They told us about the start of this piece, when the six of them did not know each other yet, but were invited to develop a piece together – within 5 days. We hear, how they found quite playful ways to fulfill this task and ended up becoming friends and collaborators and touring Gush is great for years. 

Catol told us how close their way of choreographing is to their actual way of living. Why they choose to work with close friends and what it means to them to choreograph emotional zones. And Catol talked about how not planning a lot, but following instincts can bring you to places.

He talked about the times when he, at age 17, was asked to join a tour to New York, about his urge to make his own work, and the difference of showing it in Europe or in Nigeria. About being seen or not and as what in society, and the unfair division of power over visibility.

Almud Krejza was talking with Mufutau during ImPulsTanz Festival 2025.

We talked about Narcisism, family issues and the freedom art can give. And how to handle unexpected circumstances like losing one‘s voice on the day of a premiere. 

Almud Krejza was talking with Luigi during ImPulsTanz Festival 2025.

Gui talked with me about precarity. How easily one can get in debt and what this does to a person. She talked about starting a lot of things but not finishing them, about taking risks and the blurry area between life and art. 

Almud Krejza was talking with Gui during ImPulsTanz Festival 2025.

Adam told me about his transition from being a ballet dancer in big companies to making his own work as independent choreographer, about the attraction as well as danger of dancing until complete exhaustion. How the collaboration with musician Moritz Haas evolved and what a drunk stranger on the U8 in Berlin has to do with his piece.

Almud Krejza was talking with Adam during ImPulsTanz Festival 2025.

She talked about her fascination for big crowds. About the magic of instant connection and how she met the drummer Clement Grin,  with whom she created the piece. How she sometimes prefers speaking with her body to speaking with her mouth. And the importance of warming up and accepting downs.

Almud Krejza was talking with Mélissa during ImPulsTanz Festival 2025.

We talked about violence – and what difference it makes, who defines what violence is. About the longing for belonging. And how to appropriate a culture which is your own, but is still not very familiar. And about dynamics one cannot control, neither in real life nor on stage. 

Almud Krejza was talking with Marika Peura during ImPulsTanz Festival 2025.

We talked about the time when they met in choir school and how singing is their natural habitat. How they moved on from soprano and alto to heavy metal and growling and about their ongoing fascination with the deconstruction of the voice.

Almud Krejza was talking with Lisen Pousette and Olivia Rivière during ImPulsTanz Festival 2025.

Martina talked about nostalgia as something more than missing the past, but missing the future, which one thought would come but did not, about how fruitful it can be to trust in one‘s gut-feeling. And about the importance of unlearning as well as of doing things one can not do - yet.

Almud Krejza was talking with Martian De Dominicis during ImPulsTanz Festival 2025.

He told me which lessons from being a danceWEBber back in 2018 came in handy now, being back at the festival for a residency. How the restrictions during Corona times made him accidentally invent a new instrument. And which role the village he grew up in still plays for him when creating.

Almud Krejza was talking with Matteo Haitzmann during ImPulsTanz FestivaL 2025.

Their collaborative work FUGUE FOUR : RESPONSE was first developed for the Porn Film Festival Vienna. The satirical investigation of how sex and bodies are commodified in the digital age was then adapted for Volkstheater Dunkelkammer. 

For the [8:tension] Series, Olivia, Nick and their collaborators (actress Thea Ehre and performer-choreographer Luca Bonamore) presented the piece in yet another setting – the proscenium stage of Schauspielhaus Vienna.

A month after the festival, Olivia and Nick sat down with writer Sean Pfeiffer. They discussed their residency time at the ImPulsTanz Festival, their foray into the world of contemporary dance and performance, as well as the question of genre in their work. 

In his conversation with writer Sean Pfeiffer, Sebastiano discusses the creative potential of guilty pleasures and the collaboration with dancer Hugo Le Brigand and musician Ernst Lima. He also opens up about how he learned to stop worrying and love the term of Tanztheater. 

After their showings, the two of them sat down with writer Sean Pfeiffer. They discussed the role of levity and humor in their work, the productivity of not knowing for sure, and how their residency time at ImPulsTanz stimulated their creative partnership.

They discussed the reciprocal effect between the music and the dancers and the piece’s ebb and flow of energy and slowness. They also talk about the difficulties in balancing the public and the private while performing intimacy on stage.

After its premiere in cold, dark January at Sophiensaele in the frame of Tanztage Berlin, the heat of summer brought another layer to the work. LOUNGE went on to win the ImPulsTanz – Young Choreographers’ Award 2023, awarded by an international jury of three: writer and scholar Anna Kozonina, choreographer, performer and 2021 award winner Tamara Alegre, and curator and dramaturg Mateusz Szymanówka.

They also touch on the specific excitement of showing it in Vienna, where Bodenwieser Lived before she had to flee from the Nazis. They further reflect on how expression or Ausdruckstanz is reentering the current dance landscape.

Batty Bwoy was presented in a spacious white cube setting within the exhibition Blackness, White and Light by New York-based visual artist Adam Pendleton at mumok – Museum of Modern Art Stiftung Ludwig Vienna. The challenging setting created an intense dialogue between the Norwegian-Jamaican performer and Pendleton’s work, leading to huge success with the audience and 2 add-on performances.

Writer Sean Pfeiffer and Harald talk about his inspirations for the piece, the musical collaboration with a Norwegian prog-rock band, and the delicacy of involving an audience directly. 

The work was developed with fellow performers Aske Høier Olesen and Johan Bech Jespersen. At ImPulsTanz, BURN! was presented both on the big outdoor stage of the festival opening in Vienna’s MuseumsQuartier and in the mumok – Museum of Modern Art Stiftung Ludwig Wien. 

With the writer Sean Pfeiffer, Esben discusses his experiences as a visual artist at a contemporary dance festival. They also talk about the heavy use of pop-cultural signifiers and accessing the authentic through the artificial.

After presenting DELICATE at Kasino am Schwarzenbergplatz, Anna sat down with author Sean Pfeiffer. They discussed the role of writing in the development of the piece, Anna’s decision not to perform herself, and her collaboration with musician Rozi Mákó.

She sat down with author Sean Pfeiffer to discuss her first solo work to be possessed. It premiered at the Onassis Dance Days in Athens before being presented at Schauspielhaus Vienna in the frame of ImPulsTanz – Vienna International Dance Festival. In their conversation, the two touch upon the myth of artistic ecstasy, the comfort of routine, and the similarities between contemporary dance and poetry.