videostill: sonja browne
sonja browne is a dancer, choreographer, and educator whose work is rooted in inclusive artistic practice. in 1999, she founded danse brute, a pioneering company for dancers with disabilities, followed by tanzmontage.balance in 2006. trained in ballet, modern dance, tap, acting, and singing, sonja has collaborated with artists including editta braun, willi dorner, hubert lepka, and olivier gelpe, and completed internships with amici (uk) and theater stap (belgium). she has brought her knowledge of dance and improvisation to festivals and institutions such as impulstanz (vienna), ostertanztage (salzburg), and tanztage (würzburg), while touring and teaching internationally in germany, france, japan, hungary, luxembourg, switzerland, and ecuador.
since 2020, sonja has also been collaborating with dr. andrea amort—dance historian, critic and curator. together, they are engaged in research and archival projects, including work at the muk – music and arts university of the city of vienna and the theatermuseum wien with a focus on dance history and education such as the ‘rosalia chladek’s bequest – a scientific inventory and review’ project. this collaboration extends sonja’s artistic and pedagogical expertise into the field of historical research and documentation, enriching her perspective on contemporary inclusive practices. in 2025/26, sonja will take over choreographic accompaniment in JETZT!, the professionalization program for talented actors with disabilities led by constance cauers. the project is a collaboration between the burgtheater and the muk.