Guests

Irénée BLIN

AFCMD Trainer for the State Diploma as a Dance teacher

In addition to her background education in classical and contemporary dance, she practises baroque dance, the violin, the piano and lyrical singing. After receiving the First Prize in contemporary dance at the Region National Conservatory in Boulogne-Billancourt in 2004, she joined the MODEM advanced course in the Zappalà Danza company in Catane, Sicily. Interested in language in all its forms, she pursued a university degree in Modern Literature, followed by Linguistics, and earned a Master’s Degree in Linguistics from Paris IV Sorbonne University in 2007. Intrigued by the dialogue between languages and its connection to writing, she specialised in Laban’s kinetography at the Higher National Conservatory of Music and Dance in Paris, where she earned her second cycle diploma in 2015. At an early age, she had the opportunity to be introduced to AFCMD. So it was natural that later on, she participated in the training at Aliénor Centre (CESMD in Poitou-Charentes), where she earned her diploma as an AFCMD specialist in 2016. A choreographer since 2005, she has developed her talent for writing within interdisciplinary projects combining dance, music and drama. She is particularly interested in the encounter between dance and voice, whether spoken or sung. In search of new tracks to enrich artistic creation and the relationship towards performers, she participated in the Prototype IV training in 2017 and Dialogues IV in 2019 at the Royaumont Abbey, under the direction of Hervé Robbe. She teaches physiological anatomy and AFCMD at the conservatories in Cergy, Troyes, La Rochelle, Reims and Charleville-Mézières for the initial training of classical, contemporary and jazz dancers, alongside the vocational training within the CFD in Cergy, for hip hop dancers. Her background has led her to explore the role of dance within musical education, and to develop an approach to movement alongside the Démos orchestras at the Philharmonie in Paris. As a Laban notator, she has taught kinetography in France and Italy. Her approach to learning notation is based on a discovery of the dance repertoire, enriched by AFCMD to decipher styles and expressive qualities.

Idir CHATAR

Neuropsychologist, Dancer’s Health Module

Idir Chatar began dancing in Belgium at the Grétry Academy in Liège, and pursued his dance study curriculum at the Royal Athenaeum in Fragnée from 2010 on. He joined the National Higher Dance School in Marseille in 2014 and completed his background in 2015 at the Higher Dance School of Cannes at the Cannes Junior Ballet. During his training, he had the opportunity to work with choreographers including Christophe Garcia, artistic director of La Parenthèse company, for whom he performed extracts of his creation Cyrano. In 2016, he joined the Preljocaj Junior Ballet in Aix-en-Provence. Since 2017, he has worked with several companies and theatres including La Parenthèse company, The Will corporation, the Acontretemps Danse company and the Calanques Theatre. Alongside his career, he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Performing Arts and New Technologies (TCSA) from Toulon University in 2016. He also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology (2019) and a Master’s Degree in Neuropsychology (2022) from the University of Aix-Marseille. He is currently studying for his Doctorate in psychology with a focus on the psychological factors determining injury risk in dancers. He collaborates at the PNSD Rosella Hightower for the apprentices.

Gwendaline BACHINI

Technical real time contributor – DNSP 2 and 3

As a new media artist, Gwendaline has created interactive choreographic pieces and is interested in topics such as identity and the evolution of species. She directed her first interactive work, TACTIM, in 2007 in Berlin with Humatic GmBH. Following a residence in China organised by Culture France for the project BEIJING , FIELD TO DANCE, the partnership resumed in Italy with participation in MINDBOX – a choreographic installation in collaboration with the Zappala company and IRCAM –, then in Germany through the creation of 7 interactive pieces for the opening of SENSAPOLIS (Sindelfingen). Since 2011, this artist has been pursuing the same path in France and has initiated a partnership with 4D View Solutions, Sip Conseil and researchers at INRIA in Grenoble for the Dance Immersive Media : ANIMO – a cycle of artistic creations focusing on « errors » in the mechanisms of the evolution of life, and combining dance, art and digital technology.

