The Knowing Body is a two-day laboratory led by Portuguese dancer and choreographer Diana Niepce. Through improvisation, movement, observation, and dialogue, participants explore how the body can serve as a source of knowledge, creativity, and new ways of understanding themselves and the world around them.

The laboratory examines how identity, experience, and environment shape the way we move and relate to the world. Participants are invited to engage with movement, perception, and creative practice in encounters with the unknown, both individually and collectively.

Niepce’s artistic practice combines movement research with questions of representation, accessibility, and ethics. The workshop creates space for reflection on how we create, communicate, and interact through movement.

The Knowing Body is intended for dancers and choreographers interested in deepening their engagement with improvisation, creative practice, and choreographic processes. Dancers with disabilities and prior dance experience are especially encouraged to apply.

Practical Information:
Where: Dansens Hus
Date: Saturday, October 18 & 19, 10:00–15:00 (including breaks)
Registration: Free, but you must sign up HERE.
Registration Deadline: September 30
Suitable for: Professional dancers / Dancers with equivalent movement experience. Dancers with functional variations and movement experience are especially encouraged to apply. 
For questions please contact CODA - Henriette Ødegård henriette@codadancefest.no
Cooperators: Dansens Hus, CODA, PRODA and Skuespiller- og danseralliansen (SKUDA)

Diana Niepce (PT) is a choreographer, dancer, curator and author. Graduated from the Escola Superior de Dança (Portugal), completed an Erasmus program at Teatterikorkeakoulun in Helsinki, and holds a Master’s degree in Art and Communication from Universidade Nova de Lisboa. She is an associated artist at Espaço do Tempo and has created several works, including Forgotten Fog (2015), Raw a nude (2019), 12 979 Dias (2019), Dueto (2020), T4 (2020), Anda, Diana (SPA Award, 2021), The Other Side of Dance (2022), Enfreakment (2024), Utopia (2024), Norm (2024), and Hornfuckers (2026).

As a curator, she has been involved in the Political Bodies cycle (2024, Culturgest) and the Reunião project (2025). She also develops work in training and inclusion within the performing arts, particularly with artists with disabilities, through initiatives such as Fora da Norma (2023) and Norm (2023).

As a dancer and performer, she has collaborated with various national and international artists. Her most recent publications include the children’s story Bayadère (CNB), the book Anda, Diana (Sistema Solar), and the short story Broken and Smelly, Are the Stones. for the Rota Memorial do Convento.