With Us!

With Us!

Projects

WITH US!

Intergenerational dance performance

With Us! (Mit Uns!) is an intergenerational and inclusive dance performance by Silke Z.

Karel, a dancer aged 66 and David a 27-year-old dancer with trisomy 21 meet and share their bodily landscapes, measure their individual bodily shapes and challenge each other’s movement forces.

They encounter each other in a completely human way: like father and son or like best friends.

PAST PERFORMANCES

11.06.2022 PREMIERE ehrenfeldstudios, Cologne (GER)
12.06.2022 ehrenfeldstudios, Cologne (GER)
09.09.2022 Festival: Confludance 22 Tanzplatte, Bonn (GER)
10.09.2022 Festival: Confludance 22 Tanzplatte, Bonn (GER)
11.11.2022 Festival: PLATTFORM STUDIOTRADE, euro-scene, Leipzig (GER)
06.08.2023 Arts Printing House, Vilnius, (LTU)
03.12.2023 Festival de danse, Cannes (FR)
17.11.2023 ehrenfeldstudios, Cologne (GER)
18.11.2023 ehrenfeldstudios, Cologne (GER)
02.08.2024 EiMa Festival Mallorca (ES)
12.10.2024 ehrenfeldstudios, Cologne (GER)
21.03.2025 Festival: Dance ALL IN, Vilnius (LTU)
27.04.2025 Festival: Dance ALL IN, Mallorca (ES)
31.05.2025 Festival: Dance ALL IN, Cologne (GER)

CREDITS / CAST / FUNDING

Artistic direction Silke Z.
Dance Karel Vanek, David Winking
Lighting design Wolfgang Pütz

Video documentation Barbara Schröer
Photos D. Matvejev

Supported by the Cultural Office of the City of Cologne and the Diversity Fund of the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

     

Upcoming performances will be announced here.

LANGUAGE  /
DURATION  20 min.
fear:less

fear:less

Projects

fear:less

Dance performance

The escalation of various acute global crises seems to be increasingly condensing into a collective state of fear and shaping human behaviour in the process. fear:less explores the social conditions of fear and questions the role of the body within this context.

How much uncertainty can a body endure?

Does touch become a risk?

Are we losing our sense of connection to one another?

In a relentless and challenging pas de deux, dancers Dmitrijus Andrušanecas and Hanna Held seek an intense physical connection with each other. They surrender themselves to the other, challenge their counterpart, and resolutely explore what it means to be fear:less.

Barrier-free access

Accompanying persons receive free admission

On request we offer a touch tour before the performance. Contact: organisation@ehrenfeldstudios.de

CREDITS / FUNDING

Artistic direction and choreography: Silke Z.
in collaboration with Performers: Hanna Held, Dmitrijus Andrušanecas
Light design and set: Garlef Keßler
Sound design: Liam Giles

Photo: Dmitrij Matvejev

Tue, 05.05.2026

20:00 / ehrenfeldstudios, Cologne

Sun, 10.05.2026

18:00 / Festival Escenas Do Cambio, Santiago de Compostela (SP)

Tickets online
LAGUAGE  /
DURATION  45 min.
fear:less

THE AGEING BODY Pro Series #1

Projects

THE AGEING BODY Pro Series #1

Dance performance and Artist talk by Silke Z. & Liisa Pentti

The Ageing Body Pro Series #1 is the first part in a series of dance performances dedicated to the professional challenges and particularities of female freelance dance artists in the context of ageing.

In dialogue with choreographer Silke Z., Liisa Pentti confronts her artistic identity and the process of ageing on stage. Together they reflect on their past and present experiences, such as the need to balance artistic autonomy with earning a living as well as the physical demands and the role they play in the ageing process. 

Using dance techniques to approach their questions from biographical and social perspectives, Silke and Liisa ask: Which experiences in their professional careers have been or continue to be formative? What power relations have they experienced, helped shape, endured and dismantled as women? What role does ageing play in this?

The Ageing Body Pro Series brings active professional female dancers, aged over 60 and from a variety of nationalities and dance backgrounds, to the stage, highlighting their journeys and histories and providing the audience with an accessible insight into dance creation processes

CREDITS / FUNDING

Dance & choreography: Liisa Pentti
Concept & choreography: Silke Z.
Sound design: Silke Z.
Light design: Kauri Klemelä
Production: Liisa Pentti +Co, Silke Z./resistdance
Residency: C O L O N Y winter dance summit ’26 / Low Air Vilnius City Dance Theatre

This work was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union.

Wed, 15.04.2026

18:00 – 19:00 PERFORMANCE     19:00 – 20:00 ARTIST TALK

As part of “Dance Legacy Reset Camp” / Location: Stage Konepaja, Helsinki

Tickets online
LANGUAGE  English
DURATION  60 min.
THE AGEING BODY Special: Dance & Parkinson’s

THE AGEING BODY Special: Dance & Parkinson’s

DANCE RESEARCH, General, Projects

THE AGEING BODY Special: Dance & Parkinson’s

A project by Elisabeth Habel in cooperation with ehrenfeldstudios.

Under the guidance of Silke Z., we intensify our own body awareness in search of new possibilities for movement. We work playfully with individual dance expression and our own creativity.

A project by Elisabeth Habel in cooperation with ehrenfeldstudios.

For ALL with and without previous experience.
For ALL with Parkinson’s.
For relatives and interested parties.


