motionlab.cologne is a comunity platform and supported by a lot of people in different ways and with a variety of motivations and attitudes. Each dance, each dancer, each teacher is building this space. And there is also a growing team for hosting jams and classes.
HASSAN AFTABRUYAN
I feel as a dancer, dance teacher and body philosopher with a background in Aikido and Toaistic movement practices. Since 2016 I am running motionlab.cologne, a platform for contact improvisation and embodiment. My heart is burning for transformative spaces in movement, dance and life.
DANI VALENZUELA
Dani has been holding spaces for dance and music improvisation for the past 7 years. He is interested in how people of entirely different backgrounds can move, fail, adapt and flourish together in unexpected and beautiful ways. His spaces are centered on self-responsibility and mutual care, inviting people to bravely explore what emerges when bodies, habits and inner worlds come into contact.
As a spaceholder, he sees himself as dancing with the space itself — a practice he is currently deepening through the Contact Improvisation in Arts and Therapy training (‘25–‘26). Outside of the studio, he works on bringing people together for landscape regeneration.
JULIA GREHLING
How am I in contact with myself and with others? This question occupies me both as a dancer and as a Gestalt therapist. Moving in spaces where I can explore contact in elastic and creative ways makes me feel alive.
KATHARINA HALLER
In meinem eigenen Tanz fühle ich mich verwurzelt in mir und komme in einen intimen Kontakt mit dem gegenwärtigen Moment- innen und außen. Ich mag es sehr das Verborgene und das Offensichtliche anzuschauen, Tiefe und Leichtigkeit zu bewegen und zu verkörpern.
Als Therapeutin begleite ich Menschen auf ihrem Weg. Ich lerne gerne Neues und begreife immer mehr: die wirksamste Methode ist meine eigene Präsenz mit dem Erfahrungswissen, das ich ausstrahle und der Begegnungsraum, der dadurch möglich wird. Weise Lehrer sind für mich, die Menschen, die ich liebe, die Natur, der Kosmos.
MYRTHA MEISSNER
studied Fine Art, Art Education and Art Therapy. After the birth of her children, she trained as a doula and has since been supporting women and families during pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period.
She was introduced to body-oriented work by Ilan Stephani – an experience that fundamentally changed her life. Ilan Stephani works at the intersection of the body, sexuality and radical aliveness. Her form of somatic practice goes deep, demands presence and opens up new spaces for self-discovery.
Through two training courses to become a SHAKING Coach, Myrtha mastered this practice, which has had a lasting impact on her own life and now forms the basis of her support work.
Today she works with people in individual and group settings. She is also part of Ilan Stephani’s team of assistants and, among other things, teaches courses at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, focusing on body-based stress management.
NICOLA KUHLE
Nicola verbindet verkörpernde, somatische Praxis und soziopolitische Auseinandersetzung mit dem größeren sozialen Kontext, in dem wir uns befinden.
Nach ihrem Studium von Politik, Gesellschaft und Psychologie vertiefte sie sich zum einen in meditative und somatische Ansätze und erforschte zum anderen Gesprächs- und Dialogräume, die Begegnung ermöglichen. Mit Blick auf die Frage „Wie sind wir in Beziehung?“ schlägt sie eine Brücke zwischen einem gesellschaftlichen Blick auf unser Miteinander und dem Gewahrsein der erspürenden Erfahrung im Einzelnen. Grundlage sind dabei ihre Ausbildungen in Sensory Awareness nach Charlotte Selver, Intuitiven Bogenschießen und Idiolektik, sowie Weiterbildungen in Gruppendialog und Konflikttransformation.
MAX MÜLLER
multidisciplinary researcher who synthesizes various currents, ideas, and philosophies. He moves in the spheres of meditation, mysticism, alchemy, contact improvisation, and design.
RITA KLOS
Since 2015, I have been conducting intensive research in the world of contemporary stage dance, including at Danceworks and the Etage in Berlin, at the Iceland Academy of Arts in Reykjavik, and most recently at the Cologne University of Music and Dance. Contact improvisation has been part of this journey from the very beginning and has given me a space where I could feel free, without the pressure to perform or to do something ‘right’. The main goal has always been that it feels good and does me good.
In my own practice, I am seeking freedom of expression and movement. I want to discover which rules or structures are necessary to help people feel safe enough to explore new things and coexist peacefully. An essential part of this is always my curiosity about different forms of touch and my love of playfulness.