© Vera Schelkina. All rights reserved. Made by whalenessis.
Bio
Vera Shchelkina is a choreographer, dance artist, somatic movement educator (graduate from Somatic Academy Berlin), master student of MA Choreography at HZT, Hochschule für Schauspielkunst "Ernst Busch"), facilitator and curator for professional and non-professional dance and performance programs ("Contemporary Dance for Deaf Community" in GES-2, "Summer School for Performance" in HFBK, "Here + Now + Everyone" for Kampnagel Sommerfestival, and others).
Their most important dance and performance projects (solo and in collaboration) are "CO-TOUCH", "My Ex(body)", "The Imposture Lab", "SMRTъ", "Vibrant matter", choreographies in the movies for the "School of Emergencies", "Witnessing it all happening for the last time", "Everyone here is a bit of a horse" etc.
Their main artistic interests are: the human being as a totality of spaces, times, and states; touch as a gateway to the diversity of the body; perception as an instrument of movement; form as a respite from movement; the body as a transpersonal experience; the political nature of the private body; and the body's potential for rebellion. In recent years, Vera's research has focused on the embryo and death (and their connection) in the context of dance and performance. Vera asks themself: how can one achieve choreographic form by emphasizing processes rather than adding to them?
Their most important dance and performance projects (solo and in collaboration) are "CO-TOUCH", "My Ex(body)", "The Imposture Lab", "SMRTъ", "Vibrant matter", choreographies in the movies for the "School of Emergencies", "Witnessing it all happening for the last time", "Everyone here is a bit of a horse" etc.
Their main artistic interests are: the human being as a totality of spaces, times, and states; touch as a gateway to the diversity of the body; perception as an instrument of movement; form as a respite from movement; the body as a transpersonal experience; the political nature of the private body; and the body's potential for rebellion. In recent years, Vera's research has focused on the embryo and death (and their connection) in the context of dance and performance. Vera asks themself: how can one achieve choreographic form by emphasizing processes rather than adding to them?
Courtesy of Ming Poon. Project: STARDUST
Photo: Olivia Kwok
Photo: Olivia Kwok
Contacts
Studies
2023–2025: student of MA Choreography in Hochschule für Schauspielkunst “Ernst Busch” (HZT)
2020–2023: Somatische Akademie Berlin, graduated as a somatic movement educator
2016: interdisciplinary program for contemporary dance and performance SOTA (Garage Museum of Contemporary Art)
2014: School for New Dance Development, Choreography Intensive Course, Academy for Theater and Dance, Amsterdam
2006–2007: Moscow State University, Faculty of Photojournalism
2002–2003: Philipps University, Marburg, Germany, studies in German
1999–2004: Moscow State University, Germanistics (Diploma in Medieval German Literature)
2020–2023: Somatische Akademie Berlin, graduated as a somatic movement educator
2016: interdisciplinary program for contemporary dance and performance SOTA (Garage Museum of Contemporary Art)
2014: School for New Dance Development, Choreography Intensive Course, Academy for Theater and Dance, Amsterdam
2006–2007: Moscow State University, Faculty of Photojournalism
2002–2003: Philipps University, Marburg, Germany, studies in German
1999–2004: Moscow State University, Germanistics (Diploma in Medieval German Literature)
Teaching AND FACILITATING
August 2025: workshop "Somatics into Choreography", Bewegungsraum - Hamburg
August 2025: guest choreographer and facilitator of body and performance practices for the project "When Roots Moved" by "Chto Delat" art group, commissioned by Kampnagel Sommerfestival and Stadtkuratorin - Hamburg
September 2024: guest teacher of body and performance practices during the workshop on commemoration "Gegen das Vergessen" from "Chto Delat" art group in Deichtorhallen - Hamburg
2023–2024: curating and facilitating body-based community projects "Micro-Choreographies" and “Unplanting the seeds of hatred” in Emergency Club (curated by “Chto Delat” art group) - Berlin
2023-2024: guest teacher of body and performance practices at HFBK during workshops of “Chto delat” art group ("School of emergencies") - Hamburg
2023: Facilitator of body practices for the “School of Emergencies”, a collaborative project between the art group “Chto Delat” and the Cultural House Hägerstensåsens Medborgarhuset - Stockholm
2022–2023: Two workshops on death practices in the context of dance and performance - “Death as the Moving Principle” and "Dark Waters" - Berlin
2022–2023: Series of classes “Soma-mornings” as an exploration of embryological images into movement - Berlin
2022–2023: Series of classes “Mind meets body” (Somatics meets neurosciences), in collaboration with a neurosciences student Elena Korchagina - Berlin
2022: Workshop “Touching the body in all its continuity” for IKSK (Institut für Körperforschung und sexuelle Kultur - Berlin
2022: Facilitating workshop “Unplanting the seeds of hatred” as a guest teacher for several organizations: “Moving across thresholds”, “Unkraut” Residency - Berlin
2022–2023: Curating and teaching open classes for Somatische Akademie - Berlin
2022: Classes for "Marcozzi Contemporary Theater" - Berlin
2021–2023: Curator of an educational program about contemporary dance for deaf people at GES-2 - Moscow
2021–2022: Artistic director and dance teacher of the inclusive project “Normal Dances” - Saint-Petersburg
2021–2023: Independently designed classes of movement with somatic and embryological approaches
2019–2021: Dance teacher for deaf and blind students at RSAI (Russian State Specialized Academy of Arts, Faculty of Theater - Moscow
2019–2021: Movement and perception workshops (own approach of embodied philosophy, combination of somatic tools, meditative practices, contemporary dance and performance exercises, forms of contact dance, and martial arts) (in Kazan, Cheboksary, Nizhny Novgorod, St. Petersburg, by independent organizers).
