What:     A mentoring program focusing on dance, choreography, and performance for artists from Afghanistan.

Where:   Berlin

When:    14/15 June 2025, Kick-Off
               15 – 20 June 2025, first mentoring block
               14 – 19 July 2025, second mentoring block
               22 – 27 September 2025, third mentoring block
               One week in the first half of November: fourth mentoring block + public showings.

Application Deadline:   20 April 2025 (23:59 CET)

Languages:   We can provide English, Farsi, French and German. For persons, who speak Farsi only we can provide the translation.

What we offer:

• A format that invites participants to reflect on and further develop their own artistic practice, including experimenting with strategies of dramaturgy, production, mediation, and networking.
• Accompanying mentoring by three experienced mentors, tailored to the needs and questions of the participants. The mentors address participants as artists with professional profiles as well as individual life and migration realities. The term “mentoring” is understood as a concept of mutual learning and teaching, based on curiosity for different perspectives and experiences.
• An opportunity to open one’s artistic process to an external audience.
• Exchange and feedback on written concepts, applications, or proposals within the context of one’s own projects.
• Shorter inputs from artists, curators, and activists from the Berlin scene who accompany the mentoring process.
• A flat fee of 900 euros.
• Travel expenses and accommodation for participants who do not live in Berlin.
• The possibility of collaboration with tanzpol beyond the mentoring program, particularly in the context of the tanzpol Festival 2026 (in planning).

For whom

   The program addresses professional artists from Afghanistan who are active in the fields of dance, choreography, and performance, or who wish to develop a solid understanding of these artistic fields. Hybrid professional biographies at the intersections of dance, performance, visual arts, film, or theater are welcome. International artists as well as groups or collectives are also invited to apply. For group applications, the flat fee of 900 euros is paid per group, not per person.

    Students are excluded from applying.

Sandra Noeth is a professor at the HZT Inter-University Centre for Dance Berlin and works internationally as a curator in independent and international contexts. For more than twenty years she has accompanied artists as a dramaturge in their research and working processes; from 2009-14 as head dramaturge at Tanzquartier Wien.  In her dramaturgical practice and various mentoring projects, she is particularly concerned with strategies of collective learning and working in the arts, and with working methods that are developed outside the western canon. Her own research and publication projects often aim to bring together knowledge from different artistic, social, political and activist fields and disciplines to reflect on current socio-political developments. Recent projects focused the role, status and agency of bodies in bordering processes; the relation between arts, bodies and unequal politics of protection; the embodiment of violence; the performativity of class dynamics in arts as well as the ambivalent status of the body in international humanitarian law. Sandra worked as an educator with SKH-Stockholm University of the Arts and Ashkal Alwan Beirut, among others. She is the author of 
Resilient Bodies, Residual Effects. Borders and Collectivity from Lebanon andPalestine (transcript, 2019) as well as a co-editor of Breathe.
Critical Investigations into the Inequalities of Life (with J. Janša, 2023) and Shielding: Body-based Studies on Integrity and Protextion (with J. Janša and S. Umathum, 2024).
Languages: English, French and German.

© Sandra Noeth

Hooman Sharifi was born in Tehran in 1973 and came alone to Norway at the age of 15. His dancing career began with hip-hop in his teens and continued with classical and modern ballet in his twenties. He graduated in choreography at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts and is particularly interested in the artistic expression found at the intersection between dance, theater and visual arts. In 2000, he founded his own company, Impure Company, which in its art focuses on social engagement and politics and has created over thirty dance works since its inception. Physically challenging, intense and powerful, Sharifi’s movement language explores the emotions and structures behind hierarchies, power, political systems and violence, through precise movements and stage effects. From 2014 to 2018, Sharifi was artistic director of Norway’s national contemporary dance company, Carte Blanche in Bergen, where he programmed works such as Birthmark, We Are Here Together, Soufflette and Jerada. His own works include Shadows Remain Silent, which premiered on Den Norske Opera’s main stage in 2014, and While They Are Floating. Sharifi has collaborated with several large institutions and his works have achieved great success in Norway and internationally. Languages: English, Farsi and Norwegian.

Ali Moini, an Iranian artist based in Paris, studied theater and worked as an actor in Iran. However, his exposure to contemporary dance in Europe shifted his focus, leading him away from text-based performances. He chose to explore choreography and moved to Lisbon to study Choreographic Creation and Research in Contemporary Dance, where he worked with artists such as João Fiadeiro, Lisa Nelson, Deborah Hay, and Meg Stuart. In 2010, he relocated to France to further his studies in choreography and performance in Angers. His shows have been presented in Europe, North America, and South Korea at venues such as Centre Pompidou, New York Live Arts, Villa Medici, and Montpellier Danse. With a background in music and theater, he believes that the body and movement are as vital as any other artistic tools. He frequently incorporates objects, machinery, and materials into his work. His creative process is driven by questions, challenges, and the unknown, rather than relying on familiar skills or artistic conventions. His expanding knowledge in science, social sciences, and gender studies also informs his artistic practice. While his work may not be overtly political, it reflects a nuanced understanding of these themes and the world we live in. Currently, he is engaged in a new project while also assisting individuals with disabilities, including autism, and leading creative movement workshops for seniors. These initiatives are purely focused on social engagement, aiming to directly address social issues rather than produce art. Additionally, he supports emerging Iranian artists by organizing workshops and facilitating their access to residencies through a project called Mentora. This initiative helps them develop solo performances under the guidance of professional mentors, providing them with the same financial, logistical, and production conditions as artists in Europe. Languages: English, French and Farsi.

