Maria Antonieta (Toni) Bravo originally from Mexico City has studied and performed throughout the planet before she settled in Austin, Texas. Most notably she studied in London at the Royal Academy of Dance and the Imperial Society of Dance, with Ruth French, John Field and Dame Ninette de Valois.

In New York she worked with Zena Rommett, Maggie Black, Jennifer Muller, and Michael Jahoda. Her work with Pina Bausch’s company in Wuppertal had great impact on her professional life as a dancer. In the USA she has performed with Ballet Austin, Ballet Memphis, Discovery Dance, and The Early Dance Institute.

She is founder of the Diverse Space Dance Theatre (1995). Austin Chronicle awarded her ‘best choreographer’ three years in a row. Her youth company travels every year to perform and study in the Irish Youth Dance Festival and at LISTROS, Berlin.

Ms. Bravo is also a full time faculty member for the Ballet Austin Academy where she also directs the Dance in Education continuous projects taught in AISD schools. With her curriculum on dance and movement classes in schools “Leaps and no Bounds” she taught in the USA as well as in Europe.

Her work consists of different dance and dance theatre styles including Modern/Contemporary Dance, Musical Theatre, Ballet, and Dances and Rhythms from different sectors in the World.  

Film Excerpt "Out of the Box" - Toni Bravo

^{Website Toni Bravo}

Claudia Albrecht is a dancer, theatre pedagogue and psychologist born in a little village in the south of Germany now living in Berlin. After being trained in classical ballet with the Royal Academy of Dancing she went on studying other dance forms and approaches to movement. Amongst others she worked with Louise Lecavallier, Lior Lev, Joe Alegado, Marco Santi or Jermaine Brown.

Dancing, performing and acting in a variety of ensembles, collaborations and projects, she was inspired by intuitive and imaginary techniques while studying theatre. Her passion for these techniques led her to Israel and a residency with the Gaga Movement Language.

Her research on the work with imagination in Performing Arts “Die ‘Bildung’ der Vorstellung” has been published in 2013.

As a teacher she worked as a movement trainer for actors as well as with kids and adult so called ‚non-dancers’. She’s driven by the curiosity to learn, experience and get new impulses on dance and got in touch with Toni Bravo and the „out of the box“ project in 2013.

MariaGiulia Serantoni was born in 1987 in Busto Arsizio, Italy. She started dancing at the age of 9 at Chorea Studios in Bologna where she first approached Graham and Limòn Techniques. In 2009 she received a Dance-Theater Postgraduate Diploma in Paolo Grassi School of Drama, Milan, Italy. In the same year she founded the Fattoria Vittadini Dance Company, sprouted from the Paolo Grassi artistic environment. The Company was born with the idea of hosting different artists to work with the established group.

Interesting collaborations came out of this concept as My true self,project created in 2010 directed by Maya Weinberg and performed in differents international Festivals. In 2012 the company counts another appealing collaboration with Matanicola Company which gave birth to intervention #1, 2, 3 performed in Milano and Les Grand Traversèe Festival in Bordeaux. The mutual interest of both comes from the desire to structure different creational appointments based on the same score line with the goal to create a piece.

In 2010 she attendended the Modem Atelier Course, a six month professional training at Roberto Zappalà Dance Company in Catania.

In the year after she produced a solo called Whatami performed in various Festivals and worked as freelancer for different companies as Samotracia Dance-Theater and Shuko Company.

Keeping her italian artistic activities, she is currently living in Berlin involved in a research project with Labor Gras under the direction of Renate Graziadei and Arthur Stäldi.

Mariam Ribón originally from Spain, moved to Dublin late 1995. As a professional dancer she has worked with New Balance Dance Co., Daghdha Dance Co., MaNDaNCe, Cois Céim, Opera Ireland, Irish Modern Dance Theatre and Shakram Dance Company and with Catherine Young Dance Co in early April 2014 amongst others.

She graduated with First Class Honours in her Master in Contemporary Dance Performance at UL. Since 2003 she is the Artistic Director of the Dublin Youth Dance Company and the Irish Youth Dance Festival. Her choreographies have been seen in Ireland, UK, Czech Republic, Spain, Germany and USA. In January 2014, Mariam was commissioned to create a dance piece for Diverse Space Dance Theatre, in Austin, Texas.

Though DYDC, Mariam is continuously exploring opportunities for youth dance in Ireland; also she created a cultural exchange between DYDC and Debla Danza from Spain.

Mariams style is fluid and dynamic, her movement has an emotional response to the space, the music and sounds and the concept or idea behind the piece.

She is a believer of creating your own path by following the energies of people and places that are in harmony to your own energy. Nothing should be forced, not even dance... Mariam is very exited to be performing at the Lystros Art Gallery in Berlin.

Website Mariam Ribon