About

BA (Hons), MA, PGCLTHE

Darja is a choreographer, dance teacher and researcher in the field of interdisciplinarity. She is the founder and artistic director of the contemporary dance company SoBo Productions based in Mannheim, Germany.

She was educated in the Ukraine, Germany, USA and Great Britain. She holds a Master of Arts in Dance Performance from Trinity Laban Conservatoire for Music and Dance, a BA (Hons) in Dance and Theatre Performance from Bird College and a PGCLTHE from Rose Bruford College in London.

In her freelance dance career, she has worked with many international choreographers, directors and companies including Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui & Joe Wright (Anna Karenina), Anh Ngoc Nguyen (Wayne McGregor), Theo Lowe (Hofesh SHechter), H2 Dance, Cameron McMillan (Bonachela Dance), Angela Woodhouse, Colin Poole, Appetite Dance Productions and Joss Arnott Dance.

She now resides and works as a free lance choreographer and dance teacher in the Rhein-Neckar area in Germany. She is faculty staff at the Contemporary Department at Dance Professional Mannheim and after years of teaching and lecturing at Bird College in London, she continues to work there as an external academic tutor. Darja teaches Release Technique and explores the holistic integration of movement and voice. The latter led to the development of an innovative, integrative, and interdisciplinary training method called SoundBody, which focuses on performers in relation to the reciprocal nature and the inherent knowledge of the body. The findings of her research have been published as part of innovative practices.

In connection with her ongoing research, she founded her own dance production company SoBo Productions in 2019 which explores the interrelation of sound and movement in an integrative, abstract and contemporary way.

Founder of and Artistic Director at SoundBody Productions – 2019-present

– A contemporary dance production company 

Contemporary Dance Educator – 2010 – present

– Release Technique (Bird College of Performing Arts, London (FE and HE), Morea Performing 

Arts, UK (FE), Dance Professional Mannheim (Berufskolleg))

Academic Tutor and Lecturer – 2011 – present

– Lecture topics: Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analysis, The Dance Medium, Dance Writing, 

Communication, Interpretation and Art Appreciation (BA level at Bird College of Performing 

Arts, London and Dance Professional Mannheim)

– Tutoring: Independent Projects (Dissertations and Choreographic works); 1st and 2nd Marker 

for all written assignments (BA level at Bird College of Performing Arts, London)

Choreographer, Rehearsal Director and Workshop Leader – 2011-present

  – Commissioned Choreography: London Fashion Week, Move It London, Youth Companies 

across UK, Bird College of Performing Arts, Morea Performing Arts, Dance Professional 

Mannheim, Theater Felina Areal (Mannheim)

– Rehearsal Direction and Company Class:Transitions Dance Company, Joss Arnott Dance, Bird 

College of Performing Arts

– Workshops: Repertoire with varies companies across UK, Sound Body (own research)

Dance and Theatre Artist, Free Lance, 2009-2014

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Joe Wright (Anna Karenina), Any Ngoc Ngyen (Random Dance Company), 

Colin Poole, Angela Woodhouse, Cameron McMillan (Bonachela and Rambert Dance Company), 

Lucy Cash, TJ Lowe (Hofesh Shechter, Akram Khan), Lisa Rowly (Tavaziva Dance Company), Fleur 

Darkin, Charles Linehan, Marc Bruce,Transitions Dance Company, Joss Arnott Dance, The 

London Ballet Company, H2 Dance, Appetite Dance, The Maxwell Dance Project, Sweet Charity, 

West Side Story, Chicago

Trinity Laban Conservatoire for Music and Dance, London, UK

MA Dance Performance (Distinction), 2010

Thesis titled:The Holy Dancer – An Investigation into an organic Integration of Thought, 

Movement and the use of Voice

Choreographic work titled: Roots/Routes (solo work exploring the notion of integrative voice and 

movement practice)

Bird College Conservatoire for Theatre and Dance, Greater London, UK

BA (Hons) Degree Dance and Theatre performance, 2009

Thesis titled: The Self – An Investigation into Authenticity in Acting

Choreographic work titled:Karthago (a devised physical theatre work exploring 

the notion of authenticity through acting inspired by Grotowski’s Poor Theatre and T.S. Eliot’s 

The Waste Land)

Academy of Performing Arts, San Diego/Ca, US

Dance Scholarship, 2001

Akademie des Tanzes, Mannheim, Germany

Pre-professional training in Ballet and Modern Dance, 1993-1998

Rose Bruford  College of Theatre and Performance, London, UK

Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Theatre and Performing 

Arts, 2016

Action Research titled: Sound Body – Interdisciplinarity Towards an Empowered Body of

Knowledge

Reiki practitioner Level I + II , 2014-2015 

‚Interdisciplinarity –  Using Self-Feedback to Enhance Integrative and Conscious Practice‘

in Clegg K. and Bryan C. (2019) Innovative Assessment in HE: A Handbook for Academic Practice  

 

Doreen Bird Foundation Award for Further Development, 2009 

English, German, Russian (mother tongue) 

  • Somatic practices (Feldenkrais, Alexander, Klein, Body Mind Centering, Authentic Movement)
  •  
  • Yoga
  •  
  • Chanting
  •  
  • Meditation
  •  
  • Spirituality
  •  
  • Personal Growth
  •  
  • Psychic Studies
  •  
  • Sound Therapy (Healing Frequencies)