Florentina Holzinger (AT)

Florentina Holzinger’s dance pieces are driven by the notion of identity, sexual and physical transgression. Drawing inspiration as much from Viennese Actionism, body art and bodybuilding as from classical ballet, cabaret and circus; she deconstructs, performance after performance, the very definition of femininity.

Florentina studied choreography at the School for New Dance Development (SNDO) at the Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten. Her Diploma solo work Silk was awarded the Prix Jardin d’Europe at the lmPulsTanz Festival 2012. She collaborated with Vincent Riebeek for a trilogy of pieces, Kein Applaus für Scheiße, Spirit, and Wellness followed by Schoenheitsabend- Tänze des Grauens und der Extase (2011-2015). Her second solo work premiered in 2015 – Recovery is an experimental consideration on a traumatic stage accident she had suffered and critically explores various kinds of female representation as well as the potential of female corporality.

In her latest works she continued dissecting the narratives of ballet: first with Apollon (2017), a hack on Balanchines’s 1920s Apollon Musagete, followed by TANZ, an action ballet that reflects on tradition and narrative departing from the romantic ballet La Sylphide. Her latest work Etude for an Emergency, is a stunt opera developed with a cast of opera singers and stunt actresses – a musical composition for 10 bodies and a car. In 2020 TANZ was awarded for “Best Performance of the Year” by Theater Heute and with the NESTROY Price for best direction.

Along her stage works Florentina is regularly teaching movement classes and offers trainings.

Her work is intrinsically linked with the aim of exploring modes of embodiment and the development of practices to support a physical life in action. Her practice is heavily informed by martial arts, functional and somatic movement practices as well as everything dance.