About Melanie
Melanie was born in Windhoek/Namibia and grew up in Germany where she trained in RAD Ballet, ISTD Tap and Modern and Jazz dance until completing her education at the LONDON STUDIO CENTER in London/UK as well as at DANCE SPACE, INC in New York/USA.
The love for Jazz Dance grew quickly and deeply and her style and technique was formed by the finest of Jazz Dance Artists like Lynn Simonson and Katiti King (NYC), Dollie Henry, Jacki Mitchell and Jason Pennycooke (London), as well as Dick O’Swanborn, Chesse Rijst, Martin Mathias, artists of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and many others through lots of international training courses.
She has worked onstage as a Dancer/Dance Captain for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines for many years, cruising the world which enabled her to gain international experience of the different markets and dance styles. In between contracts she worked on many different projects within the UK and Europe. She choreographed the Italian Tour of BEATLES-THE MUSICAL for Palketto Stage/Milan as well as the tour FLASHDANCE in 2016, further Musicals like Aida, Chicago, Grimm, Fame, Mary Poppins, Oliver, West Side Story, Anatevka, Grease to name but a few.
She was a Company member to ‘BOP – Body of People’, Dollie Henry's Jazz Dance Theatre Company based in London, she choreographed for regional Theatre shows, Charity events and Community projects within all of Europe alike. She was on the judging panel of Dubai International Dance Competition, Dance World Cup Spain, in the Cast of SPAMALOT at ETA Hofmann Theater/Bamberg, is an Ensemble member of Landesbühne Oberfranken since 2017 playing in various Musical Productions. She appeared in several TV and Filmprojects , most recently as a dancer on the successful SKY TV Production of BABYLON BERLIN.
In 2014 she returned to Germany and now lives with her husband Paul in Bamberg working as a Dancer, Choreographer and Educator for Jazz Dance and Musical Theatre, teaching regular classes and workshops both for amateurs as well as for professionals in Germany and all over Europe.
Melanie feels most at home on and around the stage, having stepped onto the stage for the first time at the age of 5. That love affair is lasting until now!
Becoming Director and Choreographer of her own Dance Company finally in 2017 under the name of MDANCE COMPANY, she fulfilled her childhood dream and she produced her first Show spectacle TAN-GO NIGHTS in Bamberg in 2019.
More Productions followed : TANZ UNLOCKED! (2020), Gotta Dance (2021) and Jazzy Jingle Bells (2021/2022)
Coming up in the early Summer of 2023 is the biggest Production yet - Die 4 Elemente which will be playing in the Konzerthalle Bamberg.
