After completing a bachelor’s degree in psychology in Amsterdam in 2016, Iris Gravemaker began to question the transition from an intellectual and analytical way of thinking to a more experiential and embodied approach to the world. This led her to take an interest in movement from an artistic perspective in order to explore the physical experience more deeply.

From 2017 to 2019, she trained part-time as an improvisational dance teacher at the Strooom association in Amsterdam. In 2020, she joined the Dance Intensive programme at Tanzfabrik in Berlin.

In 2021, she continued her training in Toulouse in the advanced training cycle for professional dancers Extensions de La Place de la Danse, where she was able to approach the work of choreographers Jan Martens, Arno Schuitemaker, Julie Nioche, Sylvain Huc, La Zampa, Patricia Kuypers, Pol Pi, Catherine Contour, Katerina Andreou, Florencia Demestri and Samuel Lefeuvre.

Since 2021, she has been working on a solo project, in which she is developing a performance that invites the audience to take on the role of observers, watching dance from a different angle, from a perspective that is not subject to any written rules or forms of dance. They will watch a body moving in space and, through the simple act of watching, connect with the sensory experience of their own bodies.

In addition, since completing her training, she has worked for and with several companies such as A.I.M.E by Julie Nioche, Verena Schneider, Tidiani N’Diaye, Contremarches, Les Noues and Jeanne Simone. She has worked on projects for the stage and the street as a performer, as well as on participatory projects with amateurs.

Furthermore, she is interested in the interface where dance, circus and street theatre meet and feed off each other. I seek out spaces and projects where different disciplines can create together to reach new levels of artistry.

I move through spaces where dance invites me, holds me, tickles me. 

The verb ‘to tickle’ resonates deeply within my body and represents how I am inspired by life and work.
The unexpected burst of laughter and the desire to break free from the normative frameworks we know in everyday life.
Street arts give us all the opportunity to see shared spaces outside of their usual frameworks and from a different perspective.

My practice as a dancer is influenced and inspired by Nancy Stark Smith, Steve Paxton, Lisa Nelson, and the Judson Church, with their desire and ability to see dance outside of its usual frameworks. For me, improvisation is an extremely demanding and nourishing tool for our creations as creators and our collective/common actions. It is a tool with which we can write and be precise while also having the freedom to play with the spontaneity of the moment.