Susanne Foellmer

Biography

Focusing on unfinished corporealities in contemporary dance and performance art, I received my PhD at Freie Universität Berlin. The dissertation has been published as a monograph, entitled: "Am Rand der Körper. Inventuren des Unabgeschlossenen im zeitgenössischen Tanz" [On the Bodies’ Edge. Inventories of the Unfinished in Contemporary Dance], Bielefeld: transcript, 2009/2015 (eBook version).
Also, the PhD dissertation was awarded the Tiburtius Prize of the Berlin Universities in 2009.
An extended part of this research has been published in a chapter via open access in the Centre of Dance Research's edited volume "A World of Muscle, Bone & Organs: Research and Scholarship in Dance" (eds. Simon Ellis, Hetty Blades and Charlotte Waelde), 2018, see:
https://www.coventry.ac.uk/contentassets/f2156ed41a1e45259209b700e9e9af60/awofmbando.pdf
Also, the PhD dissertation was awarded the Tiburtius Prize of the Berlin Universities in 2009.

Educated at the Instiute for Applied Theatre Studies at the Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen (MA degree) my dissertation dealt with dance and drama in the Weimar Era with a special focus on the dancer and actress Valeska Gert, also dealing with re-presentations of gender, politics and inter/mediality. It was followed by a monograph under the title "Valeska Gert. Fragmente einer Avantgardistin in Tanz und Schauspiel der 1920er Jahre" [Valeska Gert. Fragments of a Vanguard Dancer and Actress in the 1920s], Bielefeld: transcript, 2006, with CD-ROM.

Besides, I am working as a dramaturge and academic consultant in dance and theatre, with Helena Botto, Dance Company Rubato, Isabelle Schad, Meg Stuart, and Jeremy Wade, among others.
I have also been active as a curator in dance exhibitions and for the Dance Congress 2009 at Kampnagel, Hamburg.

In the broader context of outside academia and cultural industries I have acted as a member of the Jury for Dance and Theatre at the Berlin Senate, Department for Cultural Affairs as well as chair (CEO) of the umbrella association Contemporary Dance Berlin (ZTB).

Education

PhD Theatre Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, 2008
MA Theatre Studies, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, 1998

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

My Research Expertise
lies in aesthetic theory of the 20th century; choreography and performativity in social and political settings; corporeality, reconstruction and heritage in contemporary dance and performance art; and dance in the Weimar era.

A part of my current research approaches dance and performance from the perspective of “leftovers”, being examined in my most recent research project “On Remnants and Vestiges. Strategies of Remaining in the Performing Arts” (funded by German Research Foundation/DFG).
Outputs of this project so far have been the edited volume "Performing Arts in Transition. Moving Between Media" (ed., together with Maria Katharina  Schmidt/ Cornelia Schmitz), Abingdon: Routledge, 2019, and the journal issue "On Leftovers" (ed., together with Richard Gough), Performance Research, 22(8), 2017.

Initiated by a collaborating with scholars on an interdisciplinary level in the field of sociology and communication studies at Freie Univerisitaet (FU) Berlin, I am furthermore investigating in the interrelations of dance and politics, particularly with regard to choreographies of locally executed protest in topical situations of social riot and its globally distributed social mediatisation (e.g flash mobs). The collaboration with scholars from FU Berlin led to the edited volume "Media Practices, Social Movements, and Performativity" (ed., together with Margreth Lünenborg/Christoph Raetzsch), Abingdon: Routledge, 2018.

My memberships of Scientific Societies, and Networks:
Member of the Society for Dance Research (UK) from 2018
Member of the International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR), and working group “Choreography and Corporeality” from 2013
Member of the Gesellschaft für Theaterwissenschaft (GTW, Germany), convenor of the working group
“Dance and Theatre” (together with PD. Dr. Sabine Huschka) 2012-2018
Member of the Dance Research Association (DSA; former SDHS and CORD, USA) from 2007
Member of the Young Academy, Akademie der Künste Berlin from 2004
Founding Member of the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland 2004 (Umbrella Organisation Dance Germany)
Member of the Gesellschaft für Tanzforschung (GTF, Germany) 2001-2017
Member of the umbrella organisation Zeitgenössischer Tanz Berlin e.V. (ztb) from 2001 (chief executive officer 2003-2006)

I also have been acting as a Reviewer for:
European Science Foundation/Research Foundation Flanders’ (FWO)
Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek/Research Foundation Flanders, Belgium
German Research Foundation (DFG)
Goethe-Institute Inter Nationes
Dance Research Journal
Palgrave Macmillan publishers
and:
Member of the Jury for the Dance Scholarship, Berlin Senate, Department for Cultural Affairs, 2013, 2015
Member of the Jury for the Performing Arts, Berlin Senate, Department for Cultural Affairs, 2008-2011

Books

Articles