The mentor for this year's edition will be Katharina Christl.

‘Architecture, communication, people and movement have always been exciting interfaces for artistic research. The Domenig Steinhaus is the perfect place to create spaces for reflection in the centre of society, in the middle of public spaces. Collective experiences and exchange processes are always important and valuable. The choreographers are not only accompanied in individual research, but also gain access to numerous conceptual approaches that connect space and people in terms of system theory through personal exchange. The aim is to meet people and immersively reach and move the audience.’

BIO: Katharina Christl studied dance at the Palucca University of Dance Dresden in her home town from 1990-1996 and worked as a freelance performer and choreographer in Dresden and Berlin. She has worked with Frédéric Flamand on and off since 2000 and became a permanent member of his company Charleroi/Danse-Plan K (Belgium) in 2001. There she actively created works in dialogue with architects and artists such as Diller+Scofidio, Zaha Hadid, Jean Nouvel, Thom Mayne, Tsuyoshi Tane and Ai Weiwei. In 2005, she followed Flamand to Marseille as a soloist, where he was appointed Artistic Director of the Ballet National de Marseille. She performed in all of his productions and worked with guest choreographers such as Emanuel Gat, Michèle Noiret, Annabelle Ochoa Lopez, Stephen Petronio, Lucinda Childs and Richard Siegal. Katharina Christl was the choreographic assistant and rehearsal director for Frédéric Flamand's creations.

Since 2006, she has reactivated her own choreographic work. She began with the solo Manfred, which toured for eight years as part of the repertoire of the Ballet National de Marseille (BNM). In 2009, she created the full-length piece Get ready, Iʼm done. with Simon Courchel for the international Festival de Marseille and klaus t., a durational performance with the BNM, which was staged at the mac Museum of Contemporary Art in Marseille. Since 2010, she has created several pieces for the matinees of the Palucca University of Dance Dresden. This was followed in 2012 by a special collaboration with the choreographer Michel Kelemenis, from which the duo Le Sixième Pas emerged and became part of the BNM's repertoire.

Specialized in dance/architecture, dance/new media technology, contemporary dance and improvisation, she teaches as a guest teacher at many international festivals, professional companies and academies. Due to her renowned knowledge, she was awarded the Diplôme d'État as a teacher of contemporary dance by the French Ministry of Culture. In 2014, she created another full-length piece for the Ballet National de Marseille Identity Shift, as well as Plexus 10 and Get...done. for the Compagnie Grenade in Aix-en-Provence. At the same time, she produced a performance and film Le Corps des Formes for the internationally shown installation by the French artist André Fortino. Before accepting the professorship for choreography at the Palucca University of Dance in September 2015, she worked as a guest ballet master and dancer at the Bayerisches Staatsballett and supported Richard Siegal as a choreographic assistant and performer for his production Model at the Ruhrtriennale 2015.

Since returning to live and work in Dresden, she has taught as a guest lecturer at many renowned international institutions. At the same time, the new Master's programme in Choreography at the Palucca University of Dance Dresden, which she restructured, has been successfully active again under her direction since the winter semester of 2016 and has gained international recognition. In 2018, she was voted ‘Hope of the Year’ in the tanz magazine critics' poll. In the city of Dresden, she has been active on various committees since 2019, such as the Cultural Advisory Board and the Expert Group for Performing Arts, later also a member of the Saxon Academy of the Arts, and since 2024 part of the jury for the Dance Platform Germany 2026. In summer 2024, she was appointed Rector of the Palucca University of Dance Dresden.