Application deadline: September 30, 2026
Two years (full-time) Master of Arts, study language German. Start: October 2027
The Inter-University Centre for Dance Berlin (HZT) is delighted to announce that Isabel Lewis has been appointed Professor and Head of the Master Choreography programme at the Ernst Busch University of Theatre Arts Berlin, effective from the winter semester 2026/27.
Isabel Lewis is a Dominican-American artist and choreographer and currently serves as Artistic Director of the Tanzquartier Wien (TQW) alongside Rio Rutzinger. Her work takes on many different formats: from lecture performances and workshops to listening sessions, installations, publications and what she has named “hosted occasions”. Since 2003, her work has been presented internationally at major institutions and biennials in the contexts of contemporary art, music, dance, and theater, including Tate Modern London, Dia Foundation New York, Performance Space New York, Gropius Bau Berlin, Sophiensaele Berlin, Roskilde Festival in Denmark, Steirischer Herbst Festival in Graz, and Kunsthalle Zürich, among others.
The MA Choreography (maC) is a two-year master’s programme for artists who wish to deepen and explore their engagement with choreography and dance. Under the new artistic and pedagogical direction of Isabel Lewis, the degree pursues a dance-centered and composition-driven approach to choreographic research. Founded in 1988 as a diploma progamme at the HfS Ernst Busch, it was transferred as a master’s programme to the Inter-University Centre for Dance Berlin (HZT) in 2008. The HZT Berlin is a locally and internationally oriented centre for study and research dedicated to creative and critical engagement with dance, choreography, body-based practices and performance. It is supported by the Berlin University of the Arts and the Ernst Busch University of Theatre Arts in cooperation with the TanzRaumBerlin network.
Isabel Lewis on her vision for the coming years and how her teaching activities in Berlin and her job at Tanzquartier (TQW) Vienna will mutually benefit each other:
“Tanzquartier can benefit from the historical, theoretical, and pedagogical depth of the academic context in Berlin, while the Berlin students can be brought into closer proximity with the evolving artistic practices, international networks, and public situations that TQW engages with. Ideally, both places become more permeable through this relationship.
My vision for the coming years is to develop these connections carefully from within the specific needs of each institution and to let inspiration flow both ways. I am less interested in transferring models from one place to another than in creating the specific situations in each specific context where artistic practice, research, teaching, and theory can genuinely affect one another. For me, that too is a choreographic task.”
Apply now for the MA Choreography (maC)
Application deadline: September 30, 2026 (12:59pm)
Degree: Master of Arts (MA) / Length: Two years (full-time) / Language of instruction: Mostly German, partly English / Next start: Winter smester 2027/28 (October 2027) / Admission exams: 1st round online (expected December 2026) and 2nd round in person (expected in February 2027) / Class size: 6
Staff: Prof. Isabel Lewis (head of programme), Prof. Susanne Vincenz, Dr. Christiane Berger, Prof. Ingo Reulecke, Isabel Robson.