Billel AROUFOUNE

Digital Communication and Mediation – DNSP2

Billel Aroufoune is a faculty member at the INGEMEDIA Department (Toulon University), where he co-manages pedagogy for the Digital and Editorial specialisation within the Master’s Degree (Master 1 and 2). He is also a Research PhD student at the Mediterranean Institute of Information and Communication Sciences (IMSIC). Additionally, he is in charge of courses in Toulon’s Higher School of Art and Design and at the PNSD Rosella Hightower in Cannes-Mougins. From 2017 to 2021, he was elected to the Research Commission at UTLN. Billel Aroufoune is also a permanent member of the Trans-Mediterranean Network of Research in Communication (RTRC), a member of the French Society of Information and Communication Sciences (SFSIC), a member of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), as well as a member of the Mediterranean and Middle-East Strategic Observatory. ATER at IMSIC, EA 7492, and at the Ingémédia Department in Toulon University, his doctoral research focuses on the audiovisual forms of expression of radicalism in Lebanon. He is equally interested in the mobilisation and civic expression observed during protest movements in the Arab-Berber Mediterranean region.

Julien GAERTNER

Researcher, Thesis Tutor – DNSP3

Julien Gaertner is a historian. A researcher and coordinator alongside Yvan Gastau of the ANR ECRIN project at URMIS in Nice, he teaches on the Mediterranean and Middle-East campus of Sciences-Po Paris in Menton. He is also a director and writer of several documentary films. Following his work with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on « Djazaïr, an Algerian Year in France » (2022), he directed the Cultural Centre in Nazareth (2003-2004), was later in charge of international projects at Nice-Sophia-Antipolis University (2005-2008) and eventually taught a course entitled « History and Cinema » at University of Montreal’s Department of Cinematographic Studies. He is currently a teacher at the Mediterranean and Middle-East campus of Sciences-Po Paris in Menton where he lectures on « The Arab Cinemas – A Historical and Political Panorama » and is in charge of a directed study course on the « Writing of Documentary Film ».

Carole GOMES

Contemporary Dance Teacher – DNSP3 Apprenticeshi

Carole Gomes began dancing at the age of 5. At 11 years old, she joined the regional Conservatory of Nice under the direction of Janine Monin. There, she practised both disciplines, classical and contemporary dance. In 1990, she was admitted to the National Higher Conservatory of Dance and Music in Paris and graduated three years later with a First Prize. She started her career as a performer at the age of 17 alongside Angelin Preljocaj. In 1996, she joined the National Choreographic Centre in Bretagne under the direction of Catherine Diverrès for whom she participated in all her creations until her solo in Stances 2. From 2006 on, she worked with Nasser Martin Gousset as a performer on two creations – Peplum and Comedy – as well as a répétiteur on Pacific. Since 2009, she has worked with Olivier Dubois on Revolution and Tragedy. In 2013, she worked with Thierry Micouin on a duet – Double Jack. Having graduated from the Certificate of Aptitude as a Contemporary Dance Teacher, she has taught for dance companies in France and abroad (National Dance Centre, Ballet Preljocaj, Ballet de Marseille, Ménagerie de Verre, Mediterranean School of Tunis, Argentina, among others). Alongside her career as a performer and teacher, she trained in the Pilates method and was certified in Mat 1, 2 and 3.

Patricia KARAGOZIAN

Jazz Pedagogy – State Diploma (DE)

Of American origin, Patricia Greenwood Karagozian started her career in Pittsburgh where she danced and played in over eighteen musical comedies, including West Side Story, Kiss Me Kate, My Fair Lady, Applause and more. Graduated with the CA in Jazz Dance and in AFCMD, she is an instructor for the State Diploma (DE) at several private and public centres, as well as the National Centre for Dance, and the CNSMD in Lyon for the CA training. Placing particular emphasis on improvisation as well as the relationship between music and dance, she has participated in collective research on improvisation and composition with a jazz quartet alongside Fabienne Zanati’s FaCéCie company. In 2011, she created the PGK company, whose first creation – Unfinished Fragments – was programmed at the National Centre for Dance. Since then, the piece, bringing together dance and live music, has toured France for over twenty shows across the country.

