9.-14.2.2027 International Festival of Contact Improvisation & Tango Wuppertal
Save you place at the ContacTango Festival Wuppertal – the place to exchange and research about ContacTango full of experienced teachers and dancers as well as welcoming all newcomers!
Registration possible now: info@gabrielekoch.net
ContacTango Festival is continuing! Since more than 15 years we fill the Insel and the Cafe ADA, place of art, culture, dance theatre and Tango Argentino!
The Festival focusses to support on a vivid exchange about Contact Improvisation, Tango und ContacTango.
Das ContacTango Festival geht weiter. Seit mehr als 15 Jahren füllen wir die Insel und das Cafe ADA– ein Ort für Kunst, Kultur, Tanztheater und Tango Argentino!
Das Festival legt den Fokus auf einen lebendigen Austausch über Contact Improvisation, Tango und ContacTango.
We are in work … over the next weeks all detail will be updated
- the timetable
- the teacher description
You love to dance, improvise and play arround?
You love to deepen your dance capacity, finetune and improve your dance, if Tango or Contact?
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.
Du möchtest einen einfachen Zugang zum Tango Argentino?
Du liebst es zu tanzen, zu improvisieren und spielerisch zu entdecken?
Du willst deine tänzerischen Fähigkeiten vertiefen, verfeinern und verbessern – sei es im Tango oder in der Contact Improvisation?
DAS IST DEIN EVENT!!!
Neben jährlich wechselnden internationalen Lehrer*innen, die ihre vielfältigen Einflüsse teilen, sind auch ehemalige Lehrende eingeladen, das Festival zu unterstützen.
Wir haben viel Raum für intensiven Austausch in einer Gruppe wunderbarer Menschen – um Verbindungen aufzubauen, zu experimentieren, zu kuscheln, zu spielen, tief ins Embodiment einzutauchen und gemeinsam zu fließen.
Das Festival bietet Tänzer*innen aller Erfahrungsstufen die Möglichkeit, die Fusion von Tango Argentino und Contact Improvisation zu erleben – und dabei Verspieltheit, Intensität und Freiheit in dieser einzigartigen Symbiose zu entdecken.
TIMETABLE – for teachers description and registration details please scroll down
Teachers:
Alon Ritter/Isr/Por
Aube Bentele/F
Gabriele Koch/D
Katharina Frimont/D/
Sven Elze/D
Margarethe Wäckerle & Uli Vollgraf/D
Marion Michel/ France
Valentina Vitolo/Italy & Marina Consoli/Italy
Alon Ritter
Alon Ritter is a certified Feldenkrais Practitioner and Somatic Trauma Therapist with a BA in Music Education.
He specializes in Contact Improvisation, Somatic Dance, Tango, ConTango, Voice & Movement Improvisation, and embodiment as a way of life.
Rooted in somatic practice, mindfulness, and therapeutic work, Alon has developed a unique and deeply human approach to movement, creativity, and healing.
At this festival he will use his wide capacaty of knowledge to guide the participants into deep connection and understanding of the body to support Tango and Contact Improv as well as inviting to torwards palyfull creativity.
For the past 15 years, he has been teaching and facilitating workshops internationally, offering spaces that integrate artistic expression, nervous system awareness, connection, and embodied presence.
Aube Bentele – Authentic Movement & Argentine Tango Teacher
Born in the south of France, Aube began her dance training at the age of eleven at the Conservatoire d’Avignon and later in Nice. After completing her professional training in contemporary dance at Varium School in Barcelona, she deepened her practice in Contact Improvisation and performance, including in Israel.
In Germany, alongside her love for her two wonderful children, she discovered her passion for Argentine Tango. Since 2022, she has been teaching at Tangolu in Bonn. She trained with Lucia Merz and Ulrich Baumeister and has been inspired by numerous maestros and artists.
As a naturopathic practitioner specializing in psychotherapy, and through her further training in Authentic Movement, she now brings together dance, body awareness, presence, and relationship. At the heart of her work are questions of movement and encounter, body and mind, freedom and connection.
And never forgetting: the joy!!!
Gabriele Koch
Movement has been her form of expression since childhood. Through various paths such as ballet, artistic gymnastics, and forms of modern dance, she found her way to contemporary dance, improvisation, and contact improvisation, which for her represent the greatest diversity of possibilities as well as authenticity. Around 25 years ago, she fell in love with Argentine tango. It was therefore natural to combine both dance forms. In her own research journey in ContacTango/Contango, a desire grew to exchange ideas with other researchers. This led to the creation of the first ContacTango Festival in Wuppertal 15 years ago.
