a regular musician is Antonio Alemanno

-- > detailed information < --

Teachers, current and former

Anastasia Bezruchko   
I am Contact improvisation dancer and teacher. My background based on a somatic principles work with body, contemporary art and performance since about 2012.
For me body awareness is absolutely essential as a human beings, I am adapt off very detail body scanning, consent, deep quality of touch and listening. I would like to share movement exercises what was helpful for me as a dancer to grow awareness. That principals of thinking and embodied aliveness for seeing your one zones of growing in your movement.
I guess the biggest gift what you can have from a dance class is an opportunity to learn how to think and move freely. I wish this classes to be liberating and joyful. I wish in your dances you find connection and rising. Join us for practice that explores contact improvisation techniques, somatic and deep listening skills, quality of touch and composition, trust in your one stability and inspiration.

Claudia Kratzheller   
"Dance - breathe - move - be!
Trust your body as compass for embodied communication, to connect, interact and enjoy relationships."

Claudia is passionate about Tango, loves Contact improvisation and has been teaching and dancing both for many years. She has worked also as coach/trainer in the business world for over 11 years, facilitating international Leadership trainings. After a long career as contemporary dancer she is part of the CI-network in Amsterdam and has been teaching Yoga for over a decade in various studios. Holistic massage treatments are part of her offer, to help people connect to their bodies integrity.
Watch here a short Dance Trailer by ClaudiaImprovisation on freedom of mind / Iron Sky

Current offers:
1 : 1 Embodiment Coaching for men and women
5 month group program: Presence - Power - Pleasure

See also: body-linguistics.com   ;  linkedin.com/in/claudiakratzheller  ; facebook.com/bodylinguistics

Enrique van Doezelaar
Since 1997 Enrique dances African dance, Salsa and 5 rhythms. A few years later he ran into tango and contact improvisation. At this time. Enrique has followed many workshops and training courses with international dance teachers. He goes regularly to contact improvisation weeks and workshops in the Netherlands and Germany. He is to be found in many tango salons.
He has made contact or "TOUCH" to a magical form and is very interested in moving from an active relaxation, both in tango and in contact improvisation. He shares his knowledge and experience with others by teaching in Nijmegen and elsewhere. Enrique says: "Through contact improvisation I can get closer to myself; I love to dance and to be physically very active. For me dancing is meditation and a way to be really in touch with my heart and soul."

See also: studiotangible.nl

Hillary Blake Firestone   studied dance performance and composition at SUNY-Purchase in New York and as a guest student of the Theatreschool Amsterdam. In addition to working as freelance performer and teacher in the US and Europe, she makes pieces which are informed by her improvisation practice. She has studied CI with Nancy Stark Smith, Chris Aiken, K.J. Holmes and Kirstie Simpson amongst others. 

Iris van Peppen   graduated at the School for New Dance Development (SNDO) Theaterschool Amsterdam in 1999. "As a teacher and dance artist I have 18 years of experience, started teaching in 1992."  

See: www.dansimprovisatie.com/

Kees lemmens
"As a dancer I am inspired by other fields of knowledge (I used to work in architecture and fine arts) and even more by other people. Especially giving and taking CI-workshops is for me a way of learning together. Travelling a lot, I worked with many international teachers. And since 2009 I give courses and workshops in The Netherlands and abroad."

Kristien Sonnevijlle
See sansville.wordpress.com

Maaike v.d. Westeringh
What Maaike loves about dance is that it brings us to the beauty of the moment – and every moment is different. Out of this interest her fascination for improvisation and contact-improvisation was born. She followed workshops with Julyen Hammilton and studied intensively with David Zambrano and among others. She has been teaching dance-workshops in nature at Buitenkunst since 2010.
She finds a constant eagerness to learn more about the body’s expression and how dance can contribute something to people’s mental and physical health. She set up her own foundation with two other artists, called Kudde. They develop dance and theater-projects, both in the dance-field and in the community. The last years she has been doing exchange-projects in Uganda, Ghana and Brazil.
After her graduation from the dance academy in Tilburg (NL) in 2004 she has been working as a performer with Loic Perela (Dansateliers Rotterdam), Anne-beth Schuurmans, Marie Goeminne (dansmakers Amsterdam), T.R.A.S.H., Karen Boesser and among others. She also created her own work like the location-project ‘Huisstofmeid’ for the Oerolfestival.  

See also www.kudde.info.

Monika Förster   is a performance artist, movement teacher and shiatsu therapist living in Amsterdam. Since graduating from the New Dance department at the Theaterschool Amsterdam in 1992, [...]
In particular Monika enjoyes Contact Dancing's playfulness and it's benefits for the body. She is also a shiatsy therapist.  

See also: shiatsudansamsterdam.nl

Natanja den Boeft
"I've been dancing for a big part of my life and have been teaching some 28 years now, to professionals and amateurs in many different settings. In my life I've rarely met anything that enchants and satisfies me more than movement, with dance as its ultimate and poetic form of it. I love dancing just as much as teaching, and I can watch the movements in nature, of an animal, or of a group of children endlessly. Contact Improvisation is an old love of mine, we've got a stable relationship... Next to being a dancer and a teacher, I am also a certified Cranio-Sacral therapist."

