Like every year, Danspunt invited a curator to put together the festival’s program. This year we chose Rafaela Sahyoun.
Curator’s welcome
“Considering movement as an orchestration of relations in and beyond the body, I envisioned charging this edition with the intent to provoke the place in us where dance is not only practiced but continuously reimagined—where the body hosts, archives, responds and transforms through active vectors of intention, desire, and co-creation, weaving and expanding resonances. Through these interactions, new possibilities take shape, where the familiar is reinvented, and the unknown becomes a site of discovery.
Within this spectrum, we invite artists from diverse disciplines and geographies, each holding space where practices are both personal and communal through agency and consent. Here, everybody can expand in dialogue, drawing from dance in its countless perspectives and shaping a rhythmic playground for the creative pulse.
Central to the puzzle of workshops, I have aimed at anchoring care as the heart of teaching—honoring the many ways movement is experienced, embodied, and shared.
From the fine-tuned articulation of anatomy to the expansiveness of improvisations shaped through multiple lenses and composition practices, sparkling new ways of making—across different intensities and approaches, there is space for refinement and wildness, the subtle and the bold, the technical and the instinctive.
Whether immersing yourself in a deep, continuous process or moving through shorter explorations—each unlocking new doors and creative tools—the festival invites you to craft an experience that resonates with you.
No matter your experience or background, you’ll find a place here that welcomes curiosity, diversity, and playfulness, celebrating what movement can co-create.”
– Rafaela Sahyoun
Why did we ask Rafaela Sahyoun to be our curator?
“Just like in previous editions, this year we also looked for a curator within the teaching team of the last edition. They experienced the festival from the inside and have a strong connection with our audience. It would have been a missed opportunity not to ask Rafaela!
Her international recognition and extensive network within contemporary dance enable her to invite the right dancers who align with the spirit of our festival. Moreover, her connections with various subcultures within dance bring a fresh perspective, and with her Brazilian roots, she will keep the festive vibe, introduced by Los Informalls two years ago at our festival, alive. But ultimately, it was her love for our festival, her admiration for our audience, and her genuine care and interest that convinced us to invite her.
Out of the Toolbox 2025 is in good hands :)”
Anne-Lore Baeckeland, artistic and educational projects Danspunt
Who is Rafaela Sahyoun?
Rafaela Sahyoun is a Latin American artist from São Paulo, working as a dancer, choreographer, and educator, currently based between Brazil and Portugal. She spirals through these roles within the relational landscapes of performative practices in context-driven co-elaborations.
As an educator, she has developed an in-depth pedagogical framework of dance-oriented practices that continuously unfold through research and extensive facilitation. Her work spans dance undergraduate and postgraduate education, professional dance and theater companies, cultural centers, and other artistic platforms. Since 2019, Rafaela has been teaching at PERA School of Performing Arts (Northern Cyprus). In addition to teaching contemporary technique and improvisation, she mentors composition projects. As a guest choreographer for the past five years, she has annually created choreographic works, the most recent being The Trouble is Wildly Wet (2024).
As a choreographer, she is creating a new work for the renowned Balé da Cidade de São Paulo, set to premiere in May 2025. This follows Fôlego (2022), her previous piece, which toured in Brazil, Switzerland, and Germany. This year, Fôlego will be restaged at Theatro Municipal de São Paulo and will be part of the upcoming touring season in France.
Her active repertory includes CRUSH (2024), which premiered at ARGE Kultur (AT) and Cine Teatro Alba (PT), and NINGUÉMMESOLTA (Don’t Lose Me), last staged in 2023.
She studied dance in NYC then moved to London in 2019 to complete a degree in Dance Studies at Trinity Laban Centre for Movement and Dance. She then continued her studies at SEAD Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance in Austria, graduating in 2013. Since then, she has extensively studied somatic practices, which form a foundation of her pedagogical approach, and is currently studying Somatic Therapy with the Inner Balance Method. She was part of the Atlas – Create Your Dance Trails program at ImpulsTanz 2023, mentored by Mélanie Demers and Angélique Willkie.
As a performer, she has been working since 2012, integrating dance companies and independent productions in Brazil, as well as collaborating with international artists abroad.
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