About

What is BRÜCKEREI?

BRÜCKEREI is a biennial choreographic development platform taking place in Zürich (Switzerland) under the guidance of an experienced mentor and of the two artistic directors Romain Guion and Caroline Finn. Conceived as a two-week creative playground, each edition of BRÜCKEREI is to provide a wide and varied group of passionate movers with the unique opportunity to research how to communicate choreographic ideas in a broad socio-cultural context, expand their movement language and challenge their creativity.

Philosophy

BRÜCKEREI's mission is to build creative, human, informational and geographical bridges as a means to address the artistic challenges of today’s choreographic landscape and to advance how, with whom (and indirectly for whom) cultural work is conceived. For this purpose, BRÜCKEREI fosters a process-oriented mindset and a collaborative culture whereby the expression of a diverse range of individuals is enabled, inspiration is stimulated, failure is embraced and experimentation is encouraged.

Central to BRÜCKEREI is the question of sustainability in the arts, more precisely the sustainable development of the dance ecosystem. BRÜCKEREI aspires for a diverse representation of people, artistic styles, modes of expressions and techniques. BRÜCKEREI wishes to promote cultural participation and access to the arts. BRÜCKEREI valorizes artistic work and is mindful of its carbon footprint. Driven by a collaborative spirit, BRÜCKEREI strives for an artistic exchange reaching beyond local boundaries and seeks to strengthen ties between artists, organizations and communities that have rarely the opportunity to work together.

Team

The artistic direction and project management are in the hands of Romain Guion and Caroline Finn.

Martina Langmann assists in fundraising and production management.

Alain Platel and Jonathan Burrows bring their artistic expertise as mentors for BRÜCKEREI #1 (2022) and BRÜCKEREI #2 (2024) respectively.

Romain Guion is a performer, dance pedagogue, and cultural manager with a 25-year career in the performing arts. He danced in various international dance companies such as Charleroi-Danses, Diversions (National Dance Company Wales), Dance Theatre of Ireland, John Scott's Irish Modern Dance Theatre, Gelabert-Azzopardi Companyia de Dansa, Eun Me Ahn Dance Company, Staatstheater Mainz and Les Ballets C de la B. Alongside his performing career, Romain collaborates in the creation of dance, music, theatre and opera productions with artists such as Alain Platel, Martin Zimmermann, Koen Augustijnen, Eugénie Rebetez, Francesca Foscarini, Juliette Navis and Caroline Finn. He curates the professional training at Tanzhaus Zürich and K3-Zentrum für Choreographie Hamburg. He received a cultural award from the city of Zürich in 2019 and completed a MA in Cultural Management in 2021. In 2023 he mentors the platform SHOW OFF! together with Jessica Huber. In 2023/2024 he creates OMBRA together with Alain Platel for the Opera and Ballet Flanders in Belgium.

Caroline Finn trained at the Juilliard School where she attained her BFA in Dance. As a performer, she worked with Ballett Theater Munich, Ballet Preljocaj and Compagnie Carolyn Carlson amongst others. Artistic Director of National Dance Company Wales from 2015-2018 and subsequently Resident Choreographer until 2021 she created numerous works for the company during that time. Notably her work "Folk" which earned her the Wales Theatre Award for Best Female Artist 2016. Caroline has created works for companies such as The National Ballet of Chile, Tanz Luzerner Theater, Bühnen Bern, Tanz Linz, Phoenix Dance Theatre, Bayerisches Junior Ballet München, NW Dance Project and MIR Dance Company, and her solo work "Bernadette" has been presented at festivals internationally. Caroline also choreographs and co-directs opera productions in collaboration with Music Theatre Wales, Welsh National Opera, Opernhaus Bonn and Drottningholm Theatre Stockholm. She teaches and choreographs at conservatoires and universities around the world as well as mentoring other performance-makers during their processes. Finn is a member of Tanztendenz München e.V and a founding member of Cie La Ronde.

Martina Langmann began her training at the Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera. She then completed a diploma in Performance & Dance Studies at the Laban University in London, followed by many years working as a freelance dancer in the UK. In 2006 she founded an entertainment company in London to organize interdisciplinary dance festivals. Between 2007-2015 she was a soloist of the Bern Ballet and the Tanzcompagnie Konzert Theater Bern where she choreographed various pieces such as Am Quai together with Izumi Shuto and the Kummerbuben. The creation process was filmed as a documentary called Buebe gö z'Tanz which received numerous awards. In 2015-2017 Martina worked as a rehearsal director, stage manager and administrator at the Cinevox Junior Company in Neuhausen am Rheinfall. In 2018 she successfully completed her Master in Arts Management at the University of Basel. Since then, she has been working as a manager and production manager for various dance and theater companies and projects such as UNPLUSH and Cie. La Ronde.