See also cranio-amsterdam.nl

Oliver Artur(he/they)  
I am a queer transgender movement researcher that discovered CI about 7 years ago in Budapest, Hungary.
Playfulness, physical euphoria, the wild, soft and queer aspect of CI kept my curiosity alive until today.
I sources my research and practice on the early performances of CI made in the US, when the form was developed.
Anya Cloud, Lily Kiara (Skinner Releasing Technique®), Ishmael Houston-Jones, Charlie Morrisey, Makisig Akin, Nita Little, Grégory Chevalier, Defne Erdur (among others) are dancers I had the opportunity to learn from and be inspired by since the beginning of my dance practice and I am endlessly grateful for these encounters.
 - Love, Oliver

Patrick Johnson   began dancing contact improvisation in western Massachusetts, USA in the early 1990's and immediately fell in love with the form. Since then he has danced throughout the US, Canada, and Europe and studied with many of the great teachers. In 2000 he moved to Amsterdam and joined the CI scene here. He is a certified teacher of the Alexander technique and applies it to all of his dancing and teaching. Patrick's classes aim to integrate fundamental principles of support and movement into contact improvisation to provide free, dynamic, expressive dancing.  

See also smartbody.nl/en/alexander-technique

Raul Saldarriaga, a Contact Improvisation teacher and dancer based in Amsterdam, explores natural movements and ongoing discoveries within the dance realm. Raul did a Master’s in Choreography and Community from CODARTS University and FONTYS University, a Master’s in Interactive Media and Environments from Hanze university, complemented by Bachelor’s degrees in Contemporary Dance and Art Pedagogy in the Universidad Distrital in Colombia.  

Read more: casagrafia.com

Robin Berkelmans
Ik ben uitvoerend danser, dansdocent en maker van dans. Je kan bij mij terecht voor danslessen, performance, workshops en lezingen over allerlei aspecten van dans en theater.   

Read more: robinberkelmans.nl

Pawel Konior   graduated from Academy of Physical Education in 2008 in Krakow, later on studying 2 years in SEAD. Meanwhile he has been working in the fields of performing arts as a dancer. Powel's contact improvisation class is based on senses and being sensitive but also being physical.

Rita Vilhena    See: ritavilhena.com

Sarah Kate Gardiner   (UK/NL) is dancer, choreographer, teacher, and researcher based in Amsterdam. Since 1995 she creates site performances, tailor-made community dance projects and instant compositions. Teaching and directing people, both novice and professional, from diverse corners of society is her fertile ground. Driven by the gaps in our society (age, culture, social background), her work holds a space for difference to meet and dialogue through dance.

Read more sarahkategardiner.com

Sara Licher left the Netherlands at the age of 17 to study dance and performing arts in the UK. Here she got her first introduction to contact improvisation. Six years and a whole lot of improvisation classes later she was prepped to improvise in the outside world.
After leaving the inside of the four walls she called campus she also left Europe to explore new worlds. On her ventures she would be looking for dance communities to join, to learn from and to exchange dances. Some encounters were very short but others grew out to beautiful dance collaborations or movement research projects.
Back in the Netherlands she found herself still not done with learning and started a sport-massage and a yoga teaching course. She is now teaching toddler dance, yoga and still exploring the endless possibilities that contact improvisation gives..

Sebas van Wetten 
"I like the playfulness of CI, and I keep searching for ways to stay inspired in dancing and teaching. A healthy way to keep the playing child inside of me alive."
For more than 20 years Sebas has been dancing and teaching Contact­Impro and Creative Dance. He is also a physiotherapist and uses this knowledge of the moving and learning body in his teaching.
He wants to inspire you to find musicality, poetry and expression in your dance. He uses images from nature, art and also anatomy helping you to develop your personal dance.  

See www.dansavontuur.nl

Suzan Lemont   is an expressive arts therapist, education researcher, choreographer/dance theater-maker, writer, philosopher and body awareness/movement teacher.

Read more: suzanlemont.com

Tim Justo 

Tom Goldhand   is a performance artist, a dancer, a body therapist and a strong believer in improvisation as a way of life. I Continue to learn from each Jam and person that I dance with. Learned dance and performance art in Israel for 3 years and after that moved to work, teach and dance in Amsterdam. In my work and teaching I see a strong Influence from the body therapy system of “Ilan Lev”, GaGa dance of Ohad Naharin and many improvisation and contact improvisation teachers that I was fortunate to learn from.  

See www.tomgoldhand.com

musicians

Antonio Alemanno
Antonio (IT) is a multi-instrumentalist (double bass, cello, oud, charango, frame drums, electronics) and composer.
His background in dance and his substantial collaborations with dancers, choreographers and physical theater performers have given him the opportunity to extensively investigate the musicality and flow of movement and acting. He is keen to provoke a dialogue between spatial presence and sound, creating an intricately shaped, multi-disciplinary world.
A lack of confinement to style, instrument and discipline opposed by skillfulness, a big sensitivity to atmosphere and an inventive spirit define Antonio and his work. He has composed music for dance and circus performances and commercials, and has performed in over 20 countries worldwide.

See: antonioalemanno.com/

If you find a description about yourself, that you want to see changed, of if you are a teacher, and not yet added to this list, please mail to the webmaster