"THE STRUGGLE FOR COMPETENCE" Last Friday, Aretta Hakios, the director of the Joy of Dance Academy, and I had a podcast session with Cécile Baumann. During the session, we presented our new training and continuing education programs. It struck me how often terms like experience, knowledge, competence, and craftsmanship came up. All terms meant to make an impact and demonstrate a high level of expertise and skill. What value do these terms still hold? To what extent do these a
"The Thing About the Libretto" Oh, what memories these are. These snapshots, these perspectives—views from the front of the audience, zoomed in from the wings, or images captured up close right on stage—all speak of energy, sensuality, poetry, and expressiveness. With many photos, I don’t even need a video to recall the scene or dance sequence. Here and there, initial thoughts about them even come to mind; the research I conducted myself to explore the appropriate movement ma
"reading – reading aloud – being read to" An article appeared in ZEIT Magazine on December 11, 2025, featuring several statements from successful German writers on the topic of “readings.” What their stance is, what they think of them, and how they handle them. The general sentiment: not really keen on it, just no Q&A with the audience—why am I putting myself through this! Well, despite the different starting points of the individual authors who spoke—there are the moderator
