Nicole Friedman and Diane Gemsch

Born in Zug, the former teacher Nicole Friedman trained as a stage dancer in Switzerland, Madrid and New York. After engagements in the USA and Europe, she left the stage in 2002 and trained in cultural management. This was followed by the founding of her own company "tanztotal", an agency in Zurich for production management and company management in the independent dance scene as well as tour planning in Switzerland and abroad. Nicole Friedman initiated dance platforms for newcomers, was coordinator of the national "Tanzfest" in Central Switzerland and teaches at the ZHAW and the PH Zug. She works as a project collaborator for the Swiss Dance Network reso and as an expert jury for work grants. From 2006 to 2020, she was responsible for the educational program for children and young people in schools as part of the Migros Culture Percentage Dance Festival Steps. The education program will be realigned under her leadership from 2022. After managing the MAFALDA company for many years, it received the Swiss Dance Award in 2019. In 2020, she took over the management of the YOUNG DANCE dance festival.

Photo: Diane Gemsch

Diane Gemsch, born in 1987 and raised in Switzerland, was part of the Metzenthin Children's and Youth Theatre throughout her childhood and youth. She completed her BA in Performing Arts in Dance in the Netherlands at the Hoogschool voor de Kunsten and the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp in Belgium. Since then, she has danced internationally as a stage dancer in various productions and has toured to Central and South America, South Africa and throughout Europe. She has worked in Berlin at the Maxim Gorki Theatre for Armin Petras and at the Schaubühne for Constanza Macras. Among others, she has worked with Andrea Boll, Panorma Dance Theatre, Marina Abramovic, Jan Martens, United-C and Marion Sparber, among others. After many years of collaboration with Teresa Rotemberg, the company mafalda received the Swiss Dance Award 2019. As a choreographer and movement adviser, she has worked with theatres such as Theater 58 and Kanton Theater Zürich. In 2012, Diane Gemsch received the Werkstipendium of the City of Zurich for her work as a performer, lecturer and choreographer. In 2021, she was selected by the Dance Commission of the City of Zurich to start a long-term project for young audiences in co-production with the Fabriktheater der Roten Fabrik. She is currently an MA Dance/Choreography student at the Zurich University of the Arts.