ABOUT
Svea Schneider, born in Germany, is a NYC based dancer, performing artist, choreographer and dance educator. She attended the Iwanson School for Contemporary Dance in Germany and moved to NYC to extensively train in urban dance (Break, Hip Hop, House), contemporary dance, floorwork, contact improvisation and Forsythe technique.
Svea has taught and performed throughout the US, Canada, Germany, UK, Dubai, India and Peru. She has danced with PILOBOLUS (PCS), Vissi Dance Theatre and Decadancetheatre, and has performed at such renowned stages as the South Bank Center, Liverpool Playhouse, B Supreme Festival, Bumbershoot and Jacobs Pillow. Svea has also worked for off Broadway, film, TV and commercials, working with companies and artists such as Chris Cornell, Timbaland, Lil’ John, MTV, BET, ABC Networks and Eska Music Video Awards.
From 2014 to 2015 Svea moved to Lima/Peru where she was appointed artistic director, principal choreographer and teacher of the non-profit dance organization D1 Dance in Lima. She taught, directed, choreographed and administred the dance school, production company and social program, empowering and integrating underpriviledged children and youth through dance and performance. While in Lima, Svea was commissioned to create work for the Ballet de San Marcos, gave lectures and taught masterclasses for collectives, dance schools and universities as well as performing her solo work at various festivals.
Svea holds a BA (magna cum laude) in dance anthropology and choreography from NYU, received an emerging artist grant from the Brooklyn Council on the Arts and was the recipient of the Leo Bronstein Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Arts. Svea was chosen for the Performance Project Residency at University Settlement (NYC, 2011-2012), the Flushing Town Hall Dance Residency in (NYC, 2013), the Dance Ignition Lab Residency (Sweden, 2015) and participated in the KHOJ International Artist Residency in Pune/India (2015) where she created a large-scale site-specific public dance performance in an abandoned hotel. Just recently Svea was a chosen participant of the NYFA Artist as Entrepreneur Bootamp in Auburn, NY.
Svea is the founder of KINEMATIK Dance Theater (2010), an urban contemporary dance company that uses the body, visual imagery, technology and props to create thought provoking and visually stimulating dance experiences. Her work is highly visual, dynamic and thought provoking, often exploring topics of identity, gender, technology, media culture and site-specific public space. Having been trained in contemporary dance as well as urban dance, she often incorporates different dance styles, building a new and approachable visceral movement language.
Svea’s work emphasizes liveliness, authenticity and transformation and aims to allow the audience to have an experience to feel, rather than to sit and watch. She creates dance theater, site-specific performances, dance installations and dance films. Her work has been shown at Jönköping Läns Museum, Andanzas Int’l Dance Festival, New York International Fringe Festival, DUMBO DANCE Festival, Dixon Place, Performance Project, Grounds for Sculpture, amongst other venues.
Svea is passionate about dance and its ability to empower people, communities and societies. She has been teaching dance and movement for more than 10 years in many dance studios, colleges, community centers and after school programs in the US and abroad.