Alex Blum  
alexblum (they/she) is a trans* choreographer, dancer, political educator, and somatic activist based between Copenhagen and Amsterdam, where they graduated from the School for New Dance Development (SNDO) in 2023. alex explores the body as a site for politics and dance as a means for the disidentification from power structures. With their artistic work, they look for sensual detours from the grid of identity politics by means of touch, listening, and shared spacetime with critical friends, lovers, and strangers. alex’ work is currently supported by the Nordic Futures Residency and Konsthall C in Stockholm. 

*becoming, unfinished, fragmentary, internally contradictory, multiple. 

lseGhekiere is an artist and art critic who works as a dancer, writer, researcher and lecturer. She studied dance at the Conservatory of Antwerp and has a MA in Art Sciences from The Free University of Brussels. As a dancer she has worked with, among others, Michèle Anne De Mey, Mette Ingvartsen and Jan Martens. In 2018, she founded ENGAGEMENT ARTS, an artists’ movement that tackles sexual harassment, sexism and abuse of power in the Belgian art world. This platform has made her a spokesperson on these issues, ranging from giving lectures and workshops in art education to speaking for the EU-Parliament. Her own work is deeply research based and explores the tensions between sexual liberation and oppression in the arts. Her critical writing has appeared in publications such as Norsk Shakespeare Tidsskrift, Rekto:Verso and Etcetera Tijdschrift, among others. She works and lives in Oslo and Brussels. 

ErocaNicols is a choreographer, a dancer, and a convener of contexts for collective liberation through relation building and embodiment. The teaching, performing and training they do are deeply influenced by their ongoing study of practices including choreography, embodied consent, ritual, community care/disruption and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. 
 

Dodi Leal is a travesti educator and researcher in Performing Arts. Adjunct Professor at the Centro de Formaçãoem Artes e Comunicação (CFAC) and of the Instituto de Humanidades, Artes e Ciências (IHAC) of the Campus Sosígenes Costa (CSC) of the Universidade Federal do Sul da Bahia (UFSB). PhD in Social Psychology (IP-USP), with doctoral internship in the PhD program in Artistic Studies at the Faculdade de Letras of the Universidade de Coimbra, concentration in the area of Theatre and Performance Studies. Graduated in Performance Studies (CAC/ECA/USP). Habilitated in Film and Video at the Baccalauréatinterdisciplinaireen arts of the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC, Québec-Canada).  

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1875-8616

Mijke van der Drift is a philosopher and educator working on ethics, trans studies, and anti-colonial philosophy. Mijke is a tutor at the Royal College of Art, London. Mijke’s work has appeared in the Journal of Speculative Philosophy, the Journal of Aesthetics and Culture, in various independent publications as well as chapters in The Emergence of Trans (Routledge 2020), and The New Feminist Literary Studies Reader (Cambridge UP 2020). Van der Drift is founding member of the art collective Red Forest. They have made work for the Milano Triennale (2022), the Helsinki Biennale (2023) as part of their research into Extractivism, Fossil Fascism, and cultures of resistance. With Nat Raha, Mijke is writing Trans Femme Futures (Pluto Press, forthcoming)

A native Philadelphian currently based in in Amsterdam, NL, Joy Mariama Smith’s work primarily addresses the conundrum of projected identities in various contexts. A sub-theme, or ongoing question in their work is: What is the interplay between the body and it’s physical environment? They have a multi-modal improvisational practice spanning over 25 years. When they choose to teach, they actively try to uphold inclusive spaces. 
 

Thomas TalawaPrestø is a prominent dance artist and researcher, renowned for his work in African and Caribbean dance through the creation of the Talawa Technique. As founder of Tabanka Dance Ensemble and a research fellow, he has devoted over 25 years to diversifying the Norwegian art field. Prestø's work, which emphasizes inclusive and decolonial practices, has significantly influenced the dance world, combining practical skills with academic research. He is on track to become a pioneering Ph.D. candidate in Scandinavia, focusing on decolonial dance and performance, further solidifying his role as a leader in this specialized field. 

Bojana Mladenović is artistic director of SNDO - School for New Dance Development, choreography Bachelor at the Amsterdam University of the Arts.

She graduated from DasArts (now DAS Theatre), a postgraduate programme in contemporary performing arts in Amsterdam. After studies, her works were produced at the Frascati Theater in Amsterdam and featured at the Something Raw Festival, Beursschouwburg in Brussels and Xing in Bologna. From 2010-2014, Bojana was the artistic director of Het Veem Theater in Amsterdam, highlighting the work of a new generation of artists in the field of choreography, performance and experimental performing arts. Bojana was born in Belgrade, where she lived and worked as choreographer and performer, and where she was one of the founders of Station - Service for Contemporary Dance, Nomad Dance Academy and Druga Scena. She cherishes her background as a member of Belgrade independent dance and performing arts scene in the nineties and early two-thousands as this created the foundation for all her artistic, curatorial and socially engaged work onwards.

Since 2006 Bojana lives and works in Amsterdam where she initiated and co-curated programmes such as Moving Together: Activism, Art and Education – A Week with Angela Davis, BER-AMS-BXL and the online mapping of the performance field tool, the Performance Platform.