LIFE

MOTHER – DANCER – HUMAN BEING

I was born in 1973 in Hoyerswerda in Lusatia as the daughter of a Polish engineer and an industrial worker. I grew up in the former GDR and in my childhood and youth, I spent 7 years doing competitive sports. Back then movement for me was like a precise form that could be trained and the development of my potential was limited to my physical body. Terms like goal orientation, achievement, exercise, work … describe this time best. I was compliant and successful.

There was no room for being different, authentic, individual, unique, indescribable. It was suffocating.

When I was in grade 10 the Berlin Wall fell.

I graduated from high school in the “Wende” years and went on to study at the Carl von Ossietzky University in Oldenburg in 1992. I studied pedagogy for two years. Movement was completely out of my focus until I felt the need for it in my body again. So I added sports science, psychology and philosophy to my field of study. I was looking for a connection between theory & practice, body and mind. I wanted to understand movement on a deeper level. The sports science faculty in Oldenburg taught movement in a holistic way. For me, this was an opening: broadening my thinking, overcoming limitations, and moving into new inner spaces. Feelings and movement became connected.

In 1999, I received my M.A. in Education and Sports Science. After graduating, I worked as a full-time trainer in the field of competitive sports from 2000 to 2003. At the same time, I accompanied groups where the focus was the pure joy of movement and learning to move. A lot of practice. More and more I followed my inclinations to understand movement, theory and practice, an understanding of life in connection with one’s own body. How is the life we live expressed and visible in the body of the individual? How can movement release old patterns, help to let go and lead into new spaces? How can movement be a space for development? In 2003, my involvement with dance as a movement practice began and I started a position as a research assistant in the field of sports sociology at the University of Potsdam. A lot of theory.

I quit my permanent jobs in 2003 and 2004 and decided not to take a new job for the time being, until I knew what exactly it is I was looking for, and what I wanna work on! I was unemployed for a year, danced a lot, met my husband and my first son was born.

By dancing and experiencing the practice in my own body, I understood more and more. Theory and practice became one.

While dancing I found the movement space that could be a place of development and experience for my own body practice. I experienced many dance practices: athletic, choreographed, free and improvised. Always with the goal of freeing myself and understanding more. There was no reason to stop dancing. I knew, I just had to keep doing it to understand more and more about freedom. Or just BE!?

Nia. Modern Dance. Gurdjieff Movements. 5 Rhythms. Soul Motion. I explored these dance spaces a lot and I learned so much satisfying my thirst for knowledge.

In 2004, I became a Nia teacher in Hamburg, and in 2005 I decided to open dance spaces as a teacher. In 2015, I graduated as a Soul Motion teacher in the USA.

In 2008, I was fortunate enough to become a mother again. My second son was born.

In the following years, I danced, was a mother, and passed on my experiences on the dance floor. I increasingly integrated meditation into the practice as a balancing element to dance. I was fascinated by this great silent space that meditation revealed in and around me. I began to listen passionately.

Stillness and movement have become focal points in my work. Basic pillars. In 2016, I founded the Space for Stillness & Movement in Oldenburg. I am here and continue to explore. Opening spaces for all who want to experience freedom. Being one with themselves and life. Since 2019, I have also been working as a Soul Motion teacher trainer. I live in Oldenburg, teach here, and increasingly also all over Europe.

I would say about my work: “It is so much more than dancing.”