For her, dance always means staying alive and discovering new paths. Gabriele is a Somatic Movement Educator in Body-Mind Centering. Personal development and the joy of movement flow into her teaching. In addition to running her own studio, she works regionally, throughout Germany, and internationally.
Katharina Frimont
Dance has shaped Katharina’s life, leading her through many different movement practices as Modern Dance, Ballet, Tango, Contemporary Dance, Contact Improvisation (CI), Axis Syllabus, and Contango.
With over 17 years of CI experience, she is deeply rooted in the practice and has been part of the Contango scene in Cologne/Bonn since its beginnings. She regularly teaches Contango and, together with Susanna Horn, “Embodied Contemporary Dance into CI & Self-Regulation” in Cologne.
Katharina loves exploring movement, connection, and embodied awareness, creating spaces for curiosity, play, and shared discovery. Alongside her dance practice, she is a medical doctor and specialist in neurology, currently working in neurorehabilitation, with a research background in psychosomatic medicine and the autonomic nervous system.
Contact Tango by sisters Lydia Müller and Katharina Frimont:
https://youtu.be/shTKzWjfWLM?si=Ds6MagfqJZYXQo22
SVEN ELZE
Tango · Movement · The Art of Encounter
For over 20 years, Sven Elze has explored the possibilities of Argentine Tango beyond conventional boundaries. His work combines Tango Nuevo, Contact Improvisation, martial arts, Qi Gong, massage, music, theatre and visual arts into a distinctive movement language.
As a dancer, choreographer, musician and cultural initiator, he has developed innovative teaching and event formats, ranging from film and stage productions to experimental tango performances, festivals and Berlin’s club culture.
His work centers on presence, breath, empathy, technical clarity and a deep understanding of musicality. Beyond rhythm and melody, he explores musical phrasing, arcs of tension and dramaturgical development. Movement becomes storytelling, and tango a living dialogue between music, body and human encounter.
Margarethe Wäckerle
My many years of working as a physiotherapist, particularly in neurology, have shaped my understanding of movement and anatomy.
Since more than 30 years I´m passionate about Contact Improvisation,.My dance training in San Francisco/Stuttgart and Freiburg, numerous workshops, and yoga teacher training have deepened my body knowledge. Since 2007, I have been teaching and co-organizing dance events and festivals in Stuttgart.
In 2014, I discovered Argentine Tango, followed by Contactango in 2015. Together with Uli Vollgraf, I explore the connections between these two dance forms and share our research in workshops.
I love how Contactango dissolves traditional tango roles, combines the freedom and playfulness of CI, and allows dance to emerge through attentive, nonverbal communication. Our teaching focuses on playful lightness, creativity, embodied experience, and personal exploration rather than fixed forms or prescribed steps. We are especially happy when our enthusiasm inspires others.
Ulrich Vollgraf
I discovered Argentine Tango in Oldenburg in 1996 and have been an enthusiastic tanguero ever since. I’m particularly passionate about Queer Tango, where traditional leading and following roles dissolve and the music takes the lead. For the past 20 years, Contact Improvisation has brought new impulses to my tango, giving me the freedom to integrate unusual movements and elements.
Since 2015, Margarethe and I have been exploring the fusion of these two dance forms. We see ContacTango as a new form of dance, combining the playful movement of CI with the structures of Argentine Tango. Nonverbal communication is central to both, and we love discovering new ways of connecting through movement.
In our workshops, we explore individual movement possibilities, interpret the music, and experiment with unusual figures and movements. And who knows, we might even manage a few lifts — after all, flying doesn’t get much closer!
Outside of dance, I have been working as a teacher at a vocational school in Esslingen since 2004.
Marion Michel
Marion Michel is a multidisciplinary artist and certified Body-Mind Centering® (BMC®) somatic movement educator. A choreographer, dancer, singer and clown, she founded Compagnie du Parquet Nomade in 2012 and works between Paris, Ardèche and Drôme. She is continuing her training as a BMC® practitioner in Germany and specializes in infant and child developmental movement.
Her work bridges performance, eco-somatic research, contemporary and traditional forms. Through embodied perception, developmental movement and artistic exploration, she accompanies people of all ages in discovering their bodies and connecting with their surroundings and the living world, cultivating presence, listening and freedom of movement. As Tango dancer and Contact Improvisation teacher, influenced by her background, she leads us towards creative and surprising sensations in ContacTango, playfull, experimental, conecting, wild and soft as well
Body-Mind Centering® (BMC®) is a somatic approach developed by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen that explores the body-mind relationship through direct experience of the body’s systems and developmental movement patterns. Through touch, movement and sensory awareness, it deepens perception, expands movement possibilities and nurtures connection with oneself and others.
Valentina Vitolo is a teacher, dancer and performer who creates inspiring learning spaces through trust, curiosity and enthusiasm.
