International Festival of Contact Improvisation Tango Wuppertal 4.- 9. February 2025

After the amazing restart, we do it again! We fill the Insel, place of art, culture, dance theatre and Tango Argentino!
The Festival focusses to support on a vivid exchange about Contact Improvisation, Tango und ContacTango.

I´m very proud of that amazing professional and experienced teachers team, which couldn´t be better this year:

Confirmed:

  • Andrea Varas Muñoz, Gießen, Germany – Tango Basics, Deep Tango
  • Gabriele Koch, Wuppertal, Germany – Juicy Contact – Juicy Tango
  • Gregory Bonnault, France – ContacTango – TangoContact
  • Ido Maron, Israel – Contact basics – Contact Andvanced
  • Julian Elizari Romeo, Berlin, Argentin – TangoContact – ContacTango
  • Lydia Nassal, Austria – ContacTango – TangoContact
  • Raffaele Rufo, Italy – TangoContact – ContacTango

and more

Registration possible now: info@gabrielekoch.net

PDF Timetable
International Festival of Contact Improvisation Tango Wuppertal – 1rst ContacTango Festival ever back in City Of Dance!
You want to have an easy acces to Tango Argentino? You love to dance, improvise and play arround? You love to deepen your dance capacity, finetune and improve your dance, if Tango or Contact?
THIS IS YOUR EVENT!!!
Beside yearly changing international teachers, who share there multiple influences, former Teachers are invited to support the Festival.
We have a lot of space to exchange intensiv within a group of wonderful people, built connection, experiment, cuddle, play, dive deep into embodiment and float together.
The Festival offers capacity for dancers of any level to experience the fusion of Tango Argentino und Contact Improvisation and catch playfulness, intensity and freedom in this symbiosis.

FULL PACKAGE
6 days of classes, research, jamilongas, exchange etc plus 4 meals on the full days Tuesday evening -Sunday afternoon
Early Bird till 15.12.2024: 460,-€ (after 510,-€)

Registration: info@gabrielekoch.net www.gabrielekoch.net

WEEKEND SPECIAL
Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon including 1 meal on saturday
Early Bird till 15.12.2024: 210,-€ (after 240,-€)
Stay overnight
For a specific amount of participants we can provide housing in appartments nearby for 25,-€/night – double rooms, three bed rooms, 4 + 6 people appartments are available

SUPPORTER PRICE: If you have sufficient means, we warmly invite you to add an amount of 20 – 50,-€ to the festival price. This way, we will support young people or individuals with fewer resources from challenging regions by 100%,enabling them to participate in the festival. If you fall into this category, please apply informally via email.

International Festival of Contact Improvisation Tango Barnin

9.-14.7.2024

International Festival of Contact Improvisation & Tango Barnin

Save you place at the amazing farmhouse beside the lake in Barnin… just for a bunch of crazylovely ContacTango Aficonados!

Registration possible now: info@gabrielekoch.net
Teachers of 2024:
  • Esther Berias, Hannover
  • Jasminka Sten, Basel
  • Mariano Laplume, Argentina/Belgium
  • Ximena Zalazar Firpo, Argentinia/France
  • Me and Alon Ritter supporting by WarmUp, Open Offerings, Performance and a Technical Class

and more …

PDF timetable
ContactTango in the summerly magical atmosphere of the beautiful Barnin. After the indescribably amazing festival in the winterly Wuppertal, we now enjoy for the first time a complete feeling in the midst of nature just for ourselves, diving deep and with ease into Tango, Contact, and ContactTango. Barnin is surrounded by meadows and forests, and we can dance the warm summer nights outside, on the open-air dance floor under the starry sky. Nature and dance can connect with the lightness of summer.
The group size of no more than 40 participants creates a relaxed and familial atmosphere, providing space for us to deeply engage in dance and exchange. The festival focuses on promoting lively exchanges about Contact Improvisation, Tango, and ContacTango. Former teachers are invited to support the festival. In addition to the annually changing international ContacTango teachers who share their diverse influences, there is ample space to engage intensively with a group of wonderful people, create connections, experiment, cuddle, play, explore body awareness, and flow together. The festival offers space for dancers of all levels to experience the fusion of Tango Argentino and Contact Improvisation, finding joy, intensity, and freedom in this symbiosis.
FULL PACKAGE: 6 days of classes, research, jamilongas, exchange etc plus mostly organic food Tuesday evening -Sunday lunch
Early Bird till June 5th 480,-€ after 530,-€ plus Hotel room 35,-€ – 60,- €/night. Camping 20/25,-€/night
WEEKEND SPECIAL Friday evening to Sunday including food from Friday evening to Sunday lunch + Hotel room. Early Bird 250,-€, later 280,-€

