Karola Lüttringhaus                                                                                                                                        
PSYCHOLOGICAL SPACE. KINSHIP. TRANSFORMATION. BREATH.
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Photo of Karola Luettringhaus by Zachary Pomeroy, La Flecha Films, 2025
​PROCESS & PHILOSOPHY
Merging American experiences with their European roots, Karola Lüttringhaus creates interdisciplinary expressions in choreography, scene design, visual art, lighting, sound, and film.

Karola's dance theatre work is marked by a distinct visceral and kinetic voice that traces the changeable electricity of thought and sensation that underlies human interaction and interpersonal relationships.

​Karola's process is characterized by a simultaneously analytical and intuitive approach; manifesting itself as complex nestings of parallel 'stories' that bear witness to the complexity of the situations explored.

For Karola, art is as much an intellectual exercise as it is a journey toward and expression of our very embodied and intuitive consciousness. Art is created from an inner need and passion as well as from the notion that artists hold social responsibilities toward open and honest exchange and peaceful conviviality. Art is, as an investigative and immersive embodied practice, a move toward free will, embodied liberation, and the decolonization of the psycho-physiological and the sociol-political body.

Through the creative process Karola seeks to de- and reconstruct embodied, visual, political, and philosophical renderings, to gain insight and to fine-tune perceptiveness, wisdom, and appreciation for life and all those who share it, human and non-human.  
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SHORT BIO
Karola Lüttringhaus, Ph.D., is an artist-scholar with  20+ years of professional and collegiate experience. They studied Art History and Philosophy at the FU Berlin before transitioning to dance, earning a BFA in Modern Dance/Choreography from UNC School of the Arts. Lüttringhaus holds an MFA in Scenic/Exhibition Design from the TU Berlin and a PhD in Performance Studies from UC Davis (2024), investigating the interrelations of movement and thought.

​Karola is a recipient of the 'North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship in Choreography' ('06) and a 'Verein Deutscher Ingenieure - Award for Outstanding Achievements in Scenic Design' ('14). 

Karola is a freelance designer, choreographer, and educator at theatres and universities across Europe and the US.

​Since 1999 they have been acting as the artistic and executive director of ALBAN ELVED DANCE COMPANY founding a number of regular events including the SARUS FESTIVAL for Site-specific & Experimental Art which was produced for 7 years until the covid pandemic, the MoRe Movement Research Festival and Summer School at Salem College, and the Festival del Corazon in BCS, Mexico.
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​MOVEMENT RESEARCH
Karola's research in movement focuses on studying the cooperative interplay of the human body's sensory and articular entities, based on a rich exchange with the Axis Syllabus©
International Research Meshwork, and their investigations into biomechanical, anatomical, and physical principles as relevant to the moving body. The physical and emotional well-being of the mover/student, and their increased ability to safeguard their own bodies in their pursuit to become professional dancers is the primary starting point for dance training. Understanding the body's functional complexity is achieved through improvisational, proprioceptive exploration as well as through the somato-cognitive engagement with choreographic material and movement phrases that target specific topics or areas of interest. 

Karola is a certified Axis Syllabus© teacher because of the virtuosity, kindness, and expressiveness that results from working with it. 

Underlying all of Karola's efforts is the profound joy of living and dancing in connection and resonance with others.
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  • PhD in Performance Studies, UC Davis
  • Bilinski Dissertation Year Fellow UC Davis, 
  • MA Scene Design/Exhibition Design (Technische Universität Berlin, Germany)
  • BFA Dance/Choreography (UNC School of the Arts)
  • Certified Axis Syllabus teacher 
  • Theater Technician at Cape Fear Community College
  • Director of SARUS Festival for Site-Specific & Experimental Art

  • Member of PSI Performance Studies International
  • Member of Dance Studies Association
CV/Resume.pdf
ALBAN ELVED DANCE COMPANY
​Karola Luettringhaus was the founder and the artistic director of Alban Elved Dance Company for over 20 years. The 501-c-3 non-profit organization operated full-time, creating multiple performances and events through 2022. With the pandemic the group lost its non-profit status. AEDC is currently looking for new board members.