This workshop invites you into an immersive journey through contemporary dance and physical theatre. How can contemporary dance and stage action be understood not from the “outside,” but from within — through the body, movement, and attention?
Anna Abalikhina — choreographer, director, teacher, performer — will lead an original workshop exploring how contemporary dance emerges from attention to the body, movement, and inner impulse.
The main goal of the workshop is to open a dialogue, reveal the principles and mechanisms behind performance-making, discuss different approaches to creating stage works, and explore artistic methods through practice.

In the future, Kramer Lab will expand beyond the gallery, working with partner institutions to create temporary spaces for artistic experimentation.

The first cycle takes place in the gallery space: Anna Abalikhina, January–February 2026

Kramer Lab opens a new chapter of Kramer Gallery dedicated to experimental practices at the intersection of performance, choreography, sound, and corporeality.

This is a format where art is not shown — it is created and experienced together.
Artists and participants become co-authors of the process through workshops, masterclasses, and educational programs led by practitioners from the international scene.

“Audience Experience of Contemporary Dance Through Practice”

This workshop invites you into an immersive journey through contemporary dance and physical theatre.
How can contemporary dance and stage action be understood not from the “outside,” but from within — through the body, movement, and attention?
Anna Abalikhina — choreographer, director, teacher, performer — will lead an original workshop exploring how contemporary dance emerges from attention to the body, movement, and inner impulse.
The main goal of the workshop is to open a dialogue, reveal the principles and mechanisms behind performance-making, discuss different approaches to creating stage works, and explore artistic methods through practice.

What to expect from the workshop
Participants will explore a range of contemporary dance and physical theatre approaches, try them in practice, and learn to perceive ideas, images, and concepts behind movement.
We will examine how stage action is generated through the body, how a performer’s tasks are formed, and how they take shape in dance and theatrical form.
During the sessions, we will engage with:

• key concepts of contemporary dance and physical theatre;
• the body as an instrument
• of expression;
• stage action and its intentions;
• the search for an individual artistic language.

Structure of each session:
Each meeting begins with a physical warm-up: preparing the body, working with weight and balance, and engaging with different dance techniques and choreographic approaches. The second part focuses on composition and creating one’s own dance. We will explore where inspiration comes from, how improvisation can be structured, how movement emerges, and how to discover one’s own dance.
In each session, we will work both in a group and individually, dance together, and share impressions.

Three sessions — three explorations
Day 1: Architecture and movement
How does space affect the body? How does the body shape space?
We explore spatial relationships — volume, boundaries, trajectories — and how movement reveals or transforms the space around us.
Day 2: Working with an object as a partner
The object becomes a co-author of the dance.
We explore interaction with objects, discovering impulses for movement and dialogue.
Day 3: Dance and word
Creating dance through the “power of the word”: poetic imagery, instruction, definition, or musical score.
We explore dialogue between participants through language and movement.

About the participation format:
Each meeting functions as an independent exploration, and participants may join individual sessions. At the same time, the three meetings form a continuous journey: from working with space, through interaction with objects, to the dialogue between word and movement — from the external to the internal, from form to meaning.
Completing the entire journey, you will gain not a set of techniques, but a method: the ability to see and feel how movement becomes art.

Who this workshop is for
This workshop is for those interested in performing arts, who wish to deepen their understanding and expand both their spectator and creative experiences.
It is suitable for those taking their first steps in dance and theatre, as well as for audience members who want to encounter the stage in a new way, uncover its depth, and discover new points of connection with art.
For those who:

• love theatre and dance and want to understand how they are created;
• wish to explore movement and discover new forms
• of self-expression;
• are seeking new experiences and are ready to research through the body.

Open to participants of all levels; no dance experience is required.
Please wear comfortable clothing and socks or soft shoes.

Anna Abalikhina
Choreographer, director, teacher, and performer.
Works at the intersection of contemporary dance, theatre, opera, and site-specific performance.
Graduated from the Moscow Choreographic School and Rotterdam Dance Academy.
Creates her own productions and works as a guest choreographer with directors Marina Davydova, Philip Grigorian, Viesturs Kairishs, Timofey Kulyabin, and Dmitry Krymov.
Her works have been presented at Dailes Theatre and Latvian National Theatre in Riga, Stanislavsky Electrotheatre and the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Alexandrinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre, as well as venues in Germany, Austria, France, and Bulgaria.
She was curator of the dance program of the “Platforma” project (artistic director Kirill Serebrennikov) and artistic director of the contemporary art festivals “Territory” and “Territory.Kids” (2020–2022).
Recipient of the Golden Mask Award (Exhibit: Awakening, 2014), the Innovation Award Grand Prix (Passion for Martin, 2018), and Moscow Art Awards (Simultaneous Exhibition, 2021).
Since 2022, she has been living and working in Riga. She teaches contemporary dance and body research at JVLMA (Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, Riga).
Currently working on the choreography for Verdi’s opera "Luisa Miller" at the Vienna State Opera — premiere in February 2026.
Approach:
In her workshops, Anna does not transmit fixed forms but works with thinking through the body — exploring how stage action emerges and how the viewer’s perception becomes part of the artistic process.

When?
The workshop takes place in two series — choose the one that suits you best:
Series 1: January 18, 25 and February 1 | 11:00–15:00
Series 2: February 5, 6, 7 | 11:00–15:00
Where? Kramer Gallery, Bösendorferstraße 4, 1010 Wien
Language: Russian or English (please indicate your preference when registering)
Price:
Single session: €200
Subscription for 3 sessions: €500

Join the first Kramer Lab cycle with Anna Abalikhina!
When the body begins to think, a new dimension of understanding opens — not through words, but through direct bodily experience that cannot be gained from books
or distant observation.
Explore how the body finds its voice, how movement becomes language, how art is created here and now — in a living dialogue between body, space, and movement.
Places are limited. Registration required. 
Secure your place:
by email: 📧 info@gallerykramer.com
by phone📱 +43 676 5025035
or fill in the form