Yvonne Hardt

Yvonne Hardt is Professor of Dance Science and Choreography and Dean of the Faculty of Dance at the University of Music and Dance Cologne since 2009. Previously, she served as Assistant Professor of Dance, Choreography and Dance Studies at UC Berkeley.

Education:

• Theater Studies and History (Berlin, Montreal)
• PhD, Freie Universität Berlin (political dimensions of modern dance in Weimar Republic)

Her research advances dance science methodology through historical-praxeological approaches to dance techniques and educational processes. She investigates political dimensions of dance, institutional critique, gender studies in dance, and dance-media intersections, with emphasis on cultural education and artistic research.

Analysis of her 2020-2024 publications reveals sustained focus on cultural education in dance, methodological innovation, and theory-practice integration. Key thematic threads include memory production in dance education, feedback mechanisms in dance pedagogy, and political bodies in performance contexts.

Research leadership:

• DFG project until 2025: Modes and Epistemes of Dance Knowledge Communities
• BMBF project KuBiTanz (2016-2019): Cultural education research in dance
• Mercator project (2014-2017): Dance in all-day schools
• Tanzplan Deutschland project (2009-2011): Contemporary dance techniques

She founded dance company BodyAttacksWord (1998-2007), creating productions that merged dance science with choreography to explore emotions, historical citations, and theory-practice relationships through works like 'Lusciously Pathetic' (2003) and 'Grenzwertig' (2005).