Katja-Bahini Mangold
As an adolescent I was fascinated by the transformative and regenerative force which I experienced while dancing on my own. Searching for ways of expression and self-exploration I made experiences with different kinds of dance practices and performance situations since then.
I was deeply touched by a 5-month long encounter with the Indian Ocean in 2008. The pure renewable force of the water in which I plunged allowed me to deeply and trustfully unwind and connect with the fluids in and around me. Sensing the subtle inner dance became more and more essential to me.
Allowing the elemental forces in life to teach me by surrendering and connecting to them became part of my practice.
In Contact Improvisation I love to experience being present in the moment, fully trusting and challenging my senses and reflexes as well as relating authentically to others and exploring my own diversity and mutability.
Since 2012 I have been organising the Witzenhausen Contact Jam together with Marielle Gerke and since 2013 hold a space for free dance improvisation there. From 2012 to 2016 I have been studying with Jörg Hassmann and Daniel Werner in their “Basic Training Program”, from 2014 to 2016 as their assistant. From 2014 until 2018 I taught CI in weekend formats and was involved in two performance projects with Marielle Gerke. During the last three years I have been deepening my understanding of the functionality of the human body in motion through the lensis of the Axis Syllabus mainly studying with Kira Kirsch and Antoine Ragot as well as receiving an ongoing training in Kinaesthetics .
I teach dance and hold the space for the inner dance to emerge in diverse contexts such as: communities, DEMETER-farmers*, especially for women, on festivals, in environments of social change, in cooperation with live musicians and in and WITH Nature….
Furthermore my dance and teaching is inspired by my study time with Wal Mayans (anthropological theatre, Hara Theatro, Paraguay), Imre Thormann, Tadashi Endo and Anahi Chamorro (Butoh), Emily Conrad and Susan Harper (Continuum), Frey Faust (Axis Syllabus), Yaniv Mintzer and Bernd Knappe, amonst others.