Stephanie Maher is known for her breathtaking physicality and for creating works that express an unique blend of intimacy, sensitivity, and wild humor. Her work has been performed on stages across the US, Germany, Holland and the UK. After training in New York, she spent 10 years in San Francisco, working from 1989-1993 as a dancer/choreographic collaborator with the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company. In 1995 she co-founded CORE with Keith Hennessy, Jess Curtis Stanya Kahn and Jules Beckman, and was a regular at 848 Community Space, often collaborating with San Francisco dancer/ choreographer Kathleen Hermesdorf. In 1998 she relocated to Berlin where she continues to perform, organize, and teach in K77 Studios and the Ponderosa in Stolzenhagen, Germany, both of which she helped build and develop.
Kathleen Hermesdorf and Stephanie Maher met in San Francisco via Contact Improvisation in 1992. They were choreographic collaborators and performers in the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company and together as Collusion from 1993-1997 and have been teaching and making work in and around Berlin and San Francisco since 2000 at K77, Tanz Fabrik, Potsdam International TanzTage Festival and Intercontinental Collaborations, presented by Jess Curtis/Gravity Productions. Most recently, they performed in the San Francisco International Arts Festival 2005 and were featured at the 2006 Ponderosa Tanz/Land Festival in Stolzenhagen, Germany.