With 25 years of experience teaching Argentine Tango in Milan, Melbourne and Rome, she also performs and researches the dialogue between Tango and Contact Improvisation, training in Buenos Aires, Italy and Australia.
Motherhood led her to developmental movement, Contact Improvisation, Contakids and the Feldenkrais Method, deepening her somatic approach. Since 2021, she has introduced Contactango in Ostia, Rome, integrating Feldenkrais principles and exploring body mechanics, weight, presence, listening and embodied creativity.
Her research focuses on human connection and eco-somatic relationships with nature. Since 2026, she has been a member of the AIIMF Scientific Committee and participates in a pilot project bringing somatic education into Italian public schools to support teacher well-being.
Marina Consoli, dancer, psychologist, and art therapist, I discovered dance while studying psychology and art therapy and I have been passionate about it ever since. My passion for contact improvisation was born during those years, when I studied and experimented with many approaches: floorwork, instant composition, butho, contact improvisation, BMC, craniosacral biodynamics (of which I am a practitioner). I integrate my expertise as a psychologist to bring the necessary care and attention for oneself and others to dance and teaching.
For many years I have been leading contact improvisation, body awareness, and expressive movement workshops in Rome and beyond. I am part of various collectives that organize and support contact improvisation events in Rome and Naples
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.
Accommodation:
We can arrange a limited number of accommodation places for participants who book for the entire festival.
The cost is €30 per night. These places are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
If you book too late or are only coming for the weekend, we can connect you with other participants so you can arrange a shared Airbnb.
FULL PACKAGE: 6 Tage Unterricht, Research, Jamilongas, Austausch etc. inklusive Mitagesen Mitwoch bis Samstag
Early Bird bis 30. November 490,- €; danach 540,- €.
WEEKEND SPECIAL: Freitagabend bis Sonntag, inklusive Mittagessen am Samstag
Early Bird 225,- €; später 255,- €.
SUPPORTER-PREIS:
Wenn du über ausreichende finanzielle Mittel verfügst, laden wir dich herzlich ein, einen Betrag von 20–50,- € zum Festivalpreis hinzuzufügen. Auf diese Weise unterstützen wir junge Menschen oder Personen mit geringeren finanziellen Ressourcen aus herausfordernden Regionen zu 100 % und ermöglichen ihnen die Teilnahme am Festival.
Wenn du zu dieser Gruppe gehörst, die Unterstützung benötigt, bewirb dich bitte formlos per E-Mail.
Übernachtung:
Wir vermitteln eine gewisse Anzahl an Unterkünften für die teilnehmer*innen die die ganze Zeit buchen.
Die Nacht kostet 30,-€. Die die zuerst buchen, bekommen diesen Vorteil.
Wer zu spät ist oder Wochenende kommt, kann sich über mit anderen Teilnehmer*innen vermitteln lassen,
mit denen Ihr ein Airbnb buchen könnt.
10.8.-15.8.2027 International Festival of Contact Improvisation & Tango Barnin
Save you place at the amazing farmhouse beside a beautifull lake in Barnin – between Hamburg and Berlin!
… just for a bunch of crazylovely ContacTango Aficonados!
Registration possible 1rst April: info@gabrielekoch.net
ContactTango in the summerly magical atmosphere of the beautiful Barnin. After the indescribably amazing festival in the winterly Wuppertal, we enjoy for the third 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- There is a private lake space, a fire place and sauna. We have a beutifull studio and the oppotunity to dance in 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 festival focuses on promoting lively exchanges about Contact Improvisation, Tango, and ContacTango. In addition to the annually changing international highly experienced ContacTango teachers who share their diverse influences, there is ample space to engage intensively with a group of wonderful people-
We 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.
THE PLACE:
Amseltango
Lindenstraße 10C 19089 Barnin
Amseltangomaps
Flights to Hamburg or Berlin Train to Schwerin or Crivits
Pick up from Schwerin/Crivitz Shared rides orga
Pictures: Boat at lake; dance studio; area; outside danceplace
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
We can offer double rooms, three bed rooms, 4 + 6 people appartments are available
Camping 20-25,-€/night
FULL PACKAGE: 6 Tage Unterricht, Research, Jamilongas, Austausch etc. inklusive überwiegend biologischer Verpflegung von Dienstagabend bis Sonntagmittag.
Early Bird bis ,- €; danach ,- €.
WEEKEND SPECIAL: Freitagabend bis Sonntag, inklusive Verpflegung von Freitagabend bis Sonntagmittag + Übernachtung.
Early Bird- €; später ,- €.
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
We can offer double rooms, three bed rooms, 4 + 6 people appartments are available
Camping 20-25,-€/night