Karola Lüttringhaus                                                                                                                                        
PSYCHOLOGICAL SPACE. KINSHIP. TRANSFORMATION. BREATH.
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Photo of Karola Luettringhaus by Katrin Lieske 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
Dr. Karola Lüttringhaus, aka Alban Elved, was born and grew up in Berlin, Germany. They received a PhD in Performance Studies from the University of California Davis in 2024, an MFA in Scenic Design and Scenography from the Technische Universität Berlin, and a BFA in Choreography and Modern Dance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. 

​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. 

Underlying all of Karola's efforts is the profound joy of living and dancing in connection and resonance with others.
Vertical Divider
>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 

  • Member of PSI Performance Studies International
  • Member of Dance Studies Association
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.