About.

Dancer, Choreographer, Contemporary dance Teacher

BIOGRAPHY

Photo Oliver Look

Photo Dasmechanischeauge

Paolo Fossa is a choreographer, dancer and teacher. In the last 20 years he has been working all over Europe, applying his extensive knowledge of the moving-body in the areas of improvisation and contemporary dance. He has taught in many schools, companies, theaters and festivals such as:

the Theatre am Gärtnerplatz in Munich, BTT (Balletto Teatro di Torino) in Turin, the Municipal Theater Gießen, Pforzheim and Bielefeld, the State Theater in Kassel, Braunschweig and Bremen, FTS (Folkwang Tanz Studio) in Essen, Neuer Tanz in Düsseldorf, Folkwang Universität der Künste (as a contract teacher), DansArt Academy, HJS (Henry Jurten Studio) and JMD Academie voor Theater en Dans / Urban Contemporary) in Amsterdam, Tanzhaus NRW, Kaay Fecc Festival Dakar and others.

Along with his teaching he has choreographed several works for this organizations and his own independent projects. Most recent works and choreographies, including ongoing performance initiatives, are: Stray Körpererzählung (2019) in Gießen, Dogs ( 2018 ) in Ulm, Der Blonde Eckbert ( 2016 /17 ), Der Tag am dem der Goldfisch Starb  ( 2015 ) both commissioned by the dance Compagnie Gießen, What about you ( 2016 ) for the Compagnie Strado in Ulm, Energieplan 48 hours Performance inspired to Joseph Beuys ( 2013 ) and many others.
Due to his pronounced communicative and organizational skills, he has been carrying out a dance education project in Shenzhen / China since 2017 together with the Tanzcompagnie Gießen, where he has been working as a Training Leiter for contemporary dance since 2015. Aim of the project is to develop a syllabus for contemporary and improvisation techniques at the Shenzhen Arts School one.

In parallel to his stage activity, he works with private and public institutions and leads several social projects with people of all ages and backgrounds.
Since 2016 he has been successfully leading the Kroki project in collaboration with the University Hospital Gießen/ Marburg and the Theater Gießen. In this context, he developed a training method to help children with psychosomatic illnesses through dance.

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In 2019 he founded a similar association in Düsseldorf, which he names KROKI Düsseldorf with the same intent to help people with chronic diseases, with particular attention to the young age group.In the past year he has also led many projects and workshops with mixable profesional dancers and amteur.

With choreographer Gerda König, creator of the M.A.D.E. ( Mixed-Abled Dance Education ) project, he is collaborating on the creation of a new method of studying contemporary dance that will allow students and dancers with and without disabilities to share a common education.

In 2020 he joined the Ta.med. (dance and medicine) association. With which she is currently studying for the Tamed certificate.

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Paolo Fossa began his dance training in 1992 with the Theatre of Turin, where he studied the Cecchetti and Balanchine syllabus and Limon modern technique. Later he worked with the Theatre BTT and Teatro Nuovo in Turin, where he danced the repertoire from W. Forsythe, M. Ek, J.Kylián, J. Limon. In 1999 he moved to Germany and danced in several theaters and companies among which Theater Heidelberg, Bielefeld, Hagen, Darmstadt and Bremen, DinA13 Company, Sosta Palmizi, Kaiser-Antonino Dance Ensemble, Curtis & Co and with many choreographers such as Katrin Hall, Fabien Prioville, Jochen Ulrich and others. During the years he trained various dance techniques including Instant Composition, Contact improvisation, Fighting Monkeys, Butoh and Body Weather. He attended courses in Chinese Medicine and Feldenkrais Method. He practice since many years various Martial arts ( Judo, Capoeira, Kalaripayattu and Shaolin Kung Fu ), trained Yengar and Astahnga Yoga for several years, that he integrates in his choreographic and teaching work.

Body overview

“We have a brain for one reason and one reason only -- that’s to produce adaptable and complex movements. Movement is the only way we have affecting the world around us… I believe that to understand movement is to understand the whole brain. And therefore it’s important to remember when you are studying memory, cognition, sensory processing, they’re there for a reason, and that reason is action.”

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Daniel Wolpert

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