BEATS is an independent training initiative started by performance makers from Berlin’s contemporary performance scene. We offer practice-based training for emerging and established performance makers seeking supportive artistic development in the international context of Berlin. Our programs support artists in moving from impulse to form through collaborative experimentation, physical practice, and contemporary devising methodologies.
We love what we do, and we believe in the power of performance. Take a look at what we have to offer and join us.
DIRECTING DEVISED PERFORMANCE
OCTOBER 2026
A city of ideas, art, and innovation.
Berlin hums with creative energy, an intersection of cultures, languages, and artistic practices from around the world. From small artist-run studios to major cultural institutions, Berlin’s artistic landscape invites curiosity and participation at every level. Its theaters, galleries, and performance spaces offer a constant flow of experimentation and exchange, reflecting a city that thrives on reinvention. Here, history and contemporary life exist in dialogue, creating an atmosphere that is both grounded and forward-looking. It’s a place where immersion in art and culture happens simply by being here.
A month to move from impulse to invention.
Creating devised performance requires curiosity, courage, and the willingness to take risks. Within a supportive and collaborative environment, course participants will experiment with both physical and conceptual approaches to making original work. Grounded in established techniques but aimed at individual discovery, the course offers practical tools for exploring presence, space, and time in a performance context. It also addresses the simple but profound challenge of how to start, how to move from an idea to a working concept, by offering dramaturgical pathways into the creative process. Through the practice of trial and error, artists will cultivate the confidence and freedom needed to discover and share their own authentic artistic voice.
SUMMER WORKSHOPS 2026
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Create an original solo performance through writing prompts, physical training, and conceptual development. Open to performers interested in contemporary solo practice, devised work, movement, text, ritual, drag, and hybrid performance forms.
Dates: Aug 17-28 / Mon-Fri, 16:00-19:30
Instructor: Paul BudraitisLevel: Open / Intermediate
Admission: €630 / Early bird until July 1: €500
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A physical laboratory for exploring the relationship between movement, memory, and composition. Through guided improvisation, physical tasks, and collaborative exchange, participants generate movement material from embodied impulses and develop short compositions that investigate how meaning, narrative, and theatrical images emerge through structure, repetition, and transformation.
Dates: Aug 17-21 (10:00-13:30)
Instructor: Jelle De Wit
Level: Open to actors, dancers, and performers interested in physical creation. Previous experience welcome but not required.
Admission: €315 / Early bird until July 1: €250
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Explore the city as a living performance landscape through observation, walking, sensory awareness, and composition. Moving through Berlin by day and night, participants gather material from urban rhythms, encounters, architecture, and soundscapes, transforming these experiences into short performative compositions using body, text, objects, sound, and video.
Dates: Aug 22-23 (10:00-17:00) and Aug 24-28 (10:00-13:30)
Instructor: Jelle De Wit
Level: Open to performers, makers, and artists interested in site-responsive and devised practices.
Admission: €530 / Early bird until July 1: €425
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A practical introduction to the fundamentals of Biomechanics, an influential physical training system for performers. Through structured exercises, partner work, and object work, participants develop physical control, rhythm, coordination, balance, and expressive precision while expanding their embodied awareness for a wide range of performance styles.
Dates: Aug 29-30 (11:00-18:00)
Instructor: Paul Budraitis
Level: Open to all levels. Suitable for actors, dancers, and anyone interested in physical performance training.
Admission: €215 / Early bird until July 1: €175
FACULTY
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Paul is a director, performer, and generative artist based in Berlin. His artistic work is informed by a fusion of international influences and an ongoing performance-based inquiry into the mysterious nature of life, death, and human interdependence.
Paul earned his MFA in theater directing as a Fulbright program grantee at the Lithuanian Music and Theater Academy under the mentorship of Jonas Vaitkus. He has directed productions in the United States and Europe, including the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theatre (Seattle), On the Boards (Seattle), and La MaMa E.T.C. (NYC). He has appeared as a performer in productions at the Munich Biennale, the Wien Festwochen, REDCAT Theater (L.A.), and the Under the Radar Festival (NYC).
As an educator, Paul’s pedagogical work focuses on clarity, specificity, intuition, and courage. He has taught for over 20 years, with a particular focus on Meyerhold’s Biomechanics technique, alongside courses in scene study, devised theater, and interdisciplinary art. During this time, he has been fortunate to work with students at Arthaus (Berlin), the Lithuanian Music and Theater Academy, the Iceland Academy of the Arts, Cornish College of the Arts (Seattle), and Freehold Theatre Lab / Studio (Seattle).
Recently, Paul's solo performance, titled “I Love That For You”, premiered in Berlin, followed by performances in New York (La MaMa E.T.C.) and Seattle (On the Boards). His newest work will premiere in Berlin in December 2025.
