About me
Johanna Spies is a dancer, choreographer, and dance teacher based in Madrid, Berlin, and Hamburg. Born and raised in Hamburg, she began her dance training at age three. After graduating as a qualified dance teacher from the Erika Klütz School, she continued her studies at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds, UK, graduating in 2022 with First-Class Honours.
During her studies, Johanna collaborated with established choreographers and companies including Akram Khan, Joseph Mercier, Phil Sanger, Excessive Human Collective, Thick & Tight Dance Theatre, and Vocab Dance Company, which helped shape her distinctive choreographic and curatorial approach.
Johanna’s creative practice combines movement, text, and interactive elements to create immersive performances. In 2024, her project “The Quest” premiered at the WHOLE Festival Berlin. This participatory installation invited audiences to engage with a curated space of stylized everyday and queer objects through guided audio, exploring themes of identity, community, and shared experience.
Her international presentation record includes festivals in the UK, Spain, and Finland. Johanna is currently working with the collective Cia Monica Arroyo in Madrid and serves as a board member of the Finnish cultural association Dialogia! Festivaali since summer 2025.
In addition to her choreographic projects, Johanna offers workshops in Hamburg and Berlin and works as a guest teacher for Cunningham Technique and Choreography at the Erika Klütz School and the BUDS School of Kampnagel Hamburg. Certified as a Power Vinyasa Yoga teacher and Pilates instructor, she integrates holistic movement practices into her artistic work.
She is currently developing a commissioned project for ELAN to premiere in autumn 2025 at Hamburger Sprechwerk.
Bachelor of Arts - Northern School of Contemporary Dance
2019 - 2022
Dance Education - Erika Klütz Schule Hamburg
2016 - 2019