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 ».

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.

Mélanie Morel

Jazz pedagogy Contributor

Trained at Studio Harmonic in Paris, Mélanie Morel completed the professional performer program in contemporary, classical, and jazz dance. During her training, she worked with choreographers such as Corinne Lanselle, Béatrice Buffin, Millard Hurley, Julien Desplantez, and others. She then continued her studies in Aix-en-Provence, where she obtained her EAT (Technical Aptitude Exam) and completed her academic units in anatomy, dance history, and music. In 2017, she joined the Pôle National Supérieur de Danse Rosella Hightower in Cannes to train for the State Diploma in Dance Teaching. She earned her State Diploma in Contemporary Dance, followed shortly afterward by a second diploma in Jazz Dance. She then taught for several years in various dance schools across the Var and Alpes-Maritimes regions. In 2023, she obtained the Dance, Health and Ageing Diploma from the PNSD and the University of Nice, allowing her to offer classes safely designed for senior participants. She has also led summer workshops at the Pôle National Supérieur de Danse Rosella Hightower. Passionate about pedagogy, she continues to further her training with different institutions. Since this year, Mélanie has also been teaching second-year students enrolled in the State Diploma program at the PNSD Rosella Hightower. Her teaching aims to enrich each student’s artistic sensitivity through the learning of dance techniques, nurture the joy of learning and progressing, and develop self-confidence. Since September 2025, she has opened her own dance school in the Var, where she continues to pursue her artistic and educational values.

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.