I began to dance at the early age of three in Argentina. As a child, I loved to dance to any and every type of music. I would improvise a stage in my backyard and dance for hours in front of my family. At the age of 18, I moved to Buenos Aires to study dance at the prestigious Teatro Colon and after my graduation, I started working as a professional dancer.

During my professional career as a dancer I had the opportunity to explore diverse dance styles (ballet, contemporary, modern-jazz and tango) and work with different choreographers in several theaters around the world. Every piece that I danced in, no matter which style, as well as each choreographer that I worked with, all contributed to enriching my movement vocabulary, my body awareness and my love for dancing.

I danced professionally for 25 years and I decided to move towards teaching dance. I recently graduated from a Master’s program of Arts in Education (dance teaching) with the Royal Academy of Dance and Bath University of London. The studies opened up a new pedagogical perspective for me and allowed me to connect dance, pedagogy and science. This increased my curiosity in developing dance programs that expand the benefits of dance to professional, vocational and community dance students of all ages.

In 2016 Anneli Chasemore and I met Andrew Greenwood, Switch2Move and his wonderful work with movement classes for dancers with MS, Parkinson and Dementia during the Dance & Creative Wellness Foundation’s Forum hosted by the Het Nationale Opera & Ballet in Amsterdam. The Forum was the first attempt to connect dance professionals working in different dance & wellness programes across Europe. We fell in love with the challenge to create similar classes in Germany and we committed ourselves to develop a group with the necessary skills to pursue this endeavour. Although in July 2018 my professional career as a performer ended, a new exciting door was opened and IntoDance e.V was founded.

Dance has not only been my way of living but an instrument to discover and connect with myself and others, to express my feelings and to share who I am. I am learning every day from my wonderful colleagues and our dancers. Everyone is special and contributes to my personal and professional growing.

I started dancing as a small child and never wanted to stop. As soon as I discovered performing, I had found my place. Growing up in New York City, I was privileged to be able to study balet from a young age at the School of American Ballet and I had numerous performing opportunities with their affiliated company, New York City Ballet, dancing at Lincoln Center.

I was lucky to have had, and am forever grateful for, my twenty year-long career as a professional ballet dancer, dancing in several companies in the USA before coming to Berlin in 2004 to join the Staatsballett-Berlin. During my career in Berlin I was promoted to soloist and retired at the end of the 2015-16 season. Since then I have worked for Tanz ist Klasse!, the education and outreach department of Staatsballett-Berlin, where I work regularly with school children developing new work as well as bringing the world of ballet to new audiences. This experience has enabled me to see ballet and dance through new eyes and rediscover the magic of it all.

My perspective on dance was further expanded when learning the methods of Andrew Greenwood and becoming a certified Switch2Move practitioner. Teaching dance to people with Multiple Sclerosis or Parkinson’s has shown me how beneficial and healing dance can be, which led me to become a founder of IntoDance e.V. In April 2017, I began studying for my bachelor’s degree in social work and would love to pursue the ways in which social work and dance can overlap and enhance one another.

Since I can remember, movement has always been a great part of my life. My first attempt was when my mother took me to a ballet School in Cordoba, Argentina, where I was born. Suddenly I disappeared, only for my mother to find me already inside the ballet studio trying my best to move and reach the barre. I realised then that I was about to discover a new world.

The dream of dancing continued. I entered the Colon Theatre Ballet School in Buenos Aires when I was 14 years old. Years later, ballet and life brought me to Germany, where I danced professionally and eventually discovered that teaching was my path.

In 2013 I suffered a severe stroke which forced me to start anew in many ways. I had to use a walker for several weeks, however quitting dance was not an option for me. I was given a new chance and was determined to improve. Busy with my therapies, I noticed that something was missing, so I brought my old stereo to the rehabilitation gym. When no one was there, I slowly started moving to the music again.

It was not easy at the beginning, but I felt encouraged and motivated. I left the rehabilitation within 8 weeks, already enjoying dancing and fully recovered. The following year I finished my pedagogical studies in dance and started teaching again, adults and children.

After my friend took me to a "Switch2Move" workshop for teachers in Berlin, I could not stop crying. I realised, I had already experienced in my own body what music and movement can do to enrich our quality of life. I joined IntoDance hoping to share my professional and personal experience and help people to discover the healing powers of dance.

How I discovered dance:

My interest in telling stories, creating pictures by movement, and the search for new approaches of working with groups led me on a journey from social work, via theatre, to the discovery of dance and what dance can be.

During my Social Work studies I was amazed at how the act of doing theater brought out new sides of my fellow students. Having the desire to bring this experience to a wider community, I started doing internships at various theaters and companies all over Germany to learn how to teach different groups. During this time, I met the great dance project tanzbar_bremen and discovered the world of mixed-abilities dance.

Having the wish to do this work as a professional artist, I enrolled at the mime school Die Etage in Berlin and discovered a theatre where the telling of stories is based on movement and pictures. Besides mime, I was introduced to different dance styles, acrobatics and acting.

Together with a colleague I founded the mime duo Panthea Mime Theatre where we stage and perform our own theatre pieces. Mime, as well as dance, are an essential part of my artistic work. In 2017 my journey led me to IntoDance, where I can continue sharing, searching and experiencing the creation of art within the community.

Dancing and moving my body has always been a part of my life. From a young age, I started ballet and developed the classes as I got older into contemporary, jazz, hip hop, tap, and musical theatre at a dance school in Cambridge called ‘Bodywork’. There I developed my passion and technique, which evolved into me training professionally with a BA Hons at London Studio Centre, then based in Kings Cross, London.
After graduating I went on to be part of the West End show “Thriller Live” and worked as a professional dancer for 10 years in London, dancing for a variety of well-known artists such as Celine Dion, Florence and the Machine and Kylie Minogue. After writing my dissertation on CandoCo, a disabled dance group based in the UK, it was an honour to perform alongside them at the 2012 Paralympic Closing Games, which inspired my continued appreciation for the many layers that dance has to offer. I danced on a variety of live TV shows and performances around the world, combining contemporary, lyrical, commercial and hip hop styles, nourishing my passion for the art form.
I was motivated to explore different ways of moving the body, and subsequently trained to become a yoga teacher. My journey continued when after attending workshops available in London and Berlin, I became a ‘Switch2Move’ practitioner, offering movement as a therapeutic art form. Alongside my dance career, I offer workshops embodying a “non-linear” movement method, yogic techniques and movement meditation, with various themes and collaborations, to provide a creative and explorative way to express, expand, and release blockages by moving the body.

Whilst celebrating my professional career, my father told of his amazement when I was 9 years old and my profound sentence as a child, that I was “ only happy when I was dancing “. As from this moment on, my family realised that they needed to listen to my dance teacher who said that she could no longer do anything for me! So aged 11, I left home to pursue my dream at a vocational school. At 18, I graduated from the Royal Ballet School, London and joined the Berlin Ballet at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

My stage career spans 30 years and I have been exceedingly fortunate to share both rehearsal spaces and world stages with stars of the dance world, learning from Nureyev, Makarova, Evdokimova, Schaufuss, Béjart and Petit to name but a few. Working with several choreographers, and performing their individual styles, has also enhanced my dance knowledge greatly.

Creative interests have drawn me towards choreographing, organising dance events, designing stage sets and even creating breastfeeding clothing! Whilst still performing, I was part of the initial creation of the education programme for Staatsballett, Berlin, studying project management for schools at the Technical University, Munich and receiving a teaching diploma from the Royal Academy of Dance, London. My own experiences play a key role in my work today, in finding new ways to pass on the joy of dance to all learners of any age, ability and background in various formats and venues.