Choreographers 2020
Timoor Afshar
Timoor Afshar was born in Indianapolis (USA) and grew up in Fishers, Indiana. He received his first ballet training at the Indiana Ballet Conservatory; as of 2011 he attended The Harid Conservatory. From 2012 – 2016 he completed his education at the John Cranko Schule.
In 2016/2017 he joined the Stuttgart Ballet as an apprentice, one season later he became a member of the Corps de ballet. At the beginning of the 2019/20 season he was promoted to Demi Soloist.
He created his first choreography for Noverre: Young Choreographers in 2019 and will join the platform for the second time in a row this year.
Photo: Carlos Quezada
In 2016/2017 he joined the Stuttgart Ballet as an apprentice, one season later he became a member of the Corps de ballet. At the beginning of the 2019/20 season he was promoted to Demi Soloist.
He created his first choreography for Noverre: Young Choreographers in 2019 and will join the platform for the second time in a row this year.
Photo: Carlos Quezada
Alessandro Giaquinto
Alessandro Giaquinto was born in Scandiano (Italy) and grew up in Reggio Emilia. At the age of ten he received his first ballet training at the Progetto Danza in Scandiano. From 2011 to 2016 he continued his education at the John Cranko Schule, from which he graduated in July 2016. In 2012 Marco Goecke and Louis Stiens created the role of Gene in the Coproduction Dancer in the Dark with the Schauspiel Stuttgart for him.
In the 2016/17 season he joined the Stuttgart Ballet as an apprentice, one season later he became a member of the Corps de ballet.
He created his first choreography for Noverre: Young Choreographers in 2014 and will join the platform for the fourth time this year.
Photo: Carlos Quezada
In the 2016/17 season he joined the Stuttgart Ballet as an apprentice, one season later he became a member of the Corps de ballet.
He created his first choreography for Noverre: Young Choreographers in 2014 and will join the platform for the fourth time this year.
Photo: Carlos Quezada
Vittoria Girelli was born in Monza (Italy) and grew up in Milan. She received her first ballet training at the Scuola di Ballo Accademia Teatro alla Scala. From 2014 - 2016 she completed her education at the English National Ballet School.
In November 2016 she joined the Stuttgart Ballet as a member of the Corps de ballet.
She will create her first piece for this year's Noverre: Young Choeographers.
Photo: Carlos Quezada
In November 2016 she joined the Stuttgart Ballet as a member of the Corps de ballet.
She will create her first piece for this year's Noverre: Young Choeographers.
Photo: Carlos Quezada
Shaked Heller
Shaked Heller was born in Jerusalem (Israel) and grew up in the Kibbutz En-Harod Ihud in the north of Israel. At the age of fourteen he received his first ballet training at a small Studio (Ulpan for Dance Gilboa); as of 2010 he attended the Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts in Givatayim and in 2013 he joined the Kirov Academy of Ballt of Washington, D.C., from which he graduated in 2014.
In the 2014/15 he danced with the Israel Ballet (Tel Aviv) and in the 2015/16 season with Ballet Zurich as a member of the Junior Company. He joined the Stuttgart Ballet at the beginning of the 2016/2017 season as a member of the Corps de ballet.
He created his first choreography for Noverre: Young Choreographers in 2018 and will join the platform for the third time this year.
Photo: Carlos Quezada
In the 2014/15 he danced with the Israel Ballet (Tel Aviv) and in the 2015/16 season with Ballet Zurich as a member of the Junior Company. He joined the Stuttgart Ballet at the beginning of the 2016/2017 season as a member of the Corps de ballet.
He created his first choreography for Noverre: Young Choreographers in 2018 and will join the platform for the third time this year.
Photo: Carlos Quezada
Alexander Mc Gowan
Alexander Mc Gowan was born in Austin, Texas. He received his dance training at the School of Ballet Austin (2000 to 2006), the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet (2006 to 2009), the Orlando Ballet School (2009 to 2010) and finally at the John Cranko School in Stuttgart, from which he graduated in 2012. That same year he joined the Stuttgart Ballet as an apprentice, was taken into the corps de ballet in 2013 and promoted to Demi-Soloist in 2016. With the begin of the 2018-19 season he was promoted to Soloist.
He has created his first choreography for the Noverre Society’s Young Choreographers in 2014 and will join the platform for the fourth time this year.
Photo: Carlos Quezada
He has created his first choreography for the Noverre Society’s Young Choreographers in 2014 and will join the platform for the fourth time this year.