Barrier-free access. Participation with a rollator or wheelchair is possible.


Accompanying persons receive free admission.

FUNDING

Funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Next round:

23. – 25. June 2026

Sign up now!

Registration

Info & registration at:
Phone: +49 221 222 666 3
tanzen@ehrenfeldstudios.de

Time schedule

each day 11:30 – 14:30

Participation fee

Sliding scale: 90 – 280  Euros
Sponsorships* can be requested or taken on. No one will be excluded from participation for financial reasons.

 *To enable as many people as possible to participate, we offer a solidarity-based contribution model. People who can afford to pay a little more make it possible for those with fewer financial resources to participate through their contribution.

No previous experience required for participation.
THE AGEING BODY: Performance lab

THE AGEING BODY: Performance lab

DANCE RESEARCH, Projects, Tanzforschung

THE AGEING BODY 2026 

Dance research lab & performance for the generation plus (aged 55 and over)

Under the title KINGS & QUEENS, we invite all people over 55 to explore traditional gender roles and their own positioning within them through dance art under the direction of Silke Z. and Caroline Simon.

How do labels and stereotypes of gender roles become entrenched on a physical level? How can we express these in movements, challenge them and transform them into something new? What biographical imprints and self- and external attributions are there? We want to explore all these questions together with you through dance.

The lab will culminate in a final performance.

Barrier-free access possible. Accompanying persons receive free admission.

Past dates: 2025

KINGS & QUEENS #2: 31.03. – 05.04.2025 
KINGS & QUEENS #3: 08.09. – 13.09.2025
KINGS & QUEENS #4: 10.11. – 15.11.2025
FUNDING

Funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Lab

10:00 – 15:00 (lunch break included)

Performance

Will be announced

Registration

Registrations are open and we are looking for participants!
Sign up via:
tanzen@ehrenfeldstudios.de
0221 222 666 3

Participation fee*

50€ nota  (no one turned away)
No one will be excluded from participation for financial reasons.
No previous experience is required for participation.
LOOK 2026 – Choreographies from feminist perspectives

LOOK 2026 – Choreographies from feminist perspectives

LOOK EN, Projects

Guest performance series »LOOK« for dance & diversity 2026

Curated by Silke Z.

Under the title LOOK and under the artistic direction of choreographer Silke Z., the ehrenfeldstudios present four dance guest performances from all over Germany each year.

The aim is to question viewing habits and bring the audience into contact with new artistic perspectives on current social issues.

In 2026, the LOOK guest performance series highlights choreographies from feminist perspectives. The series starts with the performance veline repertoire by Gaia Pellegrini.

#1 veline repertoire | Gaia Pellegrini

veline repertoire is a choreographic study on Italian tv showgirls, fantasised over as a lesbian romance. ‘veline’ is a showgirl duo whose task is to perform the Stacchetti: 30-second dance breaks of cheerful routines and ever-present smiles.

Restaging their repertoire—from the 90s to today—the performers break their bond with the camera and start dancing for each other. What begins as mirroring becomes seduction as frivolous gestures turn into erotic tension, smiles to camp enchantments, till the choreography romantically entwines them.

veline repertoire blends the gestures of Million Dollar Smile with the choreography of culo 2 aka le veline, deconstructing the glossy surface of Berlusconian femininity to reveal desire—and defiance—beneath.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Gaia Pellegrini is a choreographer and performer based in Cologne. Completing her studies in Physical Theatre at Folkwang University of Essen and specialising in choreography at the Conservatori Superior de Dansa in Barcelona, Gaia’s work explores intimacy, sexuality, and femininity as a spectrum. Moved by a quasi-documentary interest, she challenges narratives around misogyny and homosexual desire, transforming them into spaces of reappropriation and empowerment. Collaboration is central to Gaia’s practice, with key partners including Rebecca de Toro, Shauna Fischer, Alice Minervini, and Giulia Parenti. Her work has been presented at Tanzhaus NRW, Folkwang Museum, MOLT, and Fondazione Sozzani, among others.

CREDITS
Artistic direction: Gaia Pellegrini
Performance and choreography: Gaia Pellegrini in collaboration with performers Shauna Fischer and Rebecca de Toro
Show dance coach: Ley Akpinar
Set design and lighting: Miranda Simón Abelló
Styling: Giulia Parenti
Music: Tim Pauli, GFOTY, Gaia Pellegrini, KatKit
Assistant artistic director: Luca Frati
Artistic collaboration and text: Alice Minervini
Photo: Rafał Stefanski
Co-production: Tanzhaus NRW, Düsseldorf; ehrenfeldstudios, Cologne
With the support of: Antic Teatre; Dansa Metropolitana 2026; ehrenfeldstudios, Cologne and Tanzresidenz 2026 Quartier am Hafen
Special thanks to Saskia and Fine for coaching the owner.

veline repertoire is presented as part of the guest performance series LOOK – Choreographies from feminist perspectives.

Photo: Rafał Stefanski

#2 Food Porn | Hanna Held

Fri, 03.07. & Sat, 04.07.2026

Details will be announced soon.

#3 Making of a Man | Quindell Orton

Fri, 13.11. & Sat, 14.11.2026

Details will be announced soon.

TEAM + FUNDING

Artistic Direction: Silke Z.
Administration: Andrea Kößler
Organisation: Caroline Simon, Katja Steinbach
Public relations & press work: Franziska Nagel

Funded by the cultural office of the city of Cologne.