I teach... the courses creative children's dance from 4 years and baby, let's dance 1,5 - 4 years (Somatic movement with parents and their children).
I dance because... it is my language. I feel alive and free to discover new spaces within myself. I love the feeling of being able to decide every moment anew, to create with other people - completely without words. Dancing can be carefree, everything in me can be in joy and movement - and dance can let me deeply explore a topic, in the most intense way. Dancing relaxes me.
I pay special attention to... Where do movements arise in my body? Which impulses do I follow? I am interested in the concentrated play with dynamics, time, space - and then: let it all go and fly.
Has had a special influence on me... so many and so much, dancers, teachers, artists, students from all over the world, poetry, nature, and India.
The best place to dance for me is... outside with others, on the beach, in the forest, in art galleries, inspiring architecture, at home....
A key moment in dancing for me was... the first lessons in Contact Improvisation and Body Mind Centering. The "Can Can" I saw at the Berlin Opera as a 5 year old, I danced it for weeks after.
To my students I want to pass on... trust in themselves and the floor. Grounding. Creation. To look: what spaces and freedoms are in my body? What makes me move - in dance and in life? How can I connect with myself and with others? What happens when we open the windows and doors within us? Fun with movement.
This is what I look forward to every year... the openness and joy of the children, accompanying the development of the children and parents, the fabrik, the appreciation of the team, the Havel in all its seasons...
Birte Hendricks (born in Berlin) studied German language and literature and education, is a certified dance teacher and trainer for non-violent communication. Today you can meet her in different settings as a performer and lecturer for movement and dance in Berlin, at the fabrik Potsdam as well as in Germany and abroad. Birte works with people of all ages, levels in dance and diverse backgrounds and is especially interested in the question: How can we create together in the moment? Her interests therefore lie mainly in contact improvisation, various improvisation techniques and somatic movement (in training in Body-Mind Centering®). In her work, Birte is always concerned with issues of sustainability and equality and explores the political aspects of contact improvisation. This led her to teach at Leuphana University (Germany) in 2020, where she taught the seminar Bodies or Borders? A performative approach to gender identities and projections.
