The Teachers
Heidi Weiss
Heidi Weiss received her BFA in Modern Dance from the University of the Arts in 1992. From 1992 to 1996, she choreographed and performed with Group Motion, a Philadelphia-based company. In 1997, she moved to Germany and co-founded Zen in the Basement with Jennifer Mann. Together they have created numerous works presented in theaters and festivals across Europe and internationally.
For more than 27 years, Heidi has been teaching modern and contemporary dance. Together with Jennifer Mann, she developed the weissmann Technique, which she continues to teach in workshops and at universities worldwide. From 2004 to 2007 she was a professor at the Palucca School in Dresden and has since been invited as a guest artist and professor at institutions such as Virginia Commonwealth University, the Duncan Conservatory in Prague, London Contemporary Dance School, The Place (London), Dance Works (India), the National University of Arts in Seoul, and Folkwang University (Essen, 2019 and 2023). She is also on the faculty of the Paris Abroad Program through the University of South Florida.
Heidi has provided training for companies including Sasha Waltz & Guests, cie. Toula Limnaios. She taught improvisation in schools for over ten years through TanzZEIT and has been on the faculty of Tanzakademie balance 1, Etage, and Danceworks Berlin and SENECA.
Currently, she is a regular guest teacher at Iwanson International School of Contemporary Dance (Munich), SOZO visions in motion (Kassel), and Contemporary Dance School Hamburg. She has created short works on the students of these institutions for their school performances. Heidi also teaches professional training at Marameo Berlin, where she serves on the board.In addition, Heidi frequently teaches professional training at K3 (Hamburg), Tanzhaus Zürich, Basel, and Luzern Switzerland, sharing the weissmann technique. Heidi has curated workshops in American modern dance in collaboration with Gina Workshops, leading seminars in Hamburg and Cologne. In 2015, she assisted rehearsals for a circus production at the Chamäleon Theater, and in 2019 she was rehearsal director for Le Grand Continental, a large-scale community dance project at Potsdamer Tanztage. More recently she brought her „oolala Cabaret“ back to life and will continue to host this event in various Berlin venues.
Together with Jennifer Mann, she co-leads the Group Motion Workshop, an ongoing community improvisation event with live music. In 2020 she received a DIS-TANZ-SOLO grant, and in 2022–2023, support from the Hauptstadtkulturfonds, which led to the creation of „Interbeing“, a work for mature dancers over 50, performed in Berlin, Potsdam, and at the Kempten Dance Festival to strong critical and audience acclaim.
Heidi is a certified meditation and yoga teacher who leads inspiring yoga seminars throughout Germany, helping participants cultivate mindfulness and well- being.
Jennifer Mann
As a young dancer, Jennnifer began her training at Movement Laboratory in Lancaster, PA, USA with Judy Williams Henry. She performed extensively with Judy’s youth company including tours of eastern Europe and Russia. Thereafter she studied modern dance and received a BFA with honors, at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, USA. It was during this time that Jennifer met Manfred Fischbeck and performed with his company, Group Motion. Upon her graduation in 1992, Jennifer embarked on a career in Europe as a performing artist with various choreographers and companies such as Beppie Blankert, Johannes Boenig, Jean Marc Le Bon, Howard Katz Fireheart, the Wee Dance Co. and Norman Douglas. In 1997, she re-connected with her colleague Heidi Weiss and co- founded Zen in the Basement Dance Co. in Berlin, Germany. Together they performed and co- choreographed many projects presented throughout Germany and abroad. Some of these projects have been invited to international festivals and have been supported by foundations such as the Hauptstadtkulturfonds, Berlin.
Jennifer has an extensive teaching career, having taught dance for 29 years and yoga for 22 years. Together with Heidi Weiss she created the weissmann technique, and in 2022 the weissmann teacher training program. Jennifer and Heidi are also certified to lead the Group Motion Workshop, an improvisational evening focused on the universal language of movement and collective healing.
She has been on the teaching faculty of Tanzakademie balance 1, Die Etage, DANCEWORKS berlin, and is often a guest teacher at tanzhaus nrw, the Braswell Arts Center in Basel and Marameo Berlin. Annually, Jennifer is invited to teach workshops at the Bolzano Danza Festival, Italy, The Dance Alps Festival, Austria, and to many schools in that area where dance teachers and their students learn the weissmann technique. She has given company training to many Stadttheater in Germany and reknowned dance companies such as Sasha Waltz & Guests, NND/Galili Dance, MART DANCE Napoli, and currently offers yoga classes to Cie. toula limnaios.
Jennifer studied yoga in the USA with Iyengar Yoga teacher James Bryan and in Germany at the Yoga Akademie Berlin with Yogacharya Ananda Leone. She is a certified member of the Berufsverband für Yogalehrende in Deutschland (BDY) and the European Yoga Union (EYU). Jennifer furthered her practice and study of Yin Yoga, completing a series of intensive studies with Josh Summers, and has completed an additional meditation teacher training with Detlev Alexander. In Berlin, Jennifer teaches regular classes in Yoga Sky and yellow yoga, while currently teaching pedagogy / teaching skills in the Hatha Yoga of Rishiculture Yoga Teacher Training (200 hrs.) Jennifer also organizes and guides retreats and several in depth yoga workshops throughout the year. In 2022 and 2023, Jennifer stepped upon the stage again as a dancer in Heidi Weiss’ new evening length work “interbeing”.
