The Workshops are an introduction to the Jooss-Leeder method, which has been developed and taught at the Folkwangschule, later Folkwang Hochschule - now Folkwang University; a form of contemporary dance rooted in the theories by Rudolf von Laban, which were the base for the development of German dance expressionism in the thirties and the starting point of the German Tanztheater by Pina Bausch.
The main focus is to convey basic principles of movement like the use of time, space, and energy and how to implement and develop those individually. The aim is not to train dancers, but to train people who dance. The course is supposed to help dancers to improve their technical and expressive abilities and to stimulate choreographers and teachers in their own work by applying these movement principles.
Franko Schmidt is since 2004 member of the Tanztheater Wuppertal – Pina Bausch.
He danced in the company of Mark Sieczkarek, in the company of Joachim Schlömer in Basel/ Switzerland, at the Folkwang Tanzstudio under the direction of Henrietta Horn and as a guest with the "Limón Dance Company" in New York.
He was also working with choreographers such as Susanne Linke, Manuel Quero, Zoltan Dani, Gabrio Gabrielli, Sanna Myllylahti and Eun Me Ahn.
Numerous guest performances led him to Indonesia, Hongkong, Singapore, China, Japan, South Korea, Brasil, USA, India, Egypt, Taiwan and all over Europe. He has been teaching regularly at the Folkwang University for the Arts in Essen and has also been working as a guest teacher at the Folkwang Tanzstudio Essen, the Staatstheater Kassel, the Universidad Veracruzana in Xalapa/Mexico, at the „Los Talleres“ in Mexico City, the Kyoto-Artcenter/Japan, the "OMA" in Florence/Italy, at the Dance Department of the Theatre Academy Shanghai, at the Istanbul Festival as well as at the Danza Universitaria San José/ Costa Rica. Franko Schmidt trained at the "Schule für Tanztheater Bernd Kühn“in Hamburg where he also had his first teaching experience; he studied with Jean Cébron and Lutz Förster among others at the Folkwang Hochschule Essen, founded in 1927 by Kurt Jooss, which is considered to be one of the most renowned schools for contemporary dance and composition with an education that tries to help students to encourage imagination, to extend technical possibilities, to search for truth and to develop their own form of expression and body language.
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