The current board was re-elected by the General Assembly that took place on 25 November 2019 in Ljubljana (Slovenia).

Laurent Meheust

A philosopher by training, Laurent Meheust got involved very early in the world of culture and specialised in supporting artists for the theatre and contemporary music at first, before devoting himself fully to dance. In 2008, he joined the choreographer, Michel Kelemenis and took part in the construction of KLAP Maison pour la danse (Marseille / France),  working to establish its status in local, national and international professional networks.

As Deputy Director, Meheust develops all the artistic residencies and the programmes of the three annual festivals; he coordinates the educational programme for artistic sharing and develops collaborations with cultural partners. Meheust is also responsible for preparing budgets for all of these activities. He is guest lecturer since 2006 at the Université de Provence for the License and Masters in Cultural Mediation and in the Art and Cultural Heritage programmes.

Mitja Bravhar

Mitja Bravhar has a degree in history and art history from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University in Ljubljana. He works at Kino Šiška Ljubljana, public institute, holding the position of Assistant Manager for Management and Finance, and Theatre and Dance Programme Manager.

Bravhar has 20 years of experience working in public institutes from the field of culture and non-profit organisations, and also in the private sector, particularly in fields of public relations, marketing, production, fundraising, as well as event and festival organisation (City Museum of Ljubljana, Ljubljana City Theatre, Špas Theatre and Mini Theatre). Since 2009, he has been employed in Kino Šiška Centre for Urban Culture. His tasks also include curating the performance art programme and heading international art projects. Next to his work at Kino Šiška, he is also a producer and a member of the artistic board of CoFestival – International dance festival in Ljubljana, and a part-time educator for Management in Culture at School of Business and Management Novo mesto. He successfully finished a residential seminar European Diploma in Cultural Project Management at the Association Marcel Hicter in Brussels.

Kerstin Evert

Kerstin Evert studied Applied Theatre Studies in Gieβen, where she did her doctorate on the theme of “DanceLab-Contemporary Dance and New Technologies”. From 1997 to 2000, she was a doctoral candidate in the post-graduate program “Körper-Inszenierungen” at the Freie Universität Berlin and with Oliver Behnecke founded the production label “Stadt Raum Inszenierung” (Festival ZeitenWende, Gieβen 2000). From 2002 to 2006, she worked as dramaturge at Kampnagel.

Evert founded the choreographic center K3 in Hamburg in August 2006, and has been the director of K3 – Zentrum für Choreographie | Tanzplan Hamburg since then. She works as a lecturer at universities in Berlin, Bern, Gieβen, Hamburg, Frankfurt/Main and Salzburg, among other places, and she is member of several juries and advisory boards.

Roberto Casarotto

Since 2006, Roberto Casarotto has been director of the dance projects for the CSC di Bassano del Grappa and Operaestate Festival Veneto. Associate director of Aerowaves, he is currently involved in several international projects supported by the EU. He develops initiatives aimed at supporting the artistic research, mobility and artists’ development in the field of dance.

He is the Italian initiator of Dance Well-movement research for Parkinson, a project aimed at research the impact that the practice of dance has on people living with Parkinson’s. He is the author of the book Nigel Charnock published in 2009 by L’Epos, in the Dance forward/Dance for word series. In 2015-17 he was Artistic Director of Balletto di Roma.

Catja Loepfe

Catja Loepfe was born in Zurich, Switzerland. She studied cultural anthropology, with a focus on theatre anthropology. During her studies she started as a freelance curator for art exhibitions and as organiser of theater and dance workshops for the International Theatre Institute. In 1999 she took over the direction of the Rote Fabrik Fabriktheater in Zurich. From 2007 to 2012 she worked for Gessnerallee Zurich, first as dramaturg responsible for the dance program and in her final year as interim director. In August 2012 she was appointed as director of ZÜRICH TANZT, a three days festival of dance and performances in public space. Besides that she was a member oft he artistic board oft the festival Zürcher Theater Spektakel 2012-2014.

Loepfe became the artistic director of Tanzhaus Zürich in August 2014.

Suzy Blok

Suzy Blok (Dutch/Argentinean, born in Colombia) is director at the dance production house Dansmakers Amsterdam and co-founder/director of the Moving Futures festival and network.

After her dance studies at the Amsterdam High School of the Arts she became a professional dancer and choreographer. She was co-artistic director of Blok&Steel company from 1990 until 2006. After this period she continued to create performances and became also curator of I Like To Watch too: a yearly international performance festival produced by Paradiso and Julidans festival from 2007-2013.  As film-maker, she created award-winning short dance-films as well as feature films in collaboration with directors such as Pieter Kramer. In 2017 she completed her studies of Cultural Leadership (LINC) at the University of Utrecht.

Blok is currently also board-member of Summer Dance Festival, dance-representant of the Amsterdam Cultural Institutions (ACI). Next to EDN, from her position as director of Dansmakers Amsterdam, she is partner in the Aerowaves network.

Her main focus since working for Dansmakers Amsterdam is to support the new generation of dance-artists, passing on her knowledge and expertise to others. To help develop the contemporary dance discipline in all its width and potential, to create new possibilities and collaborations for emerging artists to expand and share their knowledge and make their work visible to a larger audience. Both on a local, national and international level.

EDN Honorary members

Karene Lyngholm

Karene Lyngholm is a founding member of EDN and chair from 2004 to May 2009. She was founder and artistic director of Dansens Hus Oslo from May 2004 to August 2010. As a curator, she has currently different positions in the performing arts scene. She is in the board of the Performing Arts Hub Norway and SITE Sweden, and funding board member of the performing arts center Prospero, among others. She is currently establishing a residency centre in the mountain area of Valdres with Frikar dance company.

In this video interview, she talks about the EDN association now and the future of the network.

Bertram Müller

Bertram Müller is a founding member of EDN and was the president from May 2009 to September 2013. He was the artistic director of Tanzhaus NRW Düsseldorf for more than 30 years until his retirement in December 2013.

In this video interview, he talks about the history of the network and the concept of dancehouse.

Paul-Eric Labrosse

Paul-Eric Labrosse was on the board of EDN as Treasurer from June 2017 to April 2019 when he suddently passed.

Paul-Eric Labrosse was born in Marseille, France. During his PhD in History of Arts at the University of Aix-en-Provence, he started working in the cultural field, beginning with contemporary music, and has been engaged in this field until now both with individual artists and structures. He joined La Place de la Danse - CDCN Toulouse Occitanie in 2008, and has been involved in several cooperative projects funded by the EU within this institution. He tought administrative and financial management of cultural structures at the University of Toulouse – Jean-Jaurès, France.

As a key figure in EDN recent years, Paul-Eric showed exceptional commitment and dedication to our network and a strong human touch. His integrity, ethics and generosity were an inspiration to all of us.