Photo: Carlos Quezada
Guest from Grand Théâtre de Genève
Simone Repele
Simone Repele was born in Turin in 1993. After he began his training in Italy, he attended the school of the Hamburg Ballet in 2009 from which he graduated in 2012. During his time at the ballet school he participated in the Nijinsky Gala as a soloist in Spring and Fall by John Neumeier.
In 2013 he made a guest appearance as Prince in The Sleeping Beauty by Mats Ek with the Ekodance Project of Pompea Santoro and spent a season with the Dutch company Introdans afterwards. Since 2014 he is a member of the Geneva Ballet and has already danced solo roles in Matthäus Passion by Pontus Lidberg and The Nutcracker by Jeroen Verbruggen which is recently represented in the prestigious Aleksandrinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg. In 2018 he opened the season of the company by dancing the role of Mercutio in Joelle Bouvier’s Romeo and Juliet at the Opera of Beijing. In March 2019, Simone Repele gave his debut in two masterpieces of the famous choreographer Jiří Kylián, Petite Mort and Bella Figura.
Repele also creates his own choreographic work such as Shudder in the loins, Suited Case and Histoire du Soldat which were performed during different ballet galas worldwide. In 2018 he received the Anfiteatro d’ oro award of the city of Avella and presented by Francesco Imperatore for his creativity and expressive originality. In 2020 he got selected for the prestigious Noverre: Young Choreographers evening and will therefore create a piece for the Stuttgart Ballet. In addition, the great choreographer Marco Goecke gave him the chance to perform his choreography Firebird and is currently creating a new duet for Repele and Sasha Riva that will be premiered in Ludwigshafen in October 2020. Starting from the 2020/2021season, Repele will start to concentrate on working as a freelance artist and with international choreographers and together with Sasha Riva he will open his own production company Sasha & Simone investing on creating and performing full-length works with different artists.
He will create a choreography for Noverre: Young Choreographers for the first time.
Photo: private
In 2013 he made a guest appearance as Prince in The Sleeping Beauty by Mats Ek with the Ekodance Project of Pompea Santoro and spent a season with the Dutch company Introdans afterwards. Since 2014 he is a member of the Geneva Ballet and has already danced solo roles in Matthäus Passion by Pontus Lidberg and The Nutcracker by Jeroen Verbruggen which is recently represented in the prestigious Aleksandrinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg. In 2018 he opened the season of the company by dancing the role of Mercutio in Joelle Bouvier’s Romeo and Juliet at the Opera of Beijing. In March 2019, Simone Repele gave his debut in two masterpieces of the famous choreographer Jiří Kylián, Petite Mort and Bella Figura.
Repele also creates his own choreographic work such as Shudder in the loins, Suited Case and Histoire du Soldat which were performed during different ballet galas worldwide. In 2018 he received the Anfiteatro d’ oro award of the city of Avella and presented by Francesco Imperatore for his creativity and expressive originality. In 2020 he got selected for the prestigious Noverre: Young Choreographers evening and will therefore create a piece for the Stuttgart Ballet. In addition, the great choreographer Marco Goecke gave him the chance to perform his choreography Firebird and is currently creating a new duet for Repele and Sasha Riva that will be premiered in Ludwigshafen in October 2020. Starting from the 2020/2021season, Repele will start to concentrate on working as a freelance artist and with international choreographers and together with Sasha Riva he will open his own production company Sasha & Simone investing on creating and performing full-length works with different artists.
He will create a choreography for Noverre: Young Choreographers for the first time.
Photo: private
Martino Semenzato was born in Gavardo (Italy) and grew up in Venice where he began his ballet training at Venezia Balletto, a private ballet school. In 2013 he moved to Vienna to attend the Wiener Staatsoper Ballet Academy. In 2015 he joined the Académie Princesse Grace in Monte Carlo from which he graduated in 2018.
For the 2018/19 season Martino Semenzato was an apprentice with the Stuttgart Ballet. In the following season he joined the Stuttgart Ballet as a member of the Corps de ballet.
He will create his first piece for this year's Noverre: Young Choreographers.
Photo: Roman Novitzky
For the 2018/19 season Martino Semenzato was an apprentice with the Stuttgart Ballet. In the following season he joined the Stuttgart Ballet as a member of the Corps de ballet.
He will create his first piece for this year's Noverre: Young Choreographers.
Photo: Roman Novitzky
Guest from Berlin
Laura Witzleben was born in Berlin in 1984. She studies classical and contemporary dance from 2004 to 2008 at the ArtEZ art academy in the Netherlands and is currently working as an international dancer and choreographer.
