Taïgué Ahmed began his career as a teenager with traditional dance in Chad. He first encountered contemporary dance through workshops led by Julie Dossavi. After studying in Senegal and France, he returned to N*Djamena in Chad. Taïgué Ahmed is artistic director of the Association Ndam Se Na as well as of large dance projects with refugees. He organizes dance festivals and international gatherings of art and science in Chad. At the same time, he works as a choreographer, produces pieces by other artists, and dances himself in various projects. He regularly gives workshops in Chad and Europe on different dance techniques and dance pedagogy with a focus on working with refugees, people with war experiences, young people or children. For Tanzkongress 2022, he is co-curating the congress program on the theme of Transcendence together with Mamela Nyamza.

Jana Bäskau (she/her) studied German and English at the Universität Rostock and, after working as a press aide at the Volkstheater Rostock, theater studies at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. From 1999 to 2011, she worked at the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz Berlin, first as dramaturg and production manager, later as producer at the department of guest performances/international contacts. She also worked as a producer at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, HAU Hebbel am Ufer, and Diehl+Ritter, a Berlin cultural office operating internationally, among others. For Tanzkongress 2019, she acted as project manager and executive director, followed by an engagement as executive producer at the 2020 edition of Tanz im August and as interim project manager for the Creative Europe project Big Pulse Dance Alliance. Since September 2021, she is a member of the management team for the Tanzkongress 2022.

Bertha Bermúdez (she/her) is a dancer, researcher and interactive artist. With a degree in Dance and Choreography, Bertha has been part of Frankfurt Ballet under William Forsyth’s direction, Compañía Nacional de Danza with choreographer Nacho Duato and between 1999 and 2014 she has worked as a dancer, assistant and researcher with the company Emio Greco | PC at the ICKamsterdam.

In 2005 Bermúdez shifted into dance research, and to this day coordinates different research projects on dance notation and documentation. She has been part of the ARTI group at Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, dealing with artistic research and various European research projects. Nowadays she is finishing her PhD at Amsterdam University.

Since 2016 she develops artistic projects accompanying artists and developing dance documentation strategies at the development and professionalisation centre Dantzaz alongside her own company, Creative Paths.

Felix Berner (he/him) studied dance at Folkwang Universität der Künste in Essen and graduated with the Dance Award of the Josef and Else Classen Foundation. As a dancer, he worked with a variety of international choreographers, such as Pina Bausch, Ann van den Broek, Sharon Eyal, Tero Saarinen, Club Guy & Roni and Jan Pusch, and many others. His work as a choreographer has taken him to the Residenztheater in Munich, the Staatstheater Oldenburg, the Staatstheater Mainz, and the Theater der Jungen Welt in Leipzig. In addition to teaching at various universities, he offers numerous advanced workshops on dance and dance education and is a jury member for the Tanztreffen der Jugend of the Berliner Festspiele. For the Tanzkongress 2022 he is part of the management team, contributing as a conceptual collaborator and collaborated with Marina Grün in curating the module Co-Creating with Communities.

Lisa Besser (she/her) studied international cultural management and worked as a festival assistant for LAOKOON at Kampnagel in Hamburg, the Freiburg Theater Festival, and the Internationale Tanztage at the Staatstheater Oldenburg. There she started out as an assistant in 2007, and later worked as staff member of the dance direction of nordwest / Tanzcompagnie Oldenburg & Tanztheater Bremen. She also served as the organizational director of the PAZZfestival 2008 and the Internationale Tanztage 2009-2013. Since 2014, she has been the creative production director of tanzmainz and the tanzmainz festivals at the Staatstheater Mainz, and works in the same capacity for Tanzkongress 2022.

Fabienne Bill (she/her) lives her vocation as a mediator, team & mental coach. Having worked in various corporate contexts for the last 14 years, she has made numerous experiences and developed an intuitive sense of what people and organizations need in order to deal with challenging situations, supporting her on her quest today. tanzmainz and Fabienne Bill crossed paths 5 years ago and have been collaborating together since. She has been supporting and accompanying the group in its development and communication. She is a mother of one who loves recreational activities like cooking, yoga and playing tennis.

Acting as a bridge between Europe and Asia, Gwen (she/her) is a Luxembourg-based international arts manager and producer with over 15 years experience supporting Taiwanese and European dance artists and organizations to realize their international projects. As Head of International Partnerships at National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) in 2017-2021, she led the dance & circus production team under the direction of Artistic Director, and as curator produced Taiwan Dance Platform and Weiwuying Circus Platform. She is Aerowaves Partner and core member of CAN-Circus Asia Network.

