Axis Syllabus teacher, dance artist, performer, independent curator, author, designer, polyglot, project coach, and active member of ASRM (Axis Syllabus International Research Meshwork).
Manuela was born in Germany as the daughter of South Italian immigrants from Puglia. She cultivates a particular interest in anything that can facilitate motor learning and the refinement of movement coordination applied to dance, partnering, and Contact Improvisation. She investigates levels of stress and physical resistance as part of the learning process. Since 2018, solo, duo, or collective performative creations have been an integral part of her research mode. From her previous experiences in the context of American Dance Sport and Fashion, she has also developed an interest in traditional, contemporary, and future male and female codes and role models.
She is co-editor/curator and author for the Axis Syllabus bi-monthly periodical, co-author of the 4th edition of the Axis Syllabus Notation System conceived by Frey Faust, regular author for REMO Magazione (NL), co-curator of the upRisingUp festival and collective (IT), co-curator of the association La Radice dei Viandanti (IT), co-founder of the project Die Synapse (D), co-curator/facciltator of the Teacher Program – we are all teaching all the time, and was the founder of the SkratchAtch project and collective (FR) from 2012 till 2014. From 2016 to 2020, she was the creator and director of IUPLA Balance Training.
