MEDIATHEK

Kurt Koegel was a competitive gymnast for 13 years before he discovered dance in 1978 and left Minneapolis to study at SUNY Purchase and work with a multitude of teachers and choreograpers in New York City. He has been practicing contact and performance improvisation for 20 years and teaching extensively throughout Europe since 1988 when he moved to Berlin. His group choreographies have been funded by the Berlin Cultural Senate, the ‘Land Niedersachsen’, the ‘Berlin Olympics-2000 Fund’, the Nederland’s Anjer Fonds, the European Commission’s “Kaleidoscope Programme, the Busan Cultural Commission, KNUA, Seoul, and the Chang Mu Festival in Seoul He is known for his eclectic background that integrates an education in Architecture with Contact Improvisation, Modern Dance and a variety of alternative movement approaches including Body-Mind Centering, Pilates, Yoga and Rock Climbing. In 1979 he left the University of Minnesota’s, School of Architecture to enroll in the dance department at the State University of New York at Purchase, and later as a scholarship student at the Merce Cunningham Foundation. There he studied ballet, ‘Pilates’, as well as Graham, Limon, and Cunningham techniques. In New York he also worked with a wide range of dancers and choreographers including Ohad Naharin, Merce Cunningham, Lisa Kraus, Ann Bogart, Simone Forti and Steve Paxton. In 1982 he completed Bachelor of Science in “Dance, Design & Communication from the University of Minnesota, University College. In 1983 he completed his Pre-Master’s Program in Architecture University of Oregon, School of Architecture, and in 1984, his defended his Master’s Degree at the University of Minnesota, entitled: “A Cross –Disciplinary Approach to Education in the Arts and Humanities, with honors. He has given lectures in the connection between Dance and Architecture at Universities and Symposium throughout Europe and North America. He has also published many articles in trade journals concerning new pedagogic approaches to the teaching of contemporary dance. “I am constantly seeking to expand my base of knowledge by research and practice. My study includes yoga, feldenkrais, body mind centering and rock climbing. My passion is finding more effective ways of teaching performance-oriented contact and contemporary techniques that are informed by authentic movement principles.