PhD in History candidate, from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC). Masters in Performing Art and Visual Culture, University of Alcalá, Madrid. Researcher, teacher, curator and cultural manager. Author of 'Social History of Dance in Chile 1940-1990' (LOM, 2007) and co-author of 'Independent Dance in Chile from 1990 to 2000 Reconstruction of a scene' (2009). Member of the research group Artea (Spain) Director of NAVE Residence and Creation Art Center in Santiago de Chile.

Honne Dohrmann (he/him) started out as program coordinator at Kulturetage Oldenburg. As founder of kultur nord–kulturmanagement, he developed numerous formats in various genres and served as director of dance and theater festivals. In addition, he was a member of the review panel for the European Commission's cultural programmes (EACEA) for several years and was involved in the Board of Directors of the IETM (international network for contemporary performing arts). In 2007/2008, he moved from the independent scene to the Staatstheater Oldenburg and became director of nordwest/Tanzcompagnie Oldenburg & Tanztheater Bremen. Since 2014, he has been director of tanzmainz at the Staatstheater Mainz. At Tanzkongress 2022, he serves as program manager.

Ingrida Gerbutavičiūtė (she/her) holds a master's degree in linguistics, theater studies, journalism, and communication studies from Freie Universität Berlin and works as a freelance dramaturg and curator. During the 2011-2021 season, she was project director at the Lithuanian Information Center for Dance (LT) and in this capacity co-curated, among others, the Berlin festival Litauen tanzt. From 2013-2018, she served as chair of the dance department at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater. In the 2022/2023 season, Ingrida Gerbutavičiūtė will take over the directorship of tanzhaus nrw.

Katharina Greuel (she/her) studied theater in Mainz and Lisbon. As a student, she organized various festivals and large-scale cultural events. At the Staatstheater Wiesbaden she was involved in all editions of Neue Stücke aus Europa, most recently as artistic organizing director. In the same position, she directed the International Büchner Festival in Gießen in 2013. At the Institut français Mainz, she was responsible for the cultural department from 2015 before moving to the Staatstheater Mainz in 2021 for the Tanzkongress 2022.

Marina Grün (she/her) is a contemporary dancer working in dance education. She studied contemporary dance at ABPU Linz and AHK Amsterdam and holds a master’s degree in contemporary dance education from HfMDK Frankfurt. Complementing her work with numerous ensembles at home and abroad, Marina has been conducting dance projects with children, young people, and the elderly since the age of 16. Since 2019, Marina has been responsible for dance education at the Staatstheater Mainz, leading educational projects in relation to dance productions for young audiences, as well as a wide variety of community projects in dance. Most recently, her production BODYBILDER was invited to the Tanztreffen der Jugend and the project SCORES to the Bundestreffen Jugendclubs an Theatern. At Tanzkongress 2022, she is part of the leadership team and curates the module Co-Creating with Communities.

Eleno Guzmán Gutiérrez (he/him) is a producer, cultural manager and curator. Degree in Artistic Education by Escuela Superior de Artes of Yucatán with a thesis on Semiotics for Performing Arts. Director of Dance & Theatre of the Centro de las Artes de San Luis Potosí from 2008 to 2016. Executive director of the Contemporary Dance Production Center of INBAL from 2016 to 2020, producing projects like OMPHALOS by Damien Jalet. Member of the curatorial team at Festival de México en el Centro Histórico and at Cultura UDG Streaming of the University of Guadalajara. General and artistic director of MOVES México.

Pia Krämer (she/her) worked as artistic director, programme director, programme team member, curator and lecturer in Germany, Portugal and Finland. From 2017-2019 she was president of the European Dancehouse Network.
Recently she started to curate documentary films about Contemporary Dance with Accentus Music for ARTE TV and is developing a transition training programme for performing artists as a pilot project in Portugal.

From 2012 to 2014, Finn Lakeberg (he/him) studied contemporary and classical dance at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt am Main. In the 2015/16 season, Finn was engaged as an apprentice dancer with tanzmainz at the Staatstheater Mainz and has been a permanent ensemble member since the 2016/17 season. He has worked with Guy Weizman and Roni Haver, Guy Nader and Maria Campos, and Sharon Eyal, among others. At Tanzkongress 2022, he is a member of the management team and curates the module Dancers as Experts together with Amber Pansters.