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Elif Sözer is a Berlin-based theater artist, teacher, and dramaturg specializing in physical and devised performance. Her professional practice spans acting, directing, and concept development, with a focus on collaborative creation and the intersection of body, text, and space in contemporary performance.
After completing her studies in Theatre, Film, and Media Studies at the University of Vienna, she undertook a physical theatre training based on Jacques Lecoq’s methods at the London International School of Performing Arts (LISPA). She then moved to Istanbul, where she completed her master’s degree in dramaturgy and theatre criticism. She was involved in founding the first Physical Theatre and Comedy School in Istanbul, taught at the State Conservatory of Istanbul University, and appeared as an actor in various productions. In addition, she adapted the novel Gizli Emir by Melih Cevdet Anday for the stage, which she also directed. She spent two seasons as part of the acting directorship at the Volksbühne Berlin, working as a dramaturgy assistant and dramaturg. Her dramaturgical work includes the production Hammer & Spiegel (directed by Florian Hain), the radio play About Persephone (directed by Charlotte S. Garraway), and the play METAMORPHOSEN [overcoming mankind] (directed by Claudia Bauer). She has worked as a dramaturgy assistant with directors including Lucia Bihler, Susanne Kennedy, and Pınar Karabulut. Since 2021, she has been working as a freelance dramaturg, actor, and movement director, as well as an outside eye and conceptual consultant for contemporary circus productions. Since June 2024, she has been a lecturer in Physical Theatre at arthaus.berlin (formerly LISPA) and a permanent member of the teaching team. Most recently, together with director Zeynep Özden, she adapted Les Pas Pardus / Kayıp Adımlar for a Turkish audience and worked on the production as dramaturg and movement director.
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Jelle De Wit (born 1984, Bonheiden, Belgium) is a director, performer and coach based in Berlin. His work moves between physical theatre, devised performance and actor training, with a strong focus on presence, embodiment and composition — understood as the art of structuring movement, space and rhythm to create meaning beyond words.
As a director and educator, Jelle explores how composition can generate theatrical images that emerge from the interplay of form, intention and perception rather than from narrative. His process is rooted in collaborative creation and an ongoing dialogue between performer, space and audience.
He studied Directing and Theatre Education at the Fontys School of Fine and Performing Arts in Tilburg (NL), where he graduated in 2012. After working as a drama teacher and performer with companies such as Het Laagland (Sittard), Lucinda Ra/De Monty (Antwerp) and DefDef (Brussels), Jelle deepened his artistic practice in physical and devised theatre. He completed a two-year full-time program at LISPA (now Arthaus Berlin) and earned an MA in Devised Theatre and Performance from Rose Bruford College London in 2019.
From 2020 to 2025, Jelle was part of the teaching staff at Arthaus Berlin, where he guided students in the MA program Devised Theatre and Performance. Alongside this, he developed an international practice as a Public Speaking and Pitching Coach, teaching workshops at several European universities. He also creates a performance each year with young people aged 13 to 20, together with the team of ACADEMY Bühnenkunstschule & Produktionslabor, Berlin.
As a performer, Jelle co-created the dance performance BLUE (2020) together with Francisco Martínez (assistant choreographer at Sasha Waltz & Guests, Berlin) and Thomas Mayer. In recent years, he has collaborated with the renowned mask theatre company Familie Flöz as assistant director for two productions: Unter dem Meer, which premiered in November 2023 at Theater Basel (Switzerland), and Finale – eine Ouvertüre, premiering in October 2025 at the Berliner Ensemble (Germany).
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“I can say that the course completely transformed the way I perceive acting and directing, thanks to the precise and continuous feedback throughout the process.”
- Juan Pablo, Actor/Director (New York)
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“A very inspiring experience with people from different artistic backgrounds and places from all over the world.”
- Nyenti, Actor / Director (Berlin)
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“The workshop was an incredibly inspiring, open, and safe space to explore and experiment with theatrical expression. The teachers brought so much of their own love and dedication to theater making, with a respect and sensitivity for both the individual and collective aspects of the creative process.”
— Camilla, Director / Performer / Writer (Norway)
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"I finished the intensive with my notebook full of exercises and reflections, many of which I also put into practice. In other words, it is a workshop suitable for directors, performers, educators, thinkers, and more."
- Lili, Director / Dramaturg (Barcelona)
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"This was one of the most helpful and inspiring workshops I’ve done. It taught me many new tools I can use in my practice and it also reminded me the reasons I love theatre. The teachers guided us and gave us feedback while at the same time actively encouraging us. It was a demanding course but I looked forward to every class and felt very supported."
- Lela, Director (Greece)
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"Now I dream of having my own dance-theatre company and seeing visions born from personal reflection and collaborative work come to life on stage, supported and enriched by the creativity of the artists working with me."
- Sofya, Dancer / Choreographer (Berlin)