James Batchelor is a choreographer and performer from Ngunnawal Country (Canberra, Australia), working internationally. His artistic practice spans movement research and performance creation, international touring and teaching. His recent work includes An Evening-length Performance which premiered at Tanz im August (Sophiensaele) and toured to Tanzhaus nrw (Düsseldorf), Theatre de Vanves (Paris) and December Dance (Brugge) in 2021. His solo work Hyperspace was part of the Aerowaves platform in 2019 and has since been presented over 50 times in Europe and Australia. James Batchelor was part of the [8:tension] Young Choreographers' Series 2023, read more about it here.

Bek Berger (b. 1988) is an artist, curator and dramaturg originally from Australia, based now between Berlin and Riga, where from 2020 to 2024, she was curator of the International Festival of Contemporary Theatre, Homo Novus. Bek's practice binds curiosity with innovation in order to design new models of connection, collaboration and reciprocity between artists and communities, across borders and art forms. Her expertise lies between festival making, dance dramaturgy and karaoke. In the last years she has instigated a number of large international collaborations such as Baltic Take Over Helsinki (LV, LT, EE, FI), The Shake Down with Rosendal Theater (LV, NO), The Festivals Path with ANTI festival (LV, FI). As an artist she is currently concerned with exploiting magic, creating new conditions for togetherness and improving the performing arts with pleasure centered design. Read more about Bek here.

In the course of the Artistic Exchange Residency in Budapest, James Batchelor teaches a workshop. This workshop offers an introduction to James Batchelor’s teaching and choreographic practice, followed by an opportunity for developing knowledge about contemporary dance networks in Europe.

“My class begins with energy cultivation and meditative practices that work on smooth articulation of joints, flow and balance. We will then explore some exercises and principles of expressive modern dance that were introduced to Australia by the Viennese modern dance pioneer Gertrud Bodenwieser. Bodenwieser’s style incorporates soft embodiment of waves, ripples, figure 8s and off-center body leaning. This will culminate in a structured improvisation that brings together all of these elements."

My teaching style is gentle, calm and inclusive. I like to engage participants in articulating their experience of movement as both a performer and a witness and therefore give time in class to observe each other and develop a communal intelligence through feedback."

Participation of the workshop is for free, registration is necessary via this link.