The 1st Spring Dance School in Celje

Celje, April 3 - 5, 2026

MENTORS AND CLASSES

Vita Osojnik: CONTEMPORARY BALLET, WORKSHOP - OPUS WELLCOME DANCE

Vita Osojnik is a self-employed cultural worker – dancer, choreographer, dance pedagogue and street artist. She graduated from Gimnazija Kranj, completed the ballet program at the Secondary School of Music and Ballet, and finished her studies in contemporary dance and choreography at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD). She was regularly employed at the Arts High School in Ljubljana and continues to work as a mentor and pedagogue within the Qulenium Association in Kranj, at Alma Mater Europea – Academy of Dance, within Šugla (School of Street Theatre), and many other organizations. For many years she was a guest professor and choreographer at SEAD. In 2015, she was invited by the Tisch School of the Arts in New York for a residency and work with their postgraduate students. She is the author and co-creator of numerous full-length dance works. She collaborated as a mentor on a youth theatre project Amo in Nova Gorica focusing on peer violence. In 2022/2023/2024, she created a solo trilogy Everything That Has Already Happened, Off Axis and Room With a View at the Dance Theatre Ljubljana.

Contemporary Ballet is adapted to the needs of contemporary dance and avoids the usual rigour of classicism while seeking parallels with mechanisms of contemporary dance techniques. The class consists of barre exercises with a focus on footwork, stretching, coordination, and body organization, followed by centre work focused on spatial directions, transitional movements, elevation, and turns.

At the free OPUS WELCOME DANCE workshop, participants, led by Vita Osojnik, will create a short dance intervention that will open the 17th International Festival of Young Dance Creators - OPUS 1.

Bojana Robinson: CONTEMPORARY TECHNIQUE I-II

Bojana Robinson is a choreographer, dancer and performer from Belgrade, living in Ljubljana. She graduated from the Salzburg Academy of Dance (SEAD) and completed the Erasmus program “Dance as integrated in society and humanity” (SEAD and SNDO). Her original performances in recent years have been toured at the Mladi levi festival, Krušče Festival, Desire Central Station Festival, Gibanica - Biennial of Slovenian Contemporary Dance Art, Kondenz festival - Belgrade, Cultural Incubator Maribor - Društvo Nagib, SNG Nova Gorica, Sarajevo theater showcase, Tanz Platz festival - Novi Sad and Gallery Velenje. The original children's play Žirafe ne znajo plesati (co-authored by Katja Preša) was part of the Vodnik's Homestead program and toured at the Bobri festival. In recent years, she has collaborated with choreographers Mateja Bučar, Snježana Premuš and Andreja Rauch Podrzavnik. As a choreographer and movement consultant, she has participated in more than 30 drama performances for adults and children in theaters in Serbia and Slovenia. In her pedagogical work, she taught children, young people, professional dancers and actors, and led inclusive workshops and training for preschool education programs.

The contemporary dance technique class is based on the principles of release technique, with an emphasis on body anatomy, body awareness as a whole, and developing the ability to move efficiently and curiously. The class begins with a journey through various body positions – from a horizontal position on the floor to a gradual transition to a standing, vertical position – and with stretching exercises to increase body awareness and positioning. It continues with an exploration of the use of gravity and body mass in space, then with opening and building on movement through structured improvisation.

Nohemi Barriuso: CONTEMPORARY TECHNIQUE II-lll

Nohemi Barriuso de la Peña is a dancer/ performer and designer from Spain. She holds a Master in Dance by the State University of New York (Purchase), a Diploma in Dance by Lewisham College in London, and a B.A. in Fashion Design by the Polytechnic University of Madrid. She came in contact with improvisation under the guidance of K.J. Holmes, Katie Niehoff and Kirstie Simson. Over the years, she has continued its practice and has participated in international Contact Improvisation (CI) festivals. She lived for many years in New York and performed with Shen Wei Dance Arts and was a founder member of Deganit Shemy & Company. She also danced works by Trisha Brown, Mark Morris, Nelly van Bommel, Julian Barnett, Kazuko Hirabayashi, and on projects by Rosemary Lee in London; Ayako Kurakake in Kyoto; and Sol Pico Compañía de Danza in Madrid, among others. Upon relocating to Brussels, she collaborated with theatre director Vital Shraenen in the creation of multi-disciplinary events/ performances for diverse festivals in Belgium. Currently based in Ljubljana, where she moved to join En-Knap Group as Rehearsal Director, she continues to perform, create, and teach dance and improvisation as independent artist.

Contemporary Technique- release based incorporates elements of contemporary dance, release technique and floor work. The class starts by awakening body and mind to ease us into motion. Exercises and movement phrases focus on alignment and balance, by strengthening and stretching, as well as encourage sequential transitions with special attention to joint-articulated physicality. More dynamic movement sequences accross the floor emphasize the use of weight, momentum, and dynamics to maximize efficiency and joy in movement. Improvisational tasks aim at expanding perception and body awareness in relationship to motion, space, music, ourselves, and other dancers.

Dalanda Diallo: AFRO FUSION

Dalanda Diallo is a Slovenian dancer of Guinean descent. She has been working as a dancer, choreographer and dance teacher for more than two decades, and in her original projects she connects dance and music art, as well as Slovenian and Guinean cultural heritage. She has received several awards for her artistic work, including the Mete Vidmar Award.
As a dancer, she has collaborated with domestic and international choreographers, including Serge Coulibaly, Faustin Linyekula, Maša Kagao Knez, Urša Rupnik, Damir Zlatar Frey, Matej Kejžar and Bara Kolenc.
She has trained in African dances at the Georges Momboye dance center in Paris and with the renowned Les Merveilles de Guinee ensemble in Guinea. She regularly teaches contemporary dance at the Plesna izba Maribor.

In the Afro Fusion Dance Workshop, we will learn about the elements and characteristics of traditional and contemporary African dances, with an emphasis on body dynamics, rhythm, and the connection between movement and music. We will explore how dance develops in relation to the polyrhythmic structures that are characteristic of many African dance practices, and how rhythm shapes the quality and energy of movement.
The acquired movement principles will be connected and upgraded with the help of contemporary dance language, and they will be incorporated into one bouncy and undulating Afro Fusion dance.

Tomaž Simatović: TO DANCE FROM THE BODY

Tomaž Simatović is a performer, dancer, choreographer, educator, and independent researcher. He currently lives and works in Austria, where he develops dance and participatory projects within the “Laborarory for Participative Imaginaries” that deal with socio-political topics. He studied dance at SEAD in Salzburg and earned an MA in choreography at ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in the Netherlands. As an educator, he has taught internationally, from the USA, Europe, to China, where, through a decade of continuous pedagogical work, and choreographic and performative research, he has been engaged in raising awareness of the somatic experiences of performers and dancers, which led him to develop his own dance-somatic method (Somatic Listening), which is based on sensory listening to the body.

Are you interested in how to get to dance in a very simple way? Are you interested in what to practice so that you can better surrender to the flow of movement? Are you interested in getting to know your dance? Danceability and dance are not just a matter of technique but of sensual listening to movement and playing. The workshop “To dance from the body” strives to maintain contact with the body as a space of inspiration for dance, where we can say that we dance with our body and with the energy we possess. The workshop will be based on the process of perceiving kinesthetic energy according to the principles of somatic or sensual listening. First, we will focus on the kinesthetic energy of the still and moving body, and practice mindfulness. This will be followed by the development of movement themes until they lead us to dance that we surrender to.