Cosima Grand is a choreographer and dancer. In her artistic work, Cosima is primarily interested in the empathic potential of dance. In her practice, she explores how body movements and bodily sensations can connect people and create resonance. In her latest choreographic works, she has developed a physical practice based on rocking and trembling movements that incorporates work with the voice. Cosima completed her dance training at the CNDC d'Angers and was a member of the Cie Marchepied in Lausanne. She completed a bachelor's degree in multilingual communication at the University of Geneva. She studied theater studies and sociolinguistics at the University of Bern. Cosima collaborates and performs with Ruth Childs, Aina Alegre, Simone Truong, Chris Leuenberger, Jessica Huber, and others. Her own choreographic work includes the pieces CTRL-V(EP) (2nd prize PREMIO 2015), CTRL-V (LP) (2016), Hitchhiking through Winterland (2018), Restless Beings (2020), and things veer (2023). In 2015, she received the Culture Promotion Award from the Canton of Valais and in 2020 a Cultural Award from the City of Zurich. Cosima is an accomplice at Tanzhaus Zurich.
Pain Workshop
Cosima Grand, Mona De Weerdt
We all face physical pain and painful experiences in our lives: chronic pain that stays with us for a long time or one-off moments of pain. Pain therefore always has a certain temporality—some pain goes away, some stays. Pain is also often difficult to put into words, invisible, isolating.
In this workshop, we will explore our own experiences of pain. Through guided meditations, writing exercises, and physical exercises, we will trace our individual pain biographies and express individual experiences of pain in a collectively shared space.
This workshop is a process-accompanying context format for the dance production Schmerzstück by Cosima Grand. In it, the theme of pain is negotiated artistically and choreographically. The piece will premiere on December 9, 2025, at Tanzhaus Zürich.
- Bühne 2
Tanzhaus Zürich
Wasserwerkstrasse 129
8037 Zürich - Wheelchair accessible
- Wheelchair accessible
- 16+
- German / English
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- The workshop is aimed at people aged 16 and over who are interested in exploring the topic of pain/pain history.
- No prior knowledge is required.
Konzeption und Workshopleitung Cosima Grand & Mona De Weerdt
Foto Mona De Weerdt
Unterstützt durch Tanzhaus Zürich
Mona De Weerdt is a theater and dance scholar and dramaturge. She works as artistic director at TanzPlan Ost and as a freelance dramaturge with various groups and artists, including Cosima Grand, Benjamin Burger, Cie. WILD LIFE, and compagnie O. In 2019, she received a cultural award from the city of Zurich in recognition of her work in dance studies and dramaturgy. From 2020 to 2024, she is collaborating with filmmaker Michelle Ettlin on the project Choreographers at Work! – a documentary film series about creative processes in contemporary dance. In 2024, she initiated the exchange and research project doing dramaturgy on dramaturgical practices in dance.