Dance gives you energy, makes you confident, gives you power – but what exactly is it that creates these emotions? Is it the mere physical movement or is there more behind this when you train together, when choreography is developed with different bodies, and when dance instruction is given across generations?

In her practical workshop Come as you are, the choreographer and dancer Patricia Carolin Mai introduces approaches and principles from her dance productions “Hamonim”, “Und so kamen wir zusammen”, and “Rausch”. In another part, she introduces the results of the EU project “Empowering Dance – Soft Skills” in dance – lays open implied forms of knowledge, demonstrates the practical application of soft skills in your own dance instructing practice and discusses these topics with the participants.

As a dancer and choreographer, Patricia Carolin Mai produces dance pieces mainly at Kampnagel and at K3 | Tanzplan Hamburg. The investigation of the body as a storage mechanism for memories is as much a focus of her work as is the exploration of practices in the community in intergenerational and participatory projects. Her choreographies tour internationally in countries like Belgium, France, Israel, Italy, and Korea. Furthermore, she works as a visiting lecturer and the university of Hamburg, the Centre for Contemporary Dance in Cologne and the Pädagogische Hochschule Ludwigsburg. Since 2019, she is part of the EU project Empowering Dance and conducts research on the topic of soft skills in dance instruction. The largest German dance magazine “tanz” highlighted her in 202 as a “Newcomer” and remarkable personality in the dance scene.  Since 2023, Patricia Carolin Mai has been the cultural director of the Jugendtanzcompagnie Step by STP at the Festspielhaus St. Pölten in Austria.