ISABEL GOTZKOWSKY, born and raised in Germany, holds a degree in movement science from Gymnastik Seminar Loheland near Fulda and began dance training at the Czurda Tanztheater in Nürnberg. She moved to New York City in 1988, where she has studied and performed with many artists, including Laurie DeVito and Jennifer Muller.

In 1998 she formed Isabel Gotzkowsky and Friends. In addition to presenting nine New York seasons with the company, Isabel‘s choreography has been presented in many venues in New York, including The Kitchen, Joyce SoHo Presents, Dixon Place, University Settlement, Hudson Dance Festival, Downtown Arts Festival, Battery Dance Festival, the remember project at Danspace Project, P.S. 122, Dance New Amsterdam, Symphony Space Dance Sampler, The A.W.A.R.D. Show and the United Nations. Isabel‘s work has also been performed in California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Virginia and internationally in Europe, Canada, Mexico, and Kenya. In Canada IGaF performed four times (1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002) in the Toronto Fringe Festival, in the Theater Fringe Festival (2003), as well as the Winnipeg and Athabasca Fringe Festivals.

While creating work for IGaF, Isabel continued to perform with other choreographers and has guest-performed with Jennifer Muller/The Works in New York, as well as during a tour through China in 2000. In more recent years, she has performed in works by BARKIN/SELISSEN PROJECT, Todd Courage, Fiona Marcotty, Sasha Soreff, Diane Vivona and Jon Zimmerman.

Isabel has taught workshops and master classes in Germany, Poland, Switzerland, and Canada, and was a visiting artist at Iwanson Dance Center, Munich from 2008 - 2010. She was also an artist-in-residence at Danceloft in Rorschach, Switzerland from 1996-2007, where she taught, created many new works and set IGaF repertory for the dancers in the program. In 2006 IGaF was in residency at James Madison University in Virginia and set work on the Virginia Repertory Company.

Isabel was awarded a company residency at The Yard in Chilmark, MA in 2001 and an Artward Bound Artist Residency at The White Oak Plantation in Florida in 2004. Commissions include setting work on Fusionworks under the artistic leadership of Deb Meunier (Rhode Island) and choreography for the play “Girls Adventures”, written and directed by Nina Morrison and presented by Dixon Place on several occasions in 2011. IGaF was invited to participate in the popular inside/out festival at the Jacob’s Pillow in June 2010. In New York, Isabel served on the faculty of Dance New Amsterdam from 1995 – 2011, in addition to teaching engagements at Ballet Arts, New Dance Group and Dance Forum. She also served on the faculty at Montclair State University from 1997 – 2003, where in addition to teaching, she had the opportunity to create work on the dancers. In 2010, Isabel conceived the highly successful and popular SHARE, a bi-annual showcase featuring work by IGaF, IGaF members and performances by students of Isabel.

After 23+ years in New York and a Farewell Production at her beloved Dance New Amsterdam, Isabel moved to Berlin, Germany, in December 2011, where she co-founded the Compagnie Isabel & Jon with her husband and partner in dance, Jon Zimmerman. After a successful first production in Berlin in September 2012, Isabel & Jon returned to New York for the creation of SHARE: Chapter 4, featuring once again IGaF as well as Compagnie Isabel & Jon and three groups of dance students. Since then, Isabel has developed the concept for the Crossover Projekt. This project is specifically designed to offer dancers fresh out of school the opportunity to gain first professional experiences in rehearsal and on stage. She is ever so pleased to have been able to work with the 10 dancers and the 7 guest choreographers on the Debut program „aufbruch“. „aufbruch“ got presented at Hamburger Sprechwerk and the LTT in Tübingen, before the performances at the Berlin-Uferstudios. More performances of this programm are coming up in the fall of 2014.

Isabel plans to make this an annual project and is looking for partners in different cities in Germany and possibly Europe. Isabel and Jon both teach at the dance academy balance1 in Berlin and they recently took over a Pilates Studio, Studio A Pilates, also in Berlin.

JON ZIMMERMAN (Creative Assistant and Dancer of the Crossover Projekt), born and raised in the US and recent immigrant to Berlin, studied classical acting for two years at Virginia Tech, and then transferred to James Madison University, where he obtained a Bachelors of Science in Dance in 1994. Upon graduation Jon moved to California to dance with Jerry Pearson and the Santa Barbara Dance Theatre. He then moved to Pittsburgh where he

was an apprentice with the Dance Alloy under the direction of Mark Taylor. Jon moved to New York City in August of 1997 and performed with Aviva Geismar, Randy James, Guido Tuveri, fiona marcotty/beat upon beat, and Sasha Soreff. From 2000 - the end of 2011 he performed with The Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company and since 2000 with Isabel Gotzkowsky and Friends.

He participated in The Yard‘s Bessie Schönberg Choreographers and Dancers Residency on Martha’s Vineyard in 1999, where he worked with B.J. Sullivan and Chung-Fu Chang.

Jon’s choreography has been presented at Dance Theater Workshop‘s “Fresh Tracks,” Dance Now Downtown, New Dance Group Arts Center, The Evolving Arts Theatre, Dixon Place, Saint Michael‘s Church, and at the Williamsburg Arts neXus and in Stockholm in 2012.

For twelve years (2000 – 2011) Jon taught Pilates on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. He moved to Berlin in December of 2011 and works as a freelance dancer and dance teacher, an actor at the Deutsche Oper, as well as a Pilates Trainer and Massage Therapist. He and his wife, Isabel Gotzkowsky, founded the Berlin-based dance company ‘Compagnie Isabel and Jon’, which held its Debut production here in Berlin in the fall of 2012. He offered his talent as a dancer to the Crossover Projekt and is sounding board and creative partner to Isabel in the creation of new work.

One day he hopes to be able to hurl himself at the ground... and miss...