2018–2021: Teaching within the framework of art projects (SMRTъ, CO-TOUCH, Imposter Lab, My(Ex) Body etc)
August 2025: guest choreographer and facilitator of body and performance practices for the project "When Roots Moved" by "Chto Delat" art group, commissioned by Kampnagel Sommerfestival and Stadtkuratorin - Hamburg
September 2024: guest teacher of body and performance practices during the workshop on commemoration "Gegen das Vergessen" from "Chto Delat" art group in Deichtorhallen - Hamburg
2023–2024: curating and facilitating body-based community projects "Micro-Choreographies" and “Unplanting the seeds of hatred” in Emergency Club (curated by “Chto Delat” art group) - Berlin
2023-2024: guest teacher of body and performance practices at HFBK during workshops of “Chto delat” art group ("School of emergencies") - Hamburg
2023: Facilitator of body practices for the “School of Emergencies”, a collaborative project between the art group “Chto Delat” and the Cultural House Hägerstensåsens Medborgarhuset - Stockholm
2022–2023: Two workshops on death practices in the context of dance and performance - “Death as the Moving Principle” and "Dark Waters" - Berlin
2022–2023: Series of classes “Soma-mornings” as an exploration of embryological images into movement - Berlin
2022–2023: Series of classes “Mind meets body” (Somatics meets neurosciences), in collaboration with a neurosciences student Elena Korchagina - Berlin
2022: Workshop “Touching the body in all its continuity” for IKSK (Institut für Körperforschung und sexuelle Kultur - Berlin
2022: Facilitating workshop “Unplanting the seeds of hatred” as a guest teacher for several organizations: “Moving across thresholds”, “Unkraut” Residency - Berlin
2022–2023: Curating and teaching open classes for Somatische Akademie - Berlin
2022: Classes for "Marcozzi Contemporary Theater" - Berlin
2021–2023: Curator of an educational program about contemporary dance for deaf people at GES-2 - Moscow
2021–2022: Artistic director and dance teacher of the inclusive project “Normal Dances” - Saint-Petersburg
2021–2023: Independently designed classes of movement with somatic and embryological approaches
2019–2021: Dance teacher for deaf and blind students at RSAI (Russian State Specialized Academy of Arts, Faculty of Theater - Moscow
2019–2021: Movement and perception workshops (own approach of embodied philosophy, combination of somatic tools, meditative practices, contemporary dance and performance exercises, forms of contact dance, and martial arts) (in Kazan, Cheboksary, Nizhny Novgorod, St. Petersburg, by independent organizers).
2018–2021: Teaching within the framework of art projects (SMRTъ, CO-TOUCH, Imposter Lab, My(Ex) Body etc)
Artistic and other projects
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2019
2018
- Choreography for the project "When Roots Moved" invited by "Chto Delat" during Kampnagel Sommerfestival - Hamburg, August
- Choreography of HZT graduation piece "Everyone here is a bit of a horse" - Berlin, June
- Choreography for a musical movie “Songs of Hope and Despair” for Werkleitz Exhibition "Planetarische Bauern" - invited by "Chto Delat" art group - Hettstedt
2024
- one of the creators of performative rituals for the project of Ming Poon "Stardust" - Berlin
- "Witnessing it all happening for the last time", student site-specific choreography, presented at Potsdamer Tanztage 2024 - Potsdam, Berlin
- Choreography for an interdisciplinary music concert of a jazz band “Sir Bradley” - Hamburg
2023
- Choreographer for film "Clash of elements" by “Chto delat” art group during a student workshop "School of emergencies" at HFBK - Hamburg
- Choreographer for a series of interviews for the “School of Emergencies” in Hägerstensåsens Medborgarhuset - Stockholm
- Resident artist with the project “Oracle GPT” - Leonidio, Greece
- Dancer-performer in a project “Cloud Russians” by Tatiana Tchizhikova and Anna Semenova-Ganz in Lichthof Theatre - Hamburg
2022
- war, emigration to Germany, volunteering year
2021
- Co-author and dancer in SMRTЪ, a project about death in collaboration with Taras Burnashev in Sdvig Studio - Saint-Petersburg
- Co-author and performer in a political theatre project “The Land of Opportunities” on New Stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater - Saint-Petersburg
- Co-choreographer and dancer in “Vibrant matter” together with Katya Kalyuzhnaya and Artem Markov in Sdvig Studio - Saint-Petersburg
2019
- Co-author, performer, and teaching artist in CO-TOUCH, a tactile project created in the visitor’s imagination - together with Katrin Reshetnikova and Kristina Petrova. Created for the New Space of Theater of Nations, performed in Saint-Petersburg (OpenLook festival), Berlin (LakeStudios), and Dresden (Hellerau, Karussell festival)
- Curator and co-creator of the pop-up residency for everything “White Unknown” in Sdvig Studio - St. Petersburg
- Choreographer of the performance as part of the residency “Choreography of Memory” at the Sakharov Center - Moscow
2018
- Co-author and dancer in MY EX(BODY) together with Vik Lashenov and various artists. Created as part of the Tanzhaus residency in ZIL and the residency at Art Station, performed in Minsk (OK16 and Performensk) in June 2018.
- Co-author and performer-facilitator in THE IMPOSTURE LAB, together with Vik Lashenox and Dmitry Volkov. Created and shown in Ground Khodynka Gallery, TsEKH Dance School, Doca.Moscow Festival, Minsk (OK16 and Performensk) in June 2018, and Kyiv, Ukraine (Carbonarium) in July 2018