BIOGRAPHY
Svea Schneider, born in Germany, is a NYC based dance artist, choreographer, educator and activist. She attended the Iwanson School for Contemporary Dance in Germany and moved to NYC to extensively train in urban dance (Break, Hip Hop, House), contact improvisation and Forsythe Improvisation technique. In her classes and performances, Svea incorporates different dance styles, building a new and approachable visceral movement language.
Svea is the founder of KINEMATIK Dance Theater (2010), an urban contemporary dance company that uses the body, visual imagery, technology and props to create thought provoking and visually stimulating dance experiences. Svea creates dance theater, site-specific performances, dance installations, dance films and multidisciplinary performances. Her work is highly visually driven, dynamic and often sociocritical, exploring topics of identity, gender, technology, media culture and site-specific public space. Svea’s work emphasizes liveliness and authenticity and aims to allow the audience to have an experience to feel, rather than to sit and watch. Her work has been shown at Jönköping Läns Museum, Andanzas Int’l Dance Festival, New York International Fringe Festival, DUMBO DANCE Festival, Dixon Place, Performance Project, Grounds for Sculpture, amongst other venues.
Svea has taught and performed throughout the US, Canada, Europe, India and Peru. She has danced with PILOBOLUS (PCS), Vissi Dance, Decadancetheatre and worked for off-Broadway, film and TV. From 2014 - 2015 Svea moved to Lima/Peru where she served as artistic director & principal choreographer of the non- profit dance organization D1 Dance. While in Lima, Svea was commissioned to create work for the Ballet de San Marcos. Svea holds a BA (magna cum laude) in dance anthropology from Gallatin NYU and was the recipient of the Leo Bronstein Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Arts. Svea was chosen for the Performance Project Residency at University Settlement (NYC, 2011-2012), Flushing Town Hall Dance Residency (NYC, 2013), Dance Ignition Lab Residency (Sweden, 2015) and the KHOJ International Artist Residency in Pune/India (2015) where she created a large-scale site-specific public dance performance in an abandoned hotel.
Svea is passionate about dance and its ability to bring about social change, to empower people, communities and societies. She has been teaching dance and movement for more than 10 years in many dance studios, colleges, community centers and after school programs in the US and abroad.
For more information about Svea visit: sveaschneider.com
CLASS DESCRIPTION
Svea teaches a dynamic and athletic contemporary fusion class in an environment of open experimentation and play. Svea aims to create authentic and honest movement that defies definition. Having been trained in contemporary dance, urban dance and contact improvisation, Svea incorporates different dance styles to build a new and approachable visceral movement language. Her movement style is informed by her diverse dance background, blending movement vocabulary of contemporary dance, breaking, house, capoeira, contact improv, Forsythe improvisation and partnering. Her class encourages students to express their unique individuality and develop the body’s innate creative impulse through a range of improvisational tools, momentum-driven across the floor sequences, intricate floor work and dynamic phrase work.