Isabelle CHAFFAUD

Choreographer & Personalised dancer coaching

In 1996, she joined Ohad Naharin’s Batsheva Dance Company in Israël. In 1998, she was invited by Jiří Kylián to join the Nederlands Dans Theater I, where she danced until 2002. After that, she worked on creations and reprises from Saburo Teshigawara, and danced for Bruno and Karine Listopad Guizzo. She has also assisted choreographer André Gingras for an event created by Robert Wilson. In 2004-2005, she was nominated for the Swan award for Best Dance Performance for her role in Compass for Fools. She has also worked with sculptor Elena. Since 2005, Isabelle Chaffaud has co-directed alongside Jérôme Meyer the MCDance Meyer-Chaffaud collective in the Netherlands. Since 2009, they have been exploring the dialogue between bodily language and other disciplines. They have choreographed or restaged pieces for international companies including Introdans, Scapino Ballet Rotterdam and the Geneva Ballet. Their creations are performed across the Netherlands and worldwide. Meyer and Chaffaud have taught in the Netherlands and abroad. They have choreographed pieces for students from dance universities in the Netherlands (Codarts, ArtEZ, National Ballet Academy, AHK) and have delivered classes and workshops in the USA, South Africa, Italy, Portugal and Switzerland.

Jens Bjerregaard

Choreographer and Guest Teacher for apprentices

Jens has been a professional dancer since 1992 and became a choreographer two years later. He is a central figure of Denmark’s dance stage as a choreographer, teacher, and director. He has created spaces and opportunities for creation, such as residences and youth programmes. As an award-winning choreographer, he has been active internationally throughout his career, touring with groups as well as performing solo pieces. He has created works for companies worldwide and has delivered dance workshops and classes for companies, universities and professional dancers. As a dancer, he has always explored dance as an abstract and transcendental form of expression, and has followed his own choreographic direction. His captivating style features a distinctive Scandinavian style, grounded on his keen understanding of form and visual conception. Since 2010, he has been working in Beirut. In addition to teaching, coaching, assistance and worldwide creation, he has refined his work as a contemporary and ballet teacher and coach.

Mark Lorimer

Choreographer and Guest Teacher for apprentices

A graduate from the London Contemporary Dance School in 1991, Mark Lorimer is a dancer, choreographer, teacher and répétiteur. As a performer, he has primarily collaborated with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker (from 1994 on) and Thomas Hauert (from 1997 to 2005). In addition, he has worked with Deborah Hay, Alix Eynaudi, Boris Charmatz, Marten Spangberg, Alain Buffard, Jonathan Burrows, and Mia Lawrence. As a choreographer, Canon and On and On is his next creation for La Bâtie Festival in Geneva. As a répétiteur, he has worked on several creations by Rosas, Anne Teresa De Keersmaker’s company, including Rain and Vortex Temporum, as well as on a transcription project of Zeitung. He has taught at P.A.R.T.S and Lausanne’s Manufacture. In 2015, he was one of the 10-artist collective directing the danceWEB programme as part of the Impulstanz Festival in Vienna.

Soahanta de Oliveira

AFCMD trainer for the 200-hour State Diploma (DE)

Trained in both classical and character dance, she began her career at The Musical Theatre in Paris before dancing repertoire pieces at the Opera du Nord, Ballet Théâtre Français de Nancy and Ballet du Louvre. There, she had the opportunity to perform soloist roles and dance choreographies by Léonide Massine, Michel Fokine, Bronislava Nijinska, as well as Agnès De Mille, Génia Poliakov, Brian Mc Donald, Claudine Allegra, and Joseph Lazzini. For years, she taught classical dance in community settings as well as in municipal schools. In such a context of transmission to amateurs, she developed expertise and a reflection on the beginning of classical dance training, starting from walking and musicality. A State-graduate teacher, she teaches classical dance with a contemporary pedagogical approach, respecting academism and style, while also using workshops to deepen aesthetics and technical fundamentals. This has led her to give Master Classes in higher schools or dance training centres. Specialising in Functional Analysis of the Body in Dance Movement (AFCMD) since 1996, she is a teacher at theNational Higher Conservatory of Music and Dance in Paris. She also teaches AFCMD in other contexts, such as dance teacher training, training for teachers in body disciplines (Yoga, Pilates), dancer and performer training (National Higher Dance School in Marseille, Juste Debout School/ Hip Hop, and Argentinian tango dancers). She has trained in myofascial stretching and Longitudinal Osteoarticular Decoaptation Stretching (ELDOA) with Guy Voyer, and in the somatic and educational techniques she practises, such as Feldekrais, Alexander, Eutony, Pilates, Girotonic, BMC, Yoga, and Rolfing. She teaches physiological anatomy applied to movement. She is an Argentinian tango dancer and has applied her teachings and studies to this partner dance. She has been a teacher and member of the pedagogical committee for the training of specialists in AFCMD at CESMD de Poitou-Charentes since 2013. She has taught AFCMD as part of the State Diploma as a Dance Teacher (DE) at PNSD since 2021, and this year, to dancers in the 200-hour training programme.