Zolfar. Zolfar is an interdisciplinary architect, artist, and coordinator based in Berlin. As an Afghan of the second generation, she is deeply engaged in the arts and cultural scene of the Afghan diaspora. Her work spans from architecture and interiors to political and social themes. Over the years, she has hosted workshops, coordinated and planned events, and developed her own visual concepts. She has also worked in awareness teams at festivals, events, and workshops. Zolfar brings her experience in interdisciplinary collaboration, artistic development, and community engagement. Alongside her freelance work, she is a member of the Shur Collective, which recently presented the installation Sargardan (Revolving Heads) at Künstlerhaus Bethanien.

Sara Nabil. Sara Nabil was born in 1994 in Kabul, Afghanistan, and currently resides in Frankfurt am Main. She studied political science at Karwan University until 2015. In the same year, she emigrated to Germany, where she began her art studies. Currently, she is completing her master’s degree at the University of Design Offenbach. At the age of 14, Sara Nabil presented her works in “Make Art Not War,” the first exhibition for female artists in Kabul, which was later also showcased in Germany. Her artistic career and activist commitment have been profoundly influenced by her experiences with war, extremism, and oppression in Afghanistan. Due to her political engagement, she increasingly found herself in danger in her homeland and eventually had to flee. Sara Nabil identifies as a political artist. Accordingly, her work critically examines power dynamics and structures of violence, reflects on their potential consequences, investigates the role of women in Afghanistan, and processes her own experiences as a refugee woman. Since 2006, she has been involved with the Center for Contemporary Arts Afghanistan and has participated in over 55 international exhibitions in countries including Germany, France, Norway, Spain, the USA, Italy, Nepal, India, and Chile. She is a member of the Center for Contemporary Arts Afghanistan and a co-founder of the Women’s Art Center, Afghanistan’s first and only art institution dedicated to women. In 2011, she was recognized as a pioneering artist by the Afghan Ministry for Women’s Affairs and the Khurasan Charity Foundation. In 2014, together with three other women, she founded the Shamama Gallery, Afghanistan’s first art gallery initiated by women. In April 2022, Sara Nabil launched the online educational platform E-School AF to provide education for Afghan girls, who are otherwise denied access to education by the Taliban regime. Her works are included in significant collections, including the Artothek of the German Bundestag and the Kunsthalle Mannheim. In 2018, she was nominated for the prestigious ars viva prize. Sara Nabil continues to actively engage as both an artist and an advocate for women’s and human rights.

Background and relevance – Why we are offering a mentoring program:

   The focus on developments in Afghanistan has, after a brief period of heightened attention following the Taliban takeover in 2021, markedly diminished in Germany. In response, we consider it relevant to demonstrate solidarity within our professional capacities in the field of performing arts and within Berlin’s independent dance scene. We continue to perceive a limited and, at times, clichéd representation of Afghan artists—particularly in the performing arts—that does not do justice to the current heterogeneous life realities or the artistic engagements and questions at hand. We regard the implementation of the mentoring program in a city such as Berlin—one of the centers for politically nuanced discussions on topics such as forced migration, positions of exile, political resistance, art, and feminism—as particularly significant. Berlin is seen as a location with the potential to bring people together and develop approaches aimed at establishing long-term structures for artistic and political dialogue.

We acknowledge that…

…The selection of participants by tanzpol might raise questions regarding hierarchies and power imbalances. The intention is to support working methods that represent diverse experiences and life worlds. Applicants are invited to include relevant self-positioning information in their application, or to express any concerns and/or questions.
…The fact that two mentors are of Iranian origin necessitates sensitivity toward potential political and social histories of discrimination and marginalization of Afghans in Iran and within the diaspora. We aim to consciously address these realities, foster awareness, and expand our skill set by collaborating with the artists Sara Nabil and Zolfar, who will support the mentoring process in an advisory capacity.

Accessibility:

This mentoring program is the first format of its kind implemented by tanzpol. Consequently, it was not financially or organizationally feasible to prioritize extensive accessibility measures. Nonetheless, interested individuals with specific needs are encouraged to apply. The contact   is available for any preliminary questions, and individual solutions will be explored to enable participation.

Application:

   The application can be delivered in English, Farsi or German.

   The application should include:

• Personal details (name, address, contact)
• Video material of one’s artistic practice/project (max. 3 minutes)
• A short text (max. 300 words) addressing one or more of the following questions:
     – What interests and/or occupies you artistically?
     – What inspires you in the context of your artistic work?
     – What do you expect from the tanzpol Mentoring Program?
• A current curriculum vitae (max. 1 page)

Send your application to:

For any questions in advance, please contact: