Aikido for Dancers
Union of the opposites

Aikido, developed by Morihei Ueshiba in the past century, is one of the martial arts. Ai means the union of the opposites, Ki is the life force and Do is the lifelong way of learning.
By way of awareness, acceptance and redirection of an attack the aggressive intention of an opponent will be neutralized. The aim is to find an evolved way of solving conflicts: Open yourself to use the force of the opponent and control it to your own advantage. Attack and defense become organic chains of impulse-reaction with flowing, natural movements, thus training higher mobility and centering the body. Body and mind are in union, concentration, breath and imagination are enhanced, confidence in our own instincts and spontaneous actions is increased.


Martin Gruber
Marting Gruber was born in 1957 in Birach, Germany and currently lives and works as a choreographer and director in Berlin. In addition to his international teaching activities, he introduced the Suzuki Method in the Theater Academy Munich and The Falckenberg school, where he works as a teacher of acting and directing.
He established the Production facilities for theater and training forums „Biracher Seminare“ in Birach. Martin is trained in Akido, 5th dan in the school of the founder Ueshiba (Tokyo), in functional integration with Professor Talmi (Israel), in Zen Bodytherapy with Dub Leigh (USA) and „Foot Grammar“ with Tadashi Suzuki in Japan.

In addition to his collaborations with Dieter Dorn and Robert Wilson, he has directed numerous productions (or: premiers) in Munich, Ulm, Peking, and Hanoi among others.

Jannis Spengler
Jannis Spengler ist gebürtiger Grieche. Nach seiner Ausbildung an der Bayerischen Theaterakademie München und einem Festengagement am Residenztheater München arbeitet der heute 31 Jährige als freier Schauspieler, Gastdozent an der Akademie Kolimpari Kreta und als Dozent für Körpertraining in München. Er war in vielen TV Produktionen zu sehen, u.a. in „Der Bulle von Tölz“ und „Soko5113“ und hat nun eine Rolle in der Sat 1 Serie „Mit Herz und Handschellen“.