Ageing affects us all – throughout our entire lives. This is precisely why questions about how age(ing) affects us, how we want to move in old age, and how we shape age(ing) are both personal and social issues for artistic practice and cultural education in dance. Age(ing) is a social issue that is often charged with stereotypical ideas that reflect society’s ideal of youthfulness and performance. This is where the AGEING BODY project comes in, because the performing arts and formats of cultural education in old age offer scope for addressing the tension between social images and attributions of age, the realities of life, and self-positioning.
THE AGEING BODY is a multilayered, designoriented dance art project for and with older people. The physical and dance-based approach to the topics in a non-hierarchical and non-judgmental environment offers participants the freedom to explore, question, and experience.
REGISTRATION We kindly request that you register at tanzen@ehrenfeldstudios.de
Or by phone: +49 221 – 846 395 80
PRICES
Trial session:
Free of charge
Weekend workshops:
Sliding Scale: 15 – 30 euros for both days
No one will be excluded from participating for financial reasons.
ACCESSIBILITY
We want to make the workshop as accessible as possible so that everyone can participate. Please feel free to let us know in advance via email at organisation@ehrenfeldstudios.de about any specific access requirements you may have, for example by sending us an Access Rider. We will then do our best to accommodate your access requirements as much as possible and in communication with you.
Barrier-free access. Participation with a rollator or wheelchair is possible.
Largely accessible toilet in the neighbouring building. No grab rails or height-adjustable mirror available.
Accompanying persons receive free admission.
ABOUT THE ARTIST Silke Z. is committed to exploring methods for the artistic development of contemporary dance. She and her ensemble view dance as a direct form of expression for human sensibilities and needs, and artistic production as an opportunity to reflect society and highlight perspectives on a given topic. Silke Z. has developed over 40 dance productions at home and abroad with her mixed-age team. Her work has received numerous national and international awards. Z. founded and directs the ehrenfeldstudios and the international network studiotrade.
The workshop “Queering the Stage” examines acting and dance approaches to rehearsal and stage work from an intersectional queer-feminist perspective. Theoretical impulses from Judith Butler, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, and Donna Haraway serve as the basis for a physical, practice-oriented implementation. (No prior knowledge necessary) Through small content-related impulses, participants are encouraged to question the dance, physical, and acting portrayal of characters in relation to gender/sexuality. At the same time, rehearsal structures should also be questioned in this regard. The aim is to draw attention to patriarchal patterns that are anchored in rehearsal processes and performance and, if necessary, to break them down.
REGISTRATION We kindly request that you register at tanzen@ehrenfeldstudios.de
Or by phone: +49 221 – 846 395 80
PRICES
Trial session:
Free of charge
Weekend workshops:
Sliding Scale: 15 – 30 euros for both days
No one will be excluded from participating for financial reasons.
ACCESSIBILITY
We want to make the workshop as accessible as possible so that everyone can participate. Please feel free to let us know in advance via email at organisation@ehrenfeldstudios.de about any specific access requirements you may have, for example by sending us an Access Rider. We will then do our best to accommodate your access requirements as much as possible and in communication with you.
Barrier-free access. Participation with a rollator or wheelchair is possible.
Largely accessible toilet in the neighbouring building, No grab rails or height-adjustable mirror available.
Accompanying persons receive free admission.
ABOUT THE ARTIST Malin Assmus studied performing arts at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. After a permanent engagement at the Theater Heilbronn, Malin began working as a freelancer in Cologne in 2020. Her career has been shaped by her own work, film and theater productions, and her collaboration with dancer Lisa Hellmich. Her work focuses on intersectional queer-feminist and human rights issues. Malin is currently pursuing a master’s degree in gender and queer studies.
The class consists of a warm-up class leading into a guided investigation towards imagination and movement research tools for creating from the instant.
The warm-up class is a practice of body and mind, designed for animating one’s own creative work. The body is allowed to access its own intelligence by sourcing from its natural urge to be present, to move and to create. We tune into the relationship to gravity, centre, space, articulation, coordination and musicality. The practice is based on many years of ongoing research and training knowledge found in international movement and performance traditions such as contemporary to urban dance styles, Tai Chi, Karate and Japanese Butoh, continuously landscaping in dynamics of living experience. On this basis, Beljana will be sharing creative tools for diving into sensitivity and porousness towards imagination in movement and fullness in performance.
