Italian born Elena Giannotti currently lives and works in Ireland as an independent artist. From 1994 she worked in Operas and Dance-Theatre productions. She has worked for L’Ensemble Dance-Theatre Company, Virgilio Sieni Dance Company and Yoshiko Chuma amongst others.
Since 2002 she has been intensively collaborating with British choreographer Rosemary Butcher, dancing in performances such as Episodes of Flight, Woman& Memory and White and films such as Vanishing Point and 4Dance for Channel 4. From 2006 to 2008 she also worked for Daghdha Dance Company in Ireland touring in China, Australia and Europe. Over the last seven years she has beenfocusing in dance research and improvisation, recently promoting her latest project Body of Osiris, performed so far in Ireland, UK, Italy and Mexico. Besides her career as a dancer Elena has been teaching in Europe, Australia and Japan. Elena holds a certificate of competence as Social Dreaming leading host, and she is practicing and promoting Social Dreaming with the guidance of founder professor W. Gordon Lawrence. In 2009 she has been receiving a Bursary Award by Dance Ireland to work on her research project Axis Mundi and a Bursary Award from Arts Council Ireland. www.jadecnaren.org

Janyce Michellod was born and raised in Switzerland. She graduated from the Züricher Hochschule der Künste and holds a bachelor of performing arts from Codarst in Rotterdam. Since 2004 she is developing her own choreographic projects, some of which have been presented in The Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and Ireland. In 2006 she did act as the choreographic assistant to Daghdha Dance Co. her project R-349-178 has been realised with the support of Tanzplan Dresden, funded by Tanzplan Deutschland, an initiative of the German Federal Cultural Foundation. Janyce is now based in Berlin and is regularly teaching ballet and improvisation technologies. Since 2006, she is curating the Soirée (ré)créative, a platform for performing artists taking place in Switzerland.

Angie Smalis was born and raised in Athens, Greece. She studied dance and choreography at the State School of Dance, Athens for four years and worked with several companies as a dancer before she moved to Vienna, Austria in 2001 to join the Volksoper Wien. Angie worked with several independent choreographers before relocating to Limerick and working as an independent dance artist. In the beginning of 2009 she has been appointed Artistic Director of Limerick Youth Theater and has been creating solo work as a freelance dance artist.

Cecile Mustiere is an artist whose theme is body in motion. Her work in black and white reveals the essence of the body as a moving sculpture.She has a strong connection with contemporary dance and martial arts. She has been practicing Tai Chi and Chi Kung for twenty years, as well as Kendo and Battodo (the Art of Japanese Sword). She also attended several Butoh workshops in London with Marie-Gabrielle Rotie. She has been teaching art, drama and Tai Chi & Chi Kung. She has studied Applied Arts in the Ecole Boulle in Paris and has designed costumes and sets for theatre in France.

Fran has trained in the highly visual and visceral Japanese Butoh all over the world for the past 15 years, spending time in Japan in 1995, 2000 and 2007. Based in London since 1996, she has trained and performed primarily with Tadashi Endo since 1997 and toured with his company for ten years. She combines Butoh with her existing training in western dance and theatre to produce a unique aesthetic and training system. Originally from Australia, she has lived in London since 1996, where her company, Fran Barbe Dance Theatre is based. In addition to performing and choreographing, she runs Theatre Training Initiative in London, is a researcher at the University of Kent. She was artistic director of the 2005 Daiwa International Butoh Festival in London. A choreographer and performer of significant experience, she has created more than ten dance works, as well as performing for international companies such as Frank Theatre and Mamu Dance Theatre, and she has worked in theatre and opera as movement director. She was commissioned by the City of London Festival in 2006 to create a site-specific work for the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral in London.