Miriam Althammer

Univ.-Ass. Dr. Miriam Althammer
University Associate | Coordinator CEEPUS network Arts in Motion

Universität Salzburg, Unipark Nonntal
Raum 2.128, Erzabt-Klotz-Straße 1, 5020 Salzburg

Tel.: +43 662 8044 – 4665
E-Mail:

Research Interests

  • Re-Visions of European dance histories with a focus on the Eastern parts of Europe
  • Dance and Archive (Archive as Practice)
  • Oral History and Memory Culture
  • Artistic Research, Embodied Knowledge and Eco-Somatics
  • Body Politics: Dance and Performance in Society
  • Staging Gender in Dance and Performance
  • Re-construction and Pre-/Re-enactment
  • Notations, Scores, and (digital) Documentation of Dance and the Performing Arts
  • Curatorial Strategies

Academic Functions

  • Core Member, International Forum for Eco‑Embodied Arts ( IFEEA): Member of the international stewardship and research team; contributing to the development of transdisciplinary approaches to somatic practices, artistic research, and ecologically oriented body- and knowledge practices.
  • Network Convenor, CEEPUS network  Arts in Motion: Coordinating a transnational academic network dedicated to the advancement of teaching, research, and student mobility in the fields of dance and performance, with a particular focus on the intersection of practice and theory.
  • Editorial Board Member,  Dance Context Journal
  • Co-editor of the journal  Tanz&Archiv: ForschungsReisen
  • General Secretary of the Association of Friends of the Derra de Moroda Dance Archives and Dance Studies/Salzburg

Biography

Miriam Althammer studied Theatre and Dance Studies, Art History, and Modern German Literature in Munich and Bern, and completed the postgraduate university program Curating in the Performing Arts in Berlin and Salzburg.

She was a research associate at the Chair of Theatre Studies at the University of Bayreuth (2017–2019) and at the Center for Contemporary Dance at the Cologne University of Music and Dance (2018–2023), where she completed her PhD based on her own collection of 50 oral histories. Her doctoral dissertation examines the formation of contemporary dance in Southeast Europe after the end of the Cold War. In addition, she taught at the Bytom Dance Theatre Institute of the Theatre Academy Kraków (2016–2019) and at the  Academy of Dance and Performance of the National Dance Center in Bucharest (since 2022).

Since October 2023, Miriam Althammer has been a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Music and Dance Studies. Her habilitation project explores dance as an artistic and epistemic practice through the feminist biographies of Floria Capsali, Friderica Derra de Moroda, Louise Langgaard (Loheland), Maga Magazinović, and Vera Proca Ciortea. The project investigates transnational circulation processes and entangled histories of modernity in Central and Southeast Europe in the context of gymnastics and rhythmic movements, somatic practices, folk dance cultures, representations of gender, and nationalism. A further focus lies on researching the collection and object histories of their archival materials as well as on a methodological engagement with critical dance historiography.

Alongside her academic work, she is involved in curatorial and artistic-research projects situated at the intersection of the performing and visual arts (e.g., Performing the Memories | Unearthing Histories | Scoring Transtemporalities within the framework of  SCORES – Zwischen Dokumentation, Vermittlung und Kreation, 2021-2023). She has worked as a journalist (including for Süddeutsche Zeitung, tanz magazine, and Münchner Feuilleton) and as a blogger for various festivals and theatres. Since 2011, she has been a member of the editorial team of  tanznetz.de. Since 2018, she has served on the jury for independent dance artists of the Munich Department of Arts and Culture and on the jury of the Bavarian State Association for Contemporary Dance (BLZT). Most recently, she was co-organiser of the  Symposiums der Gesellschaft für Tanzforschung (gtf) zum Thema (In-)Visibilities – Moderner Tanz Re-Visited (19.-21. September 2024, Folkwang Universität der Künste, Essen).

Publications | Scholarly and Artistic-Curatorial Activities pdf

Memberships

  •  Elite Network of Bavaria
  • Mentee in the career development programme of the Universities of Linz, Salzburg, and Krems (2024-2025)
  • GTF – Society for Dance Research (member of the working group Modern Dance)
  • DSA – Dance Studies Association 
  • GTW – Society for Theatre Studies (member of the working group Archives)
  • IFTR – International Federation for Theatre Research (member of the working group Choreography and Corporeality)
  • EADH – The European Association for Dance History
  • GKFD – Society for Artistic Research
  • SIBMAS – International Association of Libraries, Museums, Archives and Documentation Centres of the Performing Arts

Awards and Scholarships

  • Scholarship holder of the Max Weber Programme of the Free State of Bavaria for the promotion of highly gifted students according to the Bavarian Elite Promotion Act (2009-2012)
  • Grant from the program of the Department of Art Studies (2012–2013)
  • Marie Andeßner Scholarship of the gend-up programme of the University of Salzburg (2015-2016)
  • Graduate Student Travel Award of the Dance Studies Association (2018)
  • Nomination for the Excellence in Teaching Award from the University of Salzburg (2025)