Friederike Lampert (Prof. Dr. phil.), is professor for choreography at ZHdK - Züricher Hochschule der Künste, Switzerland. She studied Ballet at HfMDK in Frankfurt/Main and Applied Theatre Studies at Justus-Liebig-Universität in Gießen. Since 1988 she worked as a dancer and choreographer at several dance companies in Germany. In 2007 she received her PhD on the topic of Dance Improvisation at Freie Universität Berlin. She worked as a dance researcher at the University of Hamburg, Palucca Hochschule für Tanz Dresden and Codarts - University of the Arts, Rotterdam. Her focus in teaching and research lies on dance composition, improvisation and applied dance history.

Malaysian-born How Ngean(he/him) is a dance dramaturg, curator and producer. He has dramaturged contemporary dances in Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, Japan and Indonesia. In 2016, he founded Asian Dramaturgs’ Network (ADN, http://www.asiandramaturgs.com), an exchange platform on dramaturgy for performaning arts in Asia, with symposiums and laboratories in Singapore, Japan, Australia and Indonesia. In 2016-2018, he worked on a transnational curatorial project, named Jejak-Tabi, that presented Asian contemporary performers in Asian cities.

Mamela Nyamza is a dancer, educator, choreographer, and activist in South Africa. A highly versatile dancer, her work combines traditional and contemporary dance with strong, political statements. Drawing from her own biography as well as from collaborations with other artists, she explores issues of gender, discrimination, and trauma both artistically and discursively. Mamela Nyamza has created various non-profit projects that help spread the positive influence of dance in various communities in South Africa. Among them is the University of Stellenbosch's Move 1524 project; a group that uses dance therapy to educate people about issues such as HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, and substance abuse. For Tanzkongress 2022, she is co-curating the congress program on Transcendence with Taigué Ahmed.

Amber Pansters (she/her), born in the Netherlands, started her preparatory dance education at ArtEZ in Venlo. From 2013 to 2017 she studied at Codarts University of the Arts in Rotterdam, where she finished with a Bachelor degree in Dance. Since season 2017/2018 she is fully employed with Tanzmainz. She has working experience among others with Juanjo Arques, Amos Ben-Tal, Sharon Eyal, Taneli Törmä, Pierre Rigal, Andreas Denk and Guy Weizmann & Roni Haver.
For the Tanzkongress 2022 she is a part of the management team, contributing as a conceptual collaborator. Furthermore she is curating together with her colleague, Finn Lakeberg, the module Dancers as Experts.

Stefanie Schmitt (she/her) studied communication science and psychology and worked as a research assistant at the Universität Mannheim. She then worked as an assistant director in musical theater. In 2016, she joined the Staatstheater Mainz as assistant to the artistic director/project manager. Since 2021, she has focused on the structural side of things by serving as project manager and working in organizational development for Tanzkongress 2022 – Sharing Potentials.

Tobias Staab (he/him)works as a freelance director, dramaturg, and curator. He launched several programs and festivals, including for the Ruhrtriennale, the DIVE Festival of Immersive Arts, Bauhaus100, Ritournelle, Noise Signal Silence, and Panta Rhei. With choreographer Richard Siegal, he founded the dance company Ballet of Difference in 2016. Since 2018, he has also curated and directed the media art center Oval Office in Bochum. His own artistic works move along the borders of contemporary dance and digital art.

Thorsten Teubl studied music and theater at the University of Bayreuth and completed studies in musical theater directing at the HfMT Hamburg with Götz Friedrich. In addition to working as a director and artistic director at various German theaters, he studied cultural management at the TU Dresden and the University Federico II. Naples, as well as various advanced training courses, including Curating in the scenic arts in Salzburg and Munich. After his engagement as dance dramaturg, company manager, later as deputy director of dance theater, at the Staatstheater Kassel from 2008 to 2018, he worked from 2018 to 2020 at the Landestheater Linz as manager and dramaturg together with Mei Hong Lin for TANZLIN.Z and toured worldwide with the company there. In the 2020/21 season he was Deputy Ballet Director and Ballet Dramaturg at Theater Chemnitz, and from the 2021/22 season he has taken over as Dance Director at Staatstheater Kassel.

Guy Weizman (he/him) is the director of two of the big, state funded, performing arts companies in the Netherlands: contemporary dance company Club Guy & Roni and theatre company ‘NNT’. Together they form NITE: National Interdisciplinary Theater Ensemble.

In The Human Odyssey Guy and his ensemble create new performances by collaborating with artists and ensembles abroad, touring various continents. During the pandemic, he created the NITE Hotel: a virtual theatre for cross-platform, custom-made performances and exchange.

Guy started his career in Batsheeva Dance Company and danced with companies like Ultima Vez and Galli Dance before starting ‘the club’ in 2002.