SUPPORTER PRICE: If you have sufficient means, we warmly invite you to add an amount of 20 – 50,-€ to the festival price. This way, we will support young people or individuals with fewer resources from challenging regions by 100%, enabling them to participate in the festival. If you fall into this category, please apply informally via email.

Stay overnight

double rooms, three bed rooms, 4 + 6 people appartments are available
Camping 20-25,-€/night

Please register soon!

The details:

check the beautiful surrounding:

info@gabrielekoch.net

Womit kann ich Ihnen weiterhelfen?

Alon Ritter & Gabriele Koch

Alon Ritter:

Alon Ritter is a certified Feldenkrais practitioner with a BA in music education. Specialising in Somatic Dance, Tango, Contact improvisation, Voice & Movement Improvisation, and embodiment as a way of life. His unique methods and approach as well as his background in Mindfulness and theraphy have made his courses taught after internationally in the last decade. Alon also leads regular classes and private lessons at festivals and theatre academies where he works closely with artists to maximise their creative and physical potential as performers.
https://www.alonritter.com

Gabriele Koch:

Gabriele Koch lives in Wuppertal. She has been dancing and teaching dance for 25 years, with 20 years dedicated to Tango and approximately the same amount of time researching ContacTango. For the past 11 years, she has been the founder and organizer of the international Festival of Contact and Tango, which has moved from Wuppertal to Beichlingen. The festival is dedicated to lively exchange and research in the realm of Contactango.

Gaby is currently undergoing training as a Somatic Movement Practitioner and has long incorporated the connect ion with our body into her work. She is interested in constantly discovering new paths, breaking patterns, and finding subtlety and freedom in dance.

info@gabrielekoch.net

Their classes:
Alon and Gabriele will guide a technical Tango into Contactimpro class of contact tango choreography to invite you later to play with this ideas creatively. The feed the festival with music, introcuction to Jamilonga, leading Performance Evening and Single Classes (Tango, Contact, ContacTango, Embodiment).

Esther Berias

Esther Berias is a dancer, dance educator, choreographer, Pilates instructor, and yoga teacher.
As long as I can remember, I have loved movement. For me, movement is an expression of vitality!
My main interest lies in Contact Improvisation both as an art form and as a life principle!
Education: Choreography & Postmodern Dance (Diploma) at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Amsterdam S.N.D.O., Netherlands (1997-2001) Integrative Dance Pedagogy at DIT (German Institute for Dance Pedagogy), Cologne (1995-1997)
Work as a freelance artist: Since 2001, freelance dancer and choreographer in the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, France, Mexico, and Germany, among others at festivals and independent theaters such as „Eigenarten Festival, Hamburg,“ „Tanz Bremen,“ „Oerol Festival, Netherlands,“ „Dansscenen Copenhagen,“ „Danscentrum Väst Gothenburg,“ „Projekttheater Dresden,“ „Muiderpoorttheater Amsterdam.“
Teaching: Since 2006, lecturer at the University of Music, Theater & Media Hannover, Acting Department. Teaching area: Movement, modern and postmodern dance Further education: Pilates instructor (Polestar Pilates, Cologne) 2007 Yoga teacher (Institute for Yoga & Health Cologne) 2013/14 Traditional Thai massage in the Holistic Bodywork Concept 2016

jasminka stenz (CH/D)

Choreographer, performance artist, dance teacher Jasminka Stenz has been dancing Tango Argentino for more than 20 years.

breathing tango

 With her professional training in Contemporary Dance, Performance, somatic body technique, and Contact Improvisation, she is able to teach a form of Tango and ConTangos that focuses on connection, listening, and the wide field of musicality and its musical interpretation. This allows for improvisation on a higher level, where moments of leading and following emerge; the ContactTango can arise. We will have a happy and liberating dance experience. For Jasminka Stenz, improvisation and instant composition are the highest forms of art. Central to her performative artistic works is the human being, in their field of relationships and absurdity. Jasminka Stenz loves to work intimately with people.

