Christine Brunel studied dance at the Schola Cantorum in Paris and the Folkwang Academy in Essen in the 1970s. Among her teachers were Karin Waehner (contemporary dance), Yuriko and Mary Hinkson (Graham technique), Irene Bartos (contemporary dance), Hans Züllig, Jean Cebrón and Pina Bausch (contemporary dance).

After completing her studies she danced with cmpanies in Ulm, Brussels, Paris and spent six years at the Folkwang Tanzstudio under its then director Susanne Linke. During this period she also gave a guest performance in Frühlingsopfer at the Tanztheater Wupertal Pina Bausch. At the same time, she created her first solo choreographies and company pieces for the Folkwang Tanzstudio and kept developing her teaching work. In 1985, Christine Brunel founded her own company and has since worked as a choreographer, dancer and teacher.

In addition to her teaching work with professional dancers Christine Brunel offers classes and workshops on various levels.

 

Classes

Over the years, Christine Brunel developed a technique based on the principles of contemporary dance and marked by high concentration, precision, intense body perception and a lucid understanding of time and space.

Starting from the principles of contemporary dance, Christine Brunel’s technique has shaped an original style that informs both her teaching and her choreographic work.

 

The training is divided into three parts

On the ground
Focussing on one's back, spine and centre

Standing
Focussing on the upright position, the power of the feet and on dealing with gravity

In the open space
Focussing on the perception and orientation of the body in space and time

This course demands the "whole" persond, spirit and soul. It is through the dancer's wholeness, his or her state of absolute awareness, that movements lose their superficiality, becoming authentic.

 

Feedback from the students of the University of Witten-Herdecke to the seminar "improvisation and choreography"

 

Every class gave me incredibly strength and confidence in myself, although it had often taken me some overcoming to deal with myself.

Manischa

 

Unique about the class is that I can feel free. It is not about the body following the mind, it is the other way round. I let my body move freely and spontaneously. And my body leads me to different thoughts and emotions. The body says more than the mouth, implicitly and explicitly. (...) I feel confident because I know that all my movements "represent me". They are nice and belong to me. (...)

Neshric

 

Improvisation for me is the expression of myself. (...) Various movements are within me, waiting to be awakened. They will be awakened while my body is trying to express them in a kind of body language, which gives them expression. But at the same time also a feeling appears in me, which wonders about these weird movements. But the feeling of "being funny" only occurs because the missing self-consciousness in this moment. Doubts arise, to do something funny. But this is precisely the process that gives rise to a new individual movement. The uncertainty is transformed into a security and gets me down to earth standing with my movement. (...)

Anna