reta Gauhe
Choreographer, Dancer, Producer, Researcher
Making dance accessible and inclusive is one of the most important aims I have when preparing classes or workshops. Moreover, working with local communities and with non--professional dancers throughout my career has been very rewarding. I regularly teach many classes for 30-50 participants each week and I often deliver workshops for non-professional dancers for all ages.
Additionally, I have been involved in the delivery of many community dance projects both locally and in Germany, working with the children, disabled,- or elderly people.
I have a DBS check, a chaperone license and I have done two safeguarding courses online.
Schools and Companies I have previously worked for:
St.Anna Gymnasium, Germany
Arianna Wills Dance
James Dixon primary School
Dramarama Dance School
Trinity Laban Conservatoire for Music and Dance
Importantly, my recent choreographic dance works 1 Click Away and Memories of Skin, specifically aimed at involving children into the works and we currently applied for funding to tour these works in the UK. We hope to be able to reach communities who were hit the most by COVID-19 including young children and their parents. Thus, we aim to present the work in community centres, local schools or outdoor areas.
By offering people a space to collaborate and participate we hope to open up new conversations amongst participants and to fight feelings of loneliness together.
In the future, I hope to create more community-focussed works to include people into our works as I believe that art and dance can have a huge impact on people's lives and mental health.
Background:
In 2011 I had the chance to be part of a dance project in Munich, Germany, which has changed my life ever since. Together, with the Bavarian State Ballet and my High School St.Anna Gymnasium they developed a 5 weeks dance project, where students would come together to dance instead of studying.
Boys and Girls would join in dance classes every day lead by professional dancers to develop a contemporary dance performance together. This experience has been transformative for everyone involved and highlighted the positive impact dance can have on people. Boys and Girls were now moving together, ignoring differences, building self-esteem, making new friendships and developing important coordination skills. Link
This project was one of the reasons I chose to study dance in the UK and to dedicate my life to performance and teaching. I felt the strong urge to also deliver classes, workshops and community projects in order for the younger generation to have similar transformative opportunities like I did.
Thus, I started working as a dance teacher for various companies in London including Baby ballet co., Dramarama Dance, Chisenhale Dance Space, Trinity Laban, Arianna Wills Dance and for many Afternoon School Clubs.
I delivered creative dance classes, Ballet, contemporary Dance, Hip Hop and Jazz-dance to a variety of age groups, from 3-18 years. Frequently, I prepared students for exams or for end of year performances.
In addition, I returned to the "St.Anna tanzt" project in my home town in Munich in 2013 to be an assistant tutor and teacher for the current students. Here, I was helping to deliver classes, to plan the performance and to offer students my support and advice when needed. Again, this has strengthened my ability to successfully deliver community dance projects and I enjoyed to give something back to my local community.
Following on, I often taught workshops both in Berlin and London for professional and non--professional dancers, focussing on inclusive dance practices and ways to strengthen a sense of togetherness and community.
In 2018, I created a Screendance Film, which dealt with the topic of memories and age. Therefore, I invited an elderly dancer to collaborate with two professional dancers. We worked on developing a score and together we created the choreography. Working across different age groups was a rewarding experience, both young and old learned from each other and they grew as a team. Link
Recently, I was invited to take part in a community project by the choreographer Ania Straczynska at the Crystal Palace library hub. Here, we worked with many people from the local communities to develop a dance film, dealing with their experiences during COVID-19. People took part in regular classes and learned a short choreography, which they performed infront of a camera later on. Moreover, their stories were recorded previously and will form part of the sound score in the film.
All participants highlighted how lonely they felt during lockdown and that sharing a space with others again after such a long period felt very rewarding and special.
It was an honour to be part of this project and to offer people a place where they could share their experiences in order to find commonalities. Link
