The TanzDialoge took place for the first time in Bremen in 2020 and have since established themselves as an annual platform for artistic discussion and exchange between Bremen-based dance professionals. The TanzDialoge are a project of the Tanzinitiative network within the Landesverband freie darstellende Künste Bremen (LAFDK). TanzDialoge #7 is the continuation and deepening of the dialogue series, which enables synergy effects, revitalization, and encounters within the Bremen dance scene in a shared format.

Each edition of TanzDialoge is dedicated to a specific focus. In 2026, the focus will be on collaboration between dancers and scientists. Two dancers develop a piece together on a theme – inspired by an input from an expert. Whether natural sciences, philosophy, education or linguistics: current topics are given a new, sensually experiential form of expression through dance. Movement opens up surprising perspectives on familiar questions and enables low-threshold access to complex discourses.

Dates
By arrangement: Input from the scientists
November 2–6, 2026: Rehearsals in Bremen
November 6, 2026: Dress rehearsal at Schaulust (Bremen)
07 and 08.11.26: Performance at Schaulust (Bremen)

Conditions
Two dance professionals who have not yet worked together meet and create a ten-minute piece over five days of rehearsals. This time, TanzDialoge #7 consists of five duos who embark on an open-ended experiment. The theme and form emerge from a joint process of engagement with a field of scientific research.
Rehearsal fee: €800 gross
Performance fee: €360 gross per performance

Application
Only individual artists residing in the state of Bremen are eligible to apply. Selection will be based on the application documents. The dialogue partners will be announced by the beginning of April 2026 at the latest. Professional dancers and choreographers are eligible to apply. A management team made up of members of the LAFDK will select the artists, put together the duos, and match them with the scientists.

The following scientists and researchers are already available for the project:

- Anna-Lena Cohrs is a dancer and philosopher. Dance taught her everything about the world and other people and gave her direct access to reality. In reality, however, we still do not know what is real and what it means. We ask: What is truth? What is love? What is abundance? What is bliss? What is wisdom? What is being? What is a human being? What are you? What am I? And who are we? Western philosophy has been grappling with these mysteries for over 2000 years. We know countless different answers to these questions. Anna-Lena Cohrs feels that all answers ultimately revolve around the same thing, and she is convinced from experience that dance can at least show us what we are revolving around.

- Prof. Lucio Colombi Ciacchi: Lucio Colombi Ciacchi's research focuses on interfaces—those subtle transitions where bodies meet, touch, and start moving. Atoms and molecules vibrate, glide, repel each other, and find new formations. His work reveals how countless microscopic movements, through a silent choreography beneath the surface, determine the behavior and properties of materials. When materials collide, a dialogue of rhythm, proximity, and distance emerges—matter is something alive: an ensemble of particles that reacts to interactions, learns, and changes.

- Dr. Christina Roggatz is a young scientist and environmental biochemist (something between an environmental chemist, biochemist, and marine biologist). Many processes in the sea, as well as the interactions and communication between marine organisms, are based on chemistry. Christina Roggatz is interested in how processes controlled by small biomolecules can take place under the highly variable ocean conditions of today and in the ocean of the future. In recent years, she has already discovered that the “molecular language” changes with future ocean conditions and that signaling substances no longer function as they do today. Her research focuses on changeable molecules, environmental conditions in the sea, and fundamental processes of communication and function.

- Prof. Dr. Anja Starke conducts research at the University of Bremen on the linguistic and communicative participation of students in inclusive schools. On the one hand, she addresses the question of how teachers can adequately assess students' linguistic and communicative abilities and use this information to design support programs. On the other hand, she is concerned with the connection between linguistic and social-emotional development, especially in students with language development disorders. A topic close to her heart is selective mutism, a phenomenon in which children remain silent in certain situations even though they are actually able to speak.

- N.N., scientist requested.

If interested, the application can refer to the research fields mentioned.

Applications must be submitted via the application portal below.
The application deadline is March 3, 2026 (11:59 p.m.).

Note on accessibility: Applications are expressly welcome, regardless of physical, sensory, or other individual requirements. If you have any special needs, the LAFDK team will be happy to assist you at tanzinitiative@lafdk-bremen.de or 0421 69 68 04 32.

The open call in German as a PDF file:
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