The class is providing space for deepening the immediate relationship between dancer and their art. In this listening space, the movement becomes our teachers. Beljana shares her practice as creator, sharing the space with creators.
In collaboration with Ayberk Esen, ehrenfeldstudios invites you to a professional training class in contemporary dance. A rotating roster of regional and international instructors leads the classes, bringing diverse artistic perspectives, training methods, and movement approaches. The program is designed for dance students and professional dancers and provides a space for ongoing practice and artistic development. Click here for all further dates and information.
DATES Mon, 25.05 – Fri, 29.05.2026 | 10 am – 11:30 am each day
Further dates (instructors to be announced):
10 am – 11:30 am each day
Mon, 01.06 – Fri, 05.06.2026
Mon, 22.06 – Fri, 26.06.2026
Mon, 06.07 – Fri, 10.07.2026
Participation in individual sessions is also possible.
PARTICIPATION FEE Single ticket: 9 euros
5-ticket pass: 40 euros
Foto: Alexis W.
About the artist/teacher:
Beljana Metje is a dancer, choreographer, and multidisciplinary artist; BA alumna of the University of Music and Dance Cologne (ZZT, 2021). Currently, she is studying MA Choreography at the National Academy of the Arts (KHiO) in Oslo, Norway.
Beljana works throughout Europe as a dancer, performer (current projects with Mira Plikat, Leo Gnatzy and Valtteri Keinänen), and choreographer, collaborating on interdisciplinary projects with live musicians, composers, visual artists, writers and poets. With her dance collective “Nangilima Projekt,” she creates own performances that are often self-produced and have been invited to festivals across Europe (Canary Islands, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Spain; such as the Festival Danza de Canarias, Tenerife, Spain and more) and have been supported by the European Union (Creative Europe), among others. For more information, visit the website https://nangilimaproject.wixsite.com/home.
In this movement workshop, we explore the theme of traces in various ways. Traces can be found everywhere – in nature, in movement, and in memory. During these two days we will explore together what traces are, how they emerge, and what they can reveal or carry with them. Our starting point will be dance: How does movement leave a trace in space, in the body, or in perception? What remains from a movement once it has passed? We will work with elements from Instant Composition, Body-Mind Centering, and Authentic Movement.
The workshop is conceived as a shared space for exploration – curious, open, and experimental. We will dance, observe, follow movements, and sense the traces they leave, while also taking time to exchange and reflect together.
From a dynamic approach, this training prioritizes expressive physicality and musicality. We begin with a high-energy warm-up designed to activate the entire body, followed by targeted mobility and strength work—specifically focusing on the hips and shoulders. The training transitions into detailed floorwork, exploring highly physical endurance and musicality. We conclude with technical phrases that challenge endurance and play with contrasting musical qualities, encouraging to refine individual timing and dynamic range, playing creatively with timing, texture, and dynamic.
In collaboration with Ayberk Esen, ehrenfeldstudios invites you to a professional training class in contemporary dance. A rotating roster of regional and international instructors leads the classes, bringing diverse artistic perspectives, training methods, and movement approaches. The program is designed for dance students and professional dancers and provides a space for ongoing practice and artistic development. Click here for all further dates and information.
DATES Mon, 11.05 – Fri, 15.05.2026 | 10 am – 11:30 am each day
Further dates (instructors to be announced)
10 a.m. – 11:30 am each day
Mon, 25.05 – Fri, 29.05.2026
Mon, 01.06 – Fri, 05.06.2026
Mon, 22.06 – Fri, 26.06.2026
Mon, 06.07 – Fri, 10.07.2026
Participation in individual sessions is also possible.
PARTICIPATION FEE Single ticket: 9 euros
5-ticket pass: 40 euros
About the Artist Jovana Petrovska (she/her) is a performer, choreographer and dance mediator based in Cologne, originally from Skopje, North Macedonia.
Her core practice involves a deep commitment to building the contemporary scene in her homeland, continuously creating and sharing work for a local festival for the past three years. The artist explores the intersection of culture, traditional dance, and contemporary movement.
Largely accessible toilet in the neighbouring building. No grab rails or height-adjustable mirror available.
Foto: Ingo Solms
