Katja Gluding

Katja Gluding: English

About Me

I have been working as a freelance dancer, choreographer and dance facilitator since 2013. In my dance and project organization work I combine my diverse professions. In addition to dance therapy training and a degree in social work, I am trained in contemporary dance, dance improvisation and performance art. I have many years of artistic and project organizational experience.

Since 2013 I have been organizing and choreographing intergenerational, mixedable as well as children, and youth dance projects. In my projects I worked in cooperation with other dancers and artists from Freiburg and beyond. The core of my work is to bring socially interesting topics in dialogue with dancers, artists and interested people with affinity to this work, into movement, to give it a form and to make it visible and experienceable for the dancers as well as for the audience. Diversity plays a major role in the respective ensembles. Dancing qualities as well as interpersonal tones are equally expressed in my work.

In 2018, I founded the association com.dance e.V. with two other dancers.

Choreography and Composition

The choreographic work and composition of contemporary mixedable dance pieces in dialogue with a wide variety of professional dancers, musicians and artists makes up a large part of my artistic work.

This work gives me the freedom to enter into an artistic dialogue with people, a critical discussion about social issues and human concerns, to bring this into a creative dance form and to make it visible and tangible for the audience.

Project Management, Organization, and Management

The organization of projects from the idea to the piece and beyond.

The organization of contemporary dance projects begins with a project idea. The themes predominantly relate to socially relevant and current issues and beyond.

Before a piece enters the actual research and rehearsal process, a financial and structural basis must be created. Due to my various projects of the last years I bring experience in the application for the financial basis of the projects, its further administration and handling, as well as experience in structural organization.

Projects with Children and Youth

In a performance-focused society, in which many things are subject to certain

In a performance-focused society, in which many things are subject to certain rules and procedures, contemporary dance seems to me like a sigh of relief, almost like a relief to not have to submit to predetermined movements and rules, but to let movements happen out of the moment, without them having to mean anything or stand up to evaluation. Only the authenticity of the movement creates the touching magic for the dancer and the viewer. Only the joy of dance movement and the desire to create are the prerequisites to experience contemporary dance.

On the physical level, I train and develop age-specific, through dance improvisational exercises, among other things, coordination, an awareness of movement in time and space, perception of (body) form in space, flexibility and condition, body perception through the senses, especially through the proprioceptive sense, an awareness of rhythm and dynamics and the perception of movement impulses.

In addition to the physical level, contemporary dance enriches the development of social skills, such as, among others, respect, self-confidence, empathy, mutual support, creating a togetherness, such as within the development of a joint stage play. On the artistic level, creativity and courage for the individual are encouraged and the examination of age-specific and socially relevant topics is initiated. At any age, contemporary dance offers a rich spectrum of possibilities to experience oneself and the world in a playful and creative way.

Within the children and youth projects I work with dancers from com. dance e.V. in cooperation with social and educational institutions as well as art schools.