Lukas TIMULAK

Choreographer

Lukáš Timulak works in performing arts and cinema. As a dancer, he has worked with Ballets de Monte Carlo and the Nederlands Dans Theater. He has choreographed for many companies worldwide, including NDT, Göteborg Ballet, the Balé da Cidade de São Paulo, the Swedish Royal Ballet , the Staatsballett in Hanover and Lyon's Opera Ballet. His interest in cinematography has led him to pursue intensive studies at the New York Film academy, enabling him to strengthen his skills as an editor and director of short films and documentaries. Since 2004, most of his works have been carried out in collaboration with designer Peter Bilak, and focus on new concepts in contemporary dance. In 2017, they founded the Make Move Think Foundation encouraging interdisciplinary artistic collaboration. In 2023, he choreographed a piece for the Cannes Junior Ballet Rosella Hightower as part of the Cannes Côte d’Azur Dance Festival, during the Encounters of the National Higher Dance Schools (Rencontres des Écoles Supérieurs Nationales).

Marion Robinet

Jazz pedagogy Contributor

Following undergraduate and vocational studies in dance at Off Jazz in Nice, she worked with Angelo Monaco, Gianin Loringett, and Katiuscia Onnis, among others. Additionally, she danced in regional companies such as Sixième Etage, Off Jazz Dance Company and the Atmosphère company. She later entered Rosella Hightower International Dance Centre, to pursue the State Diploma as a Jazz Teacher. She studied under Babeth Angelvin, Dominique Larin, and Christophe Duveau. After graduating, she taught for six years in a dance school in Valbonne. In the meantime, she resumed her training in choreographic creation with the French Federation of Dance through intensives with Valène Azy Roux, Claude Aymon, Patricia Karagozian, and Christine Jouve. She has won numerous awards as a choreographer in national competitions. Additionally, eager to broaden her skills and to train as a Pilates teacher, she earned her Matwork certification Levels I and II. In 2017, she earned her certification as a dance teacher for seniors at the PNSD Rosella Hightower. In 2021, she joined the teaching staff at PNSD Rosella Hightower to collaborate in Jazz Pedagogy for students in DE2 (State Diploma).

Magali VERIN

Jazz Pedagogy Contributor

Born in Cayenne, French Guyana (973), Magali furthered her dance technique at the Alvin Ailey School in New York. Between 2001 and 2002, after a rewarding experience in Anne-Marie Porras and Rick Odums’s companies, she joined the Musical The Lion King at the Lyceum Theater in London, and later occasionally worked with choreographer Barry Collins on various musicals and operas, including Singing in the Rain, Sugar, Orpheus in the Underworld and Aida. Choreographers such as Georges Momboye, Patricia Alzetta and Géraldine Armstrong soon welcomed her in their companies, and from May to July 2008, she performed on the stage of the Paris Casino in Jérôme Savary’s La Revue Nègre. In April 2009, the National Dance Centre in Pantin welcomed the Black Dance Project, where she performed choreographies by Eleo Pomare, Donald Mc Kayle et Ronald K. Brown. She later graduated as a state-certified dance teacher in 2006, and delivered various Jazz and Modern intensives inspired by the Horton technique in Guyana, France, England, Belgium and Norway. She teaches Jazz Pedagogy at the PNSD for the DE cycle (State Diploma).

