born on 4 august, graz (austria)
already at an early age, anke was impressed by the grace and passion of dancers. she recalls how as a girl, she used to dress up as a ballet dancer and practice in front of the mirror.
later she took lessons in ballet and jazz dance. but it was not before the age of 17 that she started dancing regularly. first, anke danced for 2 years in the TANGRAM tanztheater (‘dance theater’) of veronika fritsch. in 2001, she trained as a dance teacher which also included expressionist dance. her diverse dance experience ranges from oriental dance and modern dance to expressionist dance based on rudolf laban’s movement concepts.
do you like to salsa?
this question changed everything. from her first tentative steps on she has been fascinated by this sensuous dance. she subsequently joined the salsa dance classes taught by paco niño in graz and finally became a member of his RITMOS LATINOS salsa group. In 2004, she decided to make her dream come true and traveled to mexico city to work as a kindergarten teacher at the local german school. of course she dedicated her entire spare time to salsa dancing. that was when she met gilberto. they made their first public performance at the mexican salsa congress in 2004. already a year later they finished second at the salsa championship in mexico city. since then anke and gilberto have been part of the SALSA CON CLAVE dance company led by victor & gaby which they represent in europe.
anke’s style is elegant and smooth, which allows both men and ladies freedom to improvise.
she specializes in cross-body style, dancing on '1' or '2', focusing mainly on moves and combinations, with a lot of emphasis on leading techniques.
„I love dancing salsa - it gives me a real buzz”, states anke. “for me, dancing is both pure ‚joie de vivre’ and therapy. no other dance is more fun than salsa and I hope to pass on this enthusiasm to my students.”
both are very proud of the participation on the worldchampionships 2007 in orlando/florida and the qualification for 2008!
some of anke’s favorite instructors on the ‘1’ and the ‘2’ are:
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