shake the nice girl out! – dance & improvisation workshop around female socialized anger

In this masterclass, participants will engage in physical research to uncover what lies beyond our social and gender-biased conditioning. We’ll work with shaking as a way of unlearning control and reconnecting with the authentic impulses of the body. As the body’s oldest response to stress and a means of self-regulation, shaking becomes a ritual of release and softening into our physical instincts. Drawing from the raw, expressive vocabularies and rituals of Krump and Butoh—forms that defy conventional aesthetics of beauty—we will investigate how the body can channel, transform, and reclaim suppressed emotion and our innate wilderness. The focus does not lie in reproducing a specific form, but in finding a potential movement vocabulary to embody an inner state. This practice is not only informed by my work WUTBRUST, but also by my professional background as a body therapist and my ongoing research into the human nervous system, exploring ways of un-numbing and un-taming. Through guided improvisation, movement tasks, and collective reflection, I aim to offer a safe and trauma-informed space for embodied exploration on both a personal and collective level.

The masterclass is open to FINTA* people 

Ages: 15+
Level: open to all levels

Mara Natterer

Mara is a dancer and craniosacral therapist. She teaches contemporary dance, movement, and contact improvisation in Switzerland and internationally. She studied International Relations in Geneva and later worked in the field of human rights for the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Brazil. Mara holds a Master’s degree in Community Dance from the Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London and has led community dance projects in England, Brazil, Spain, and Switzerland, as well as with students from various universities in Germany and Switzerland. As a freelance dancer and co-choreographer, she has collaborated with numerous choreographers in Switzerland and abroad (e.g., Rahel Lopez de la Nieta, Heidi Rustgaard, Alexandra Prici, Elenita Queiroz). She also choreographs for large-scale theatre productions. In 2022, Mara received a Dance Grant from the Appenzell Ausserrhoden Cultural Foundation for her project BERÜHRBAR. Since 2023, she has been the director of Laboratoire Paul, a format for interdisciplinary collaboration as part of the Paula Interfestival (www.paula-interfestival.ch). In 2024, she received the Canton of St. Gallen’s Work Grant for her project Hauten Baby!, which explores trauma-sensitive practices in the performing arts.