Claire Filmon and Stephane Els (Paris, France)

In 1990, with a grant from the French Ministry of Culture, Claire Filmon travelled to the United States to study Horton technique with Bella Lewitzky and improvisation with Anna Halprin. Following this year of study, she developed her practice among the dancers of Trisha Brown’s company, completing it with Contact Improvisation. Returning to Europe to invest herself in performance-improvisation , she performed , both int eh U.S. and Europe with performers such as Barre Philips, Julyen Hamilton, Simone Forti, Nancy Stark Smith, Lisa Nelson, in venues such as the Bastille Theatre in Paris, the Bauhaus Naunynstrasse in Berlin, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Anvers, the Muider Poort Theatre in Amsterdam, the Judson Church in New York, and the Mark Taper Auditorium in Los Angeles. www.clairefilmon.com or www.asphodele-danses.com.

Stéphane Els practices and teaches Contact Improvisation in France and abroad. He has trained with teachers such as Steve Paxton, Nancy Stark Smith, Kirstie Simson, or Simone Forti in improvisation. He works and performs with Claire Filmon and develops its own work around theatre, movement and video. He organizes and supports different projects around Contact Improvisation and improvisation, in Paris in particular. See www.asphodele-danses.com or www.projetdici.com

Mirva Brigitta Makinen (Helsinki, Finland)

Mirva Brigitta Makinen graduated with an MA from the Dance Department of the Theatre Academy of Finland in 2000. After her studies she worked throughout Finland as a dancer, dance teacher and choreographer. From 2000 onwards she has acted as dance teacher, choreographer and lecturer for dance at the Kallio School for the Performing Arts. She has also taught and performed at domestic and international dance festivals (both contemporary and contact improvisation). Aside from her own work, she performs with the Karttunen Kollektiv Dance Company and in Circo Aereo, a company presenting " new circus" performance. She currently works at the Zodiak Center for New Dance in Helsinki, Finland.