Dancers Intensive 2026

Kirsten Wicklund (she/her) was born in British Columbia, and trained at Pacific Dance Arts, Danzmode Productions, Goh Ballet Academy, Modus Operandi Contemporary Training Program, The Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, The Banff Centre for the Performing Arts, and received scholarships to train at American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet & Pacific Northwest Ballet.

Kirsten recently danced at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen in Antwerp, Belgium (since 2021) where she performed existing works by Pina Bausch, Sharon Eyal, Crystal Pite, William Forsythe, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Akram Khan and original new creations with Jan Martens, Richard Siegal & Ella Rothschild.

As an independent maker, Kirsten has choreographed works for Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, The Dutch National Ballet’s Junior Company & New Moves Program, The New York Choreographic Institute at New York City Ballet, Ballet BC’s Take Form, Ballet Kelowna, Joshua Beamish’s MOVE: the company, The UBC Choir, Dancing on the Edge Festival, Dances for a Small Stage, The Dance Deck Series, Arts Umbrella, Goh Ballet & Lamon Dance. Her work Overcast was selected as a finalist for the International Choreographic Competition Hannover in 2021.

In February 2024 Kirsten’s work Tu me manques for the Dutch National Ballet’s Junior Company premiered and has embarked on a 20 show tour of Holland. Kirsten’s new work for Ballet Edmonton (Canada) also made its world premiere.

Marie Gyselbrecht worked with Alain Platel and Arne Sierens' Allemaal Indiaan as a teenager and toured internationally. In 1997, her dance solo was nominated for the "Best Belgian Dance Solo" award organized by Victoria and Alain Platel. In 2005, she graduated from the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance. In 2004, she co-founded the Belgium-based Collectiv.At. She has been part of the theatre collective Peeping Tom since 2008. With the ensemble she created the productions La Visita, 32 rue Vandenbranden, A Louer, Vader, The Land, Moeder, Kind and Dido and Aeneas. In 2017, she played in Chef de Corps directed by Raphaëlle Latini. She also directed Taverne, a dance theatre performance with the Hotel col-lectiu escènic, which premiered at Sala Hiroshima in Barcelona in June 2018. In 2021, she created the site-specific performance Nest, which premiered at the Sismògraf festival in Olot, Spain, in April 2022. In addition to her work for the stage, she was involved in the short film Drôle d'Oiseau (2015), which won several prizes at international film festivals, and the feature film Mijn vader is een saucisse (2019). Both films were directed by Anouk Fortunier. Marie has a strong interest in photography and visual art. Her installation Waiting Room - A life in Transit was shown at the Brussels Gallery Weekend and on tour with Peeping Tom. 
 

Cyril Baldy is a dancer, choreographer, educator, rehearsal director and stager, born in France in 1980. He studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris from 1993 to 1997. As a dancer, he joined his first professional company in 1997 named “Le Jeune Ballet de France”. From 1998 to 2002, he successively was part of Nederland Dans Theatre II and Nederland Dans Theatre I under the direction of Jiri Kylian. In 2002, he became a member of Frankfurt Ballet then The Forsythe Company from 2005 to 2014 under the artistic direction of William Forsythe. In 2014, he became a freelancer, taking on the role of choreographer, educator, rehearsal director and stager for William Forsythe. 

He choreographed notable dances such as Nonsense And Other Matters (Arts Umbrella Vancouver - 2024), Divertissement (CNSMD Lyon - 2023), Choreographic Exercise (HfMDK - 2022), Steps Of Dance (HfMDK - 2020), Variation(s) For A Few (Tanzplattform Rhein-Main in Frankfurt - 2019), A Dance For Many (for KOST at the Athens Festival in Athens - 2019), Variation By Ashley Wright (premiered at Treloarland in Melbourne - 2018), Variation(s) (Pact Zollverein- Germany - 2017), Variation III: On The Theme Of William Hay (Neuer Kunstverein in Wuppertal - 2017), Variation(s) By Louella May Hogan (premiered at Treloarland in Melbourne - 2017). His choreographies extends to film with This Is Not Raymonda But Whatever It Contains (2015), William Hay (2017), HTCTW #8 (2018), In Preparation For (2018), unattended choreography (2019) and Studio Works Collection: HTCTW (since 2017). 

Through his choreography, he developed a dance practice called Sentient Method taught to PARTS, HZT, DOCH, DFDC, PNB, Musée de la Danse, Hubbard Street Dance Company, STRUT, PACT Zollverein, K3, CNDC Anger, Lyon Opera Ballet, among others. As a dancer, since 2014 he performed in A Quiet Evening Of Dance by William Forsythe, Bastards. We Are All Illegitimate Children and Remains Persist by Moriah Evans.

Image by Dominik Mentzos