Mariano Laplume
Mariano Laplume’s passion on performatic arts stated 25 years ago in BUENOS AIRES(Arg), where he was born and raised.

His inspirations in music took him into studying Violin and Viola in 1999. As a violist he participated in several projects in different musical styles. He was member of several Argentine TANGO orchestras being the most important the “ Sexteto Milonguero”(BA), touring around the world-

Mariano trained as a Tango dancer in Buenos Aires with some of the most recognized maestros. More than 10 years he partner with Maral Kojayan and worked as teacher in Buenos Aires, London and Rotterdam. As a teacher and Tango Dj he has been collaborating with many schools and tango organizations in Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, UK, Netherlands & Armenia.

As an Alexander Technique practitioner he regularly works in London and Rotterdam. He is an AT teacher in London, UK at the Constructive Teaching Center(The oldest and more prestigious AT school in the world) 

In the last years Mariano has been focused in combining his various skills exploring and teaching Argentine tango with several understanding tools from the Alexander Technique and also combining his deep knowledge about Tango music to help and inspire Professionals and Amateur Tango dancers.

Mariano’s work will combine traditional and modern Tango fundamental and Alexander Technique elements as connection in the embrace, organic movement, body tone, figures, technique and poise/posture. There is gonna to be special attention to musical connection/perception/expression individually and in the couple in every workshop.   

Ximena Zalazar Firpo

Born in Argentina and Italy, Ximena Zalazar Firpo began her career as a dancer with the Colon Theater in Buenos Aires and the National Ballet of Cuba, before moving to Europe in 1995. After working with choreographers in France and abroad, she was hired by the Ballet de l’Opéra National du Rhin.
Her work has taken her all over the world Through Europe via North and South America.

In 2011, she and Willem Meul founded the Compagnie Estro. They develop artistic projects in collaboration with artists from other disciplines to create multidisciplinary shows.
The Compagnie Estro is dedicated to research, creation and dissemination in line with the creators‘ profession as professional dancers:

  • A dozen choreographic works created
  • An average of 20 performances in France and abroad per season
  • 20 salaried employees (artists and technicians) per season 

Ximena also heads up the company’s educational activities and, around her creations, leads large-scale projects over several years with various partners: theaters, cultural structures, socio-cultural centers, festivals, schools in France, Italy, Germany, Argentina, Belgium…

Argentine tango is deeply rooted in her heart and at the center of her artistic interrogations. It links her to her childhood and her family, and is a fertile source of creation, fulfillment and joy. Ximena Zalazar Firpo holds a State Diploma in dance and a degree in Administration and Management of Cultural Enterprises, and is one of the dance experts on the DRAC Grand Est commission.

Ximena likes to put the individual at the center of her pedagogy, using different body techniques (contemporary dance, gyrotonic, Argentine tango, which she practices and teaches regularly). Developing technical ease while respecting each individual’s body and sensibility is central.using exercises, choreographic sequences, improvisations and instant compositions, each dancer will develop his or her own dance in relation to the group.

Live Music by Gabriel Rivano:

Gabriel Rivano (*1958 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine bandoneon player, guitarist, flutist, and composer, and is considered one of the significant musicians in Argentina in the genre of Tango Argentino. Rivano lives in Buenos Aires. He began his concert career in 1981 as a soloist in various ensembles of tango, folklore, jazz, and classical music. In 1990, he founded his first ensemble, the Gabriel Rivano Quinteto, in Buenos Aires and composed numerous chamber music works and some concerts for this formation. In 1997, his „Concert for Bandoneon, Guitar, and Orchestra“ premiered at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.