2017 in review of Stiftung TANZ

February
Our sponsor Christian Sutter celebrated his 65th birthday on February 4 with many guests at
the Zollverein in Essen. In lieu of gifts, he asked for donations to be made for the Stiftung
TANZ. A total of 15 000 € was raised!

March
In March, John Neumeier won the Erich Fromm Prize 2017 for his social engagement, which is
deeply committed to humanist values.

The third charity gala TRANSITION took place at the opera house of Staatstheater Kassel for
the benefit of Stiftung TANZ – Transition Centre of Germany. All proceeds went towards the
foundation.

The newly conceptualized year long transition groups began in March 2017 in the regions of
Hamburg, Munich, Berlin, and Düsseldorf. The groups seek to help dancers who are currently
in a phase of re-orientation and looking for group support during this period of their lives.

April
As of April, we are present on the world wide web with a newly conceived website. Heartfelt
thanks to Steffen Klaiber & grafikagentur — Agency for Advertising and Design!

May
From the 26 to the 28 of May, 2017, the Stiftung TANZ hosted the annual meeting of the
IOTPD (International Organization for the Transition of Professional Dancers) in Berlin.

Participants:
Paul Bronkhorst, Executive Director, Stichting Omscholing Dansers Nederland
Jennifer Curry, Executive director, Dancer’s Career Development (London, UK)
Petra Kašparová, Project Manager, Project Manager, Dance Career Endowment Fund (Prag)
Amanda Hancox, Executive Director, Dancer Transition Resource Centre (Toronto, Canada),
Dae Sung Ko, General Manager, Dancers Career Development Centre (Seoul, South Korea),
Mun Ghy Min, Manager External Affairs Department, Dancers Career Development Centre
(Seoul, South Korea),
Ji Sun Han, Assistant External Affairs Department, Dancers Career Development Centre
(Seoul, South Korea),
Christopher Bloodworth, National Director of the Career Center, The Actors Fund (New
York, USA),
Marta Michalak, Project manager Dance Department, Institute of Music and Dance
(Warsaw, Poland),
Sarah Guillermin, General Secretary, Association pour la Reconversion des Danseurs
Professionnels (Lausanne, Switzerland),
Oliver Daehler, Executive Director, Swiss Transition Foundation for Performing Artists
(Zürich, Switzerland),
Agnès Wasserman, Executive Director, Centre National de la Danse (Paris, France),
Sabrina Sadowska und Inka Atassi, managing board, Stiftung TANZ-Transition Zentrum,
(Berlin, Germany)

As of May, 0,5% of qualified purchases on smile.amazon.de were donated to the Stiftung
TANZ.

June
Director Bettina Pohlmann visited the offices of Stiftung TANZ and informed us about a film
which will feature dancers in transition.

Anne-Marie DeJonghe of the German Association of Female Entrepreneurs also took the
opportunity to learn about the Stiftung TANZ during a personal visit.

July
Since 2016, dance acrobats can also apply to the TANZ Foundation free of charge and
confidentially in all matters relating to their transition. Lt. KSK currently has 2,190 insured
artists for whom the topic of transition will sooner or later become relevant. This number
does not take into account the artists who are permanently employed in the circus and the
variety and also does not distinguish in e.g. clowns, jugglers, acrobats, magicians, etc.
Nevertheless, an important benchmark for our consulting work!

* Source of information: artist * innensozialkasse (KSK), Mrs. Heinzelmann (2018): telephone call on 22.1.2018

September
The second transition family meeting took place on September 11, 2017 in the offices of
Stiftung TANZ. Benefactors Sabrina Sadowska and Inka Atassi, as well as the team Heike
Scharpff and Andrea Thomas, played host. 16 transitioning dancers participated.

Oktober
Our colleague Andrea Thomas took part at the herCAREER conference in Munich on October 12
and 13. She not only informed herself about attractive potential employers for dancers in
transition, but also gained an overview of the many opportunities to combine career and
family, diverse possibilities for further education, and countless tips for female entrepreneurs.
All of this information flows into her counseling work.

November
At the 8th Berlin Foundation Conference, Inka Atassi (benefactor and vice chair) as well as
Andrea Thomas (Stiftung TANZ staff) had interesting exchanges with representatives from
other foundations at the Rotes Rathaus in Berlin, and received interesting suggestions for
furthering the work of the foundation during different lectures.

Dezember
The year long transition groups for 2017 in Hamburg, Munich, Berlin, and Düsseldorf see
positive results from the four meetings they had throughout the year.

furthermore:
In December 2017, the Stiftung TANZ advised the 900th transitioning dancer since its founding.
Heike Scharpff and Andrea Thomas carried out 567 counseling sessions throughout the year,
whether by telephone, email, skype, or in person. Heike Scharpff travelled across the nation to
inform and consult in the name of Stiftung TANZ. Transition workshops followed by individual
counseling sessions took place in Frankfurt as well as Munich. Leipzig and Hamburg each hosted
a counseling day on the theme of transition. Transition lectures with the opportunity for individual
counseling took place in Mainz, Chemnitz, and Münster, as well as a further counseling day in
Hamburg.

By the end of 2017, our Facebook page had 641 readers. Our colleague Andrea Thomas posted
a total of 205 statuses and event tips. Our 2017 Facebook post with the biggest impact was a
transition portrait of the former Formula-1 driver Alessandro Zanardi. It was read by 2 457
people. With 1 284 readers and 138 activities (such as sharing and likes) our readership also
appreciated a post called „dance is our life“ about dancers with roots in Turkey.
Our monthly newsletter, in German as well as English featured 118 articles in 2017, and is
directly sent to 1 700 readers as of December. Since November, the newsletter can also be
read in german on our homepage, where the readership is unfortunately not measurable.
We would like here to thank former dancer James Fisher for
his active and reliable translation services, as well as Steffen Klaiber of the graphic
design company — Agency for Advertising and Design for his very good collaboration on the
new conception of the newsletter and the homepage.
Over the past year, Stiftung TANZ has funded 48 dancers in transition with a total of 28 500 €
for their individual projects for their career training and further education. We wish all those
funding recipients the best!