Dr

Thomas Kampe

Personal Statement

Thomas Kampe (PhD) has worked with dance, theatre and movement for the last 30 years as performer, choreographer, director and educator. Thomas has taught somatic approaches towards movement education in different settings around the world. He worked at University of Chichester and London Metropolitan University between 1993 and 2012. Thomas trained as a visual artist in Germany and subsequently trained in dance at the Laban Centre and at Middlesex University in London. He also worked for 13 years with London-based Jewish Austrian Ausdruckstanz-Pioneer Hilde Holger.

Thomas has performed with Aktionstheater Kassel, Amici Dance Theatre, Liz Aggiss, Hilde Holger, Rosemary Lee, Colin Poole and many other dance and theatre artists. He has extensively collaborated with writer/director Julia Pascal since 1990 in the creation of original performance works which have been featured throughout Europe.

His previous work has included solo performances in venues such as Moltkerei Cologne, tanzfabrik Berlin, The ICA London, and The Purcell Room London, international collaborations with dance and theatre companies, installation work in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and site-specific choreography with a cast of 150 performers (plus one dog!) in St. Pauli Stadium in Hamburg, Germany, in 2003. He appeared in three dance-for-camera projects for Divas Dance Company, and as part of an internationally toured 3D screen installation.

In 2010 he created three internationally shown dance works and created the movement direction, design, and choreography for the play The Dybbuk by Julia Pascal which was presented during dream-up festival in New York City. In 2011 Thomas collaborated with artist collective JOCJONJOSH on the choreography for their large-scale body-installation Existere. He also collaborated with The Wedding Collective, London, choreographing for a site-specific Opera production of Menottis The Secret Consul. In 2012 he directed a Heritage Lottery funded site-specific guided tour The Secret Listeners, a political, immersive performance project with a cast of 35 performers.

His international teaching has included residencies in various venues with a broad range of clients including: K3-choreographic centre Hamburg, Germany; Independent Dance London; tanzquartier Vienna, Austria; National Dance Academy Quito, Ecuador; Budapest Improvisation Festival, Hungary; Madrid Contact Improvisation Festival, Spain; Freiburg Contact Festival, Germany; Ouro Preto Winter Festival, Brasil; Tamalpa Institute of Korea, Seoul,Korea.

Thomas has taught and directed internationally in Higher Education for more than 20 years including work at Limerick University, Ireland, The School for New Dance Development Amsterdam, Ehwa Womens University Seoul, Korea, University of Hamburg, Germany, Central School for Speech and Drama, Rose Bruford College, East 15 Acting School, Academia dell Arte Arezzo, De Montford University, Oxford St Johns University, and University of Brighton.

He was awarded University Teaching Fellowship (2010) and Associate Professorship (2011) at London Met for developing a dance/movement curriculum that bridges somatic practices with choreographic education and professional contexts. He is a qualified teacher of the Feldenkrais Method which forms a foundation for his teaching and informs his research and artistic practice greatly. He recently completed his practice-led Phd The Art of Making Choices The Feldenkrais Method as a Choreographic Resource.

Academic qualifications

• BA (Hons) Middlesex University
• MEd Kassel University
• DipHE Laban
• PhD London Metropolitan University.

Professional memberships

• Fellow of Higher Education Academy
• Member of Feldenkrais Guild UK.