Martin HARRIAGUE

Choreographer

Martin Harriague began classical and contemporary dance at the age of 19. He joined the Junior Malandain Ballet Biarritz (France) in 2007, the National Ballet in Marseille in 2008, the Noord Nederlandse Dans in The Netherlands from 2010 to 2013, and later the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company from Septembre 2013 until December 2018. He is currently a freelance choreographer and a residence artist at Malandain Ballet Biarritz. He worked with Thierry Malandain, Itzik Galili, Emmanuel Gat, Roy Assaf, Andrea Miller, Keren Levi, Stephen Shropshire, Frederic Flamand and Rami Be'er. Alongside his career as a dancer, he has choreographed his own work and composed his own music. His choreographies have received international recognition, as well as prizes in competitions in Stuttgart, Hanover, and Copenhagen. He has created pieces for the Malandain Ballet Biarritz, the Leipzig Opera, the Scapino Ballet in Rotterdam, The Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, the Metz Opera, the Project Sally in The Netherlands and the Dantzaz Konpainia in Spain.

Francesco NAPPA

Choreographer

Francesco Nappa was born in Naples in 1974 and began dancing at the Academia Napoletana di Danza Classica. During his training, he joined the Ballet Napoli and received the Thomas Cooks scholarship, which enabled him to enter the pre-professional class at English National Ballet in London. In 1992 he was engaged at the Ballets de Monte Carlo where he quickly became first soloist. In 2000, he joined the Royal Danish Ballet, and two years later the Nederland Dans Theater. He rejoined the Ballets de Monte Carlo in 2005. In 2008, he began his career as an artist and freelance choreographer. He has created pieces for Rosella Hightower Cannes Junior Ballet (Pulcinella), for the Palucca Schule de Dresde (Art Von Blau), for the Gauthier Dance Company in Stuttgart (Weird Fishes), for the Balletto di Toscana in Florence (Cromatismi), for the Ballet D'Europe (Hevea), directed by Jean Charles Gil, for the Reate Dance Festival in Rieti with Lukas Timulak (Shortcut), for the Agora Project in Reggio Emilia (Oltre il Riflesso) and for Geneva’s Junior Ballet in Switzerland (Identity). In November 2011, he founded the « Somatic Dance Project », a company based in Lyon, with Franck Laizet. In 2012, he created Beginnings for the CNSMD Lyon’s Junior Ballet, Kuruka and Under-Standing for the Agora Project in Reggio Emilia, From One Palm to Another for the International Dance Prize of Amalfi, and Welcome Onboard for Körper in Naples as part of the Napoli Teatro Festival Italia 2012. In 2013, he choreographed and staged his first opera – Petite Messe Solennelle by Rossini – which was created at the Christkönig-Kirche in Saarbrücken, Germany with the Saarlandiches Staatstheater, and he later created Catatumbo Lightning for the Ulm Theatre in Germany as well as Quartetto for the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome. In 2023, Francesco Nappa was appointed Artistic Director at Theatre Hagen. He took on his position from the 2023-2024 season.

Hacène BAHIRI

Classical Dance Contributor – Former teacher at PNSD Rosella Hightower

After five years studying at Nice Conservatory and Rosella Hightower International Dance Centre, Hacène Bahiri was engaged as a soloist at Ballet Théâtre Français in Nancy. There, he performed a varied repertoire with great choreographers such as Georges Balanchine, Jiri Kylian, John Cranko, Félix Blaska, and Jeannine Charrat. He is later engaged as a semi-Principal at Ballet National de Marseille where he performed all of Roland Petit’s neo-classical repertoire. Six years later, he danced Maurice Béjart’s repertory with Europa Ballet, and joined Lyon’s Opera Ballet under the direction of Yorgos Loukos as a soloist. There, he addressed the repertories of A.Preljocaj, Forsythe, M.Marin, O.Naharin, and Bill T Jones. In 1995, he became a teacher and started teaching at Rosella Hightower Higher Dance School (ESDC). A Ballet Master for the Cannes Junior Ballet for over 15 years, Hacène Bahiri is regularly invited as a guest teacher by several dance companies.