vita
Anna Kuch is a choreographer, puppeteer, mother, performance artist, dancer and educator from Püscheldorf/Germany, currently based in Brussels. She works between Hamburg, Brussels and Zurich. In her work she combines the political and the poetic, greatly influenced by poetic, philosophic or scientific texts and research. She aims to liquefy the sovereignty of the mind over the body, and conceives her work as a place of resistance and undoing, a place where norms of thought and perception can be questioned and changed. Her solo works deal with violent nationalism, collective heritage and normalised forms of communication. Slapstick and the inherent tragic and absurd comedy of the human condition inspire her work.
As a maker, she co-founded the international company MÜLLER&KUCH with the dancer and choreographer Angie Müller (supported by Kulturförderung Kanton und Stadt Schaffhausen and Rhybadi Schaffhausen). MÜLLER&KUCH’s work is based on the deliberate incorporation of unpredictable elements like a river. They toured with the site specific dance piece Das sagst du immer. and the theatre dance piece Das ist Wahnsinn, du spielst mit meinen Gefühlen. Anna also creates masks and objects for several dance and theatre productions, and did the music for the show Die Bedingte Welt by Tianyu Gu.
In 2020 she started the artistic research project Performative Archiving / Women* in German Colonial History in Namibia with Ewe Benbenek, Nesindano Namise and Meera Theunert (with the support of flausen+ scholarship by the German government). The work is currently being continued digitally as Archiving Immaterialities. Further she is engaged in an ongoing research about instant creation, developing skills for movement, sound and theatre improvisation on stage with a group of performers, dancers and musicians based in Switzerland.
In 2012, she opened the experimental theater space Die Monade together with Meera Theunert. They have been working in close collaboration until today. As a performer and narrator, Anna worked with Cathrin Jarema for the Werkschau Zürich, Afsaneh Salari, The Project Detachment. and Tianyu Gu, amongst others.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Physical Theatre with honours from the Accademia Teatro Dimitri, Switzerland (with the support of Ernst Göhner Stiftung). Her final BA thesis Die Würstchen der Wahrheit/The sausages of truth received several awards. Further she holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts from the Institut Supérieur des Arts et Chorégraphies, Académie Royale, Brussels. Her master's thesis The Weather or A generous cushion for my aggression, for which she received the Prix d'Excellence awarded by the City of Brussels, deals with the necessity of understanding humour and its inherent fiction as an active, political space that creates realities.
Currently she develops her own choreographic work, holding a research grant from the German government whilst engaging in a Fighting Monkey mentorship. Anna is artist in Residence for G.INCUBATOR 2024 at Garage29, Brussels. She is also active in the field of performance and dance through dramaturgical support and clown coaching for works in creation. She is fascinated by autopoiesis and cold water.
cv
FORMATION
2023-24 Fighting Monkey Mentorship
2021-23 MA Choreography Institut Supérieur des Arts et Chorégraphies Académie des Beaux-Arts Brussels,
Prix d'Excellence awarded by the City of Brussels for the Master Thesis The Weather or A generous cushion for my aggression
2019-21 BA Choreography Institut Supérieur des Arts et Chorégraphies Académie des Beaux-Arts Brussels
2012-16 Bachelor of Arts in Physical Theatre Accademia Teatro Dimitri, graduation with honours
2006-11 Paul-Pfinzing Gymnasium Abitur
AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS
2023-24 Beneficary of European Union's Erasmus+ programme
2023 Prix d'Excellence awarded by the City of Brussels
2023 Research Fund supported by Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media within the program NEUSTART KULTUR, Germany
2021 Beneficary of Flausen+ Scholarship, Germany
2018 First Price Giesinger Kulturpreis Munich for Die Würstchen der Wahrheit