After she finished her studies she joined the company of the Academia Nazionale di Danza di Roma. She worked with artists such as Ismail Ivom Robyn Orlin and Wayne McGregor. Furthermore she worked with the RC Company Amsterdam, the ballet company of the State Theatre Darmstadt, the contemporary dance company AURA in Lithuania, the Dutch production houses Station Zuid, Dansmakers Amsterdam and Dansateliers Rotterdam, the Stuttgart Theaterhaus, the IP Tanz Compagnie in Cologne, the SF Ensemble Cologne and the Panta Rei Danseteatern in Oslo.
Her choreographic debut Don't smoke under water was awarded with the first price for the best choreographic work at the international dance competition Barnes Crossing in May 2017. Since then, Don't smoke under water has been performed for more than twenty times during international festivals and at various theatres. Commissioned by the STL Theatre Tallin, Laura Witzleben created her first full-length choreography November in September 2018. As a dancer she participated in a production of Theater Rigiblick (Zurich) in 2018. As a choreographer she also collaborated with Gordon Kämmerer for his piece TARTUFFE at Schauspiel Dortmund.
She will create a choreography for Noverre: Young Choreographers for the first time.
Photo: private
After she finished her studies she joined the company of the Academia Nazionale di Danza di Roma. She worked with artists such as Ismail Ivom Robyn Orlin and Wayne McGregor. Furthermore she worked with the RC Company Amsterdam, the ballet company of the State Theatre Darmstadt, the contemporary dance company AURA in Lithuania, the Dutch production houses Station Zuid, Dansmakers Amsterdam and Dansateliers Rotterdam, the Stuttgart Theaterhaus, the IP Tanz Compagnie in Cologne, the SF Ensemble Cologne and the Panta Rei Danseteatern in Oslo.
Her choreographic debut Don't smoke under water was awarded with the first price for the best choreographic work at the international dance competition Barnes Crossing in May 2017. Since then, Don't smoke under water has been performed for more than twenty times during international festivals and at various theatres. Commissioned by the STL Theatre Tallin, Laura Witzleben created her first full-length choreography November in September 2018. As a dancer she participated in a production of Theater Rigiblick (Zurich) in 2018. As a choreographer she also collaborated with Gordon Kämmerer for his piece TARTUFFE at Schauspiel Dortmund.
She will create a choreography for Noverre: Young Choreographers for the first time.
Photo: private
Guest from Saarbrücken
Lucyna Zwolinska was born in Poland and completed her dance training at the ballet school of Bytom in 2004. In 2003 she moved to Germany to study at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt (Main). At the same time she began to dance in ballets by George Balanchine, William Forsythe and Marguerite Donlon and was a guest dancer in Human Rights with The Forsythe Company.
She joined the ballet company of the State Theatre Augsburg and worked with choreographers such as Itzik Galili, Mauro Bigonzetti, Kevin O’Day, Amanda Miller, Cayetano Soto, Emily Molnar, Leo Mujic and Philip Egly until 2010. From 2010 to 2015 she was a member of the ballet company of the Saarland State Theatre as which she danced in choreographies by Marguerite Donlon, Stijn Celis, Bernard Baumgarten, Johan Inger and Alexander Ekman. Since the 2015/16 season she is a member of the Company Susanne Linke and dancing in choreographies by Susanne Linke, Urs Dietrich and David Hernandez.
As of 2011 she created several pieces such as My Girl, laa lalalalala lala, Die Suche nach dem Verlorenen and DROGA at the Saarland State Theatre, unbreakable at the University for Music and Performing Arts Frankfurt as well as trying to breathe at the Hannover TANZtheater INTERNATIONAL.
She will create a piece for Noverre: Young Choreographers for the second time in a row.
Foto: Eiji Yamamoto
She joined the ballet company of the State Theatre Augsburg and worked with choreographers such as Itzik Galili, Mauro Bigonzetti, Kevin O’Day, Amanda Miller, Cayetano Soto, Emily Molnar, Leo Mujic and Philip Egly until 2010. From 2010 to 2015 she was a member of the ballet company of the Saarland State Theatre as which she danced in choreographies by Marguerite Donlon, Stijn Celis, Bernard Baumgarten, Johan Inger and Alexander Ekman. Since the 2015/16 season she is a member of the Company Susanne Linke and dancing in choreographies by Susanne Linke, Urs Dietrich and David Hernandez.
As of 2011 she created several pieces such as My Girl, laa lalalalala lala, Die Suche nach dem Verlorenen and DROGA at the Saarland State Theatre, unbreakable at the University for Music and Performing Arts Frankfurt as well as trying to breathe at the Hannover TANZtheater INTERNATIONAL.
She will create a piece for Noverre: Young Choreographers for the second time in a row.
Foto: Eiji Yamamoto