YAN LEIVA

born in ciego de avila, cuba, yan leiva moved to berlin in 2002 to start his education as a professional dancer. though initially focused on neo and classical ballet, he quickly felt drawn to a more individual way of movement, especially having worked with modern dance instructor tamar ben ami. early in his school career at the state ballet school of berlin, then later the ernst busch academy for dramatic arts, he was able to work with various choreographers of contemporary and modern dance, such as sarah michelson, birgit keil, marguarite donlon and torsten händler. he participated in several national and international dance competitions to include tanzolymp in berlin, NCCEA ÖTR contest in vienna and prix de lausanne switzerland, and was awarded by vladimir vasiliev and the galina ulanova foundation in 2005 at the bolshoi theater in moscow.

with several guest performances across europe and the US, he gained stage experience and found his opportunity to create a very personal style of motion.