Audience Award Giesinger Kulturpreis Munich for Die Würstchen der Wahrheit
2016 TalenThesis Award for best Bachelor of Arts in Physical Theatre 2016,
Scuola Universitaria Professionale della Svizzera Italiana SUPSI Locarno
2014 Doublegrant Ernst Göhner Foundation Zurich
Scholarship Fritz-Gerber Foundation Zurich
LANGUAGES
German (mother tongue)/ dialect: franconian/ French C2/ Italian C2/
English C2/ Spanish C2/ Swahili A1
DANCE, ACTING, PERFORMANCE
2018-2024 Performative Archiving / Women* in German Colonial History in Namibia, Research and Performance between Windhoek, Berlin, Hamburg and Brussels, by and with Ewe Benbenek, Nesindano Namise, Meera Theunert, Anna Kuch, artist residency at Theaterwerkstatt Pilkentafel, Flensburg
2022 amongst strangers and glitches, Cathrin Jarema, Werkschau Zürich
2022 Face-Off, final Master performance, Premiere Tour à Plomb, Institut Supérieur des Arts et Chorégraphies
2021 DYOR, dance piece by MÜLLER&KUCH, Premiere Rhybadi Schaffhausen
2021 Project.Detachment, by Maryam Hashempour, Amir Mohadesi, Shaghayegh Ansari, Sina Aghazadeh, online performance between Brussels, Teheran, Istanbul and Stockholm, Premiere reconnect festival
2021 E gira tutto intorno alla stanza, dancer in the videowork by Alice Igina Giuliani, Premiere De Markten
2020 Die Bedingte Welt, final Master performance by Tianyu Gu, cellist and dramaturgy, Premiere Accademia Teatro Dimitri
2019 Das ist Wahnsinn, du spielst mit meinen Gefühlen (engl. This is madness, you play with my feelings): dance theatre piece by MÜLLER & KUCH, Premiere Fusion Festival, Tour in Serbia
2019 Miese Deals, directing final Bachelor piece by Meera Theunert, Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, Premiere Kampnagel
2019 Varietée Klanghotel Rössli, puppeteer and comic actress, Zurich
2019 Das sagst du immer. (engl. You always say that.), dance theatre piece by MÜLLER & KUCH, Premiere Rhybadi Schaffhausen
2018 Tous contre Tous, dircted by Meera Theunert, developed with the students of École Supérieure de Théâtre Jean Pierre Guingané, Centre de Formation et de Recherche en Arts Vivants, Ouagadougou Burkina Faso, Premiere Espace Gambidi
2018 Varietée Klanghotel Rössli, puppeteer and comic actress, Zurich
2017 Jaguar Concert, cutting a car with anglegrinders in a free-jazz-jam-session, concept Anna Kuch, with support of the musicians Hans Neumann, Linda Mund, Flo Fischer, Max Heimler, Christopher Kunz, Premiere ZEFAK Nuremberg
2017 Her Nature, final Master performance by Tereza Slavkovská, dancer, Premiere St. Anna, Accademia Teatro Dimitri
2016 Die Würstchen der Wahrheit (engl. The sausages of truth): own final Bachelor piece, Premiere Teatro Dimitri, Tour in Germany and Switzerland
2016 Antigone - Fragmente eines Mythos (engl. Antigone - fragments of a myth): directed by Christian Seiler, in the role of Tiresias, KOLLEKTIV STILLEWASSER, Tour in Germany, Italy, Switzerland and France
2016 Falling, directed by Lilo Baur, actress, Premiere Teatro Dimitri, Tour in Germany, Italy, Switzerland and France
2013 Fear and the Dark, directed by Meera Theunert, actress, experimental theatre space Die Monade, Nuremberg
DRAMATURGY, CHOREOGRAPHY, PROJECT MANAGEMENT
2024 New production of the SchauSpielRaum, choreography, Junges SchauSpielHaus Hamburg
2023 BrusselsBijoux 2023: CatchaBoom, by and with Liza Siche-Jouan and Zoé Hagen, improvisation coaching, KVS and Zinnema
2022 Water, L'atterrée des eaux vives, dance piece by and with Castélie Yalombo, coach clown, Premiere La Raffinerie/ kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels
2021 La veste du Président, dance piece by and with Lucas Katangila, dramaturgy, Premiere Kaaitheater Brussels
2018 Mea Culpa, final Master performance by Charles Nomwendé Tiendrebéogo, dramaturgy, Premiere Accademia Teatro Dimitri
TEACHING
2022-24 Pilates, Dance and Neuroanatomy classes in several studios (Brussels Yoga Pilates, KineMadou, LaVallée, etc)
2022-24 Theatre courses in different languages with children of all ages (Multilingual School Tutti Frutti, etc)
2021-22 Contemporary dance for teenagers, Parascolaire Université Libre de Bruxelles
OTHER
2023-24 Consultant for family friendly artist residencies, Fundaziun Nairs, Switzerland