About me
German Ivancic
Who I am
I am a stage director working across opera, theatre, dance and interdisciplinary performance. My practice incorporates choreography, performance and cultural production, focusing on the relationship between movement, dramaturgy and scenic composition.
Born in Argentina and now based in Paris, my work has developed between Latin American and European artistic contexts. Throughout my career, I have created and collaborated on productions ranging from opera and contemporary theatre to tango-based performance and experimental scenic projects.
I have developed my artistic practice through independent companies, institutional productions and self-organized artistic structures, leading and collaborating on projects where research, rehearsal processes and collective practices become essential elements of creation.
Artistic Practice
Opera, Dance, Theatre and Scenic Creation
My work as a stage director has developed primarily within opera and interdisciplinary performance, combining dramaturgical adaptation, movement direction, visual composition and collaborative work with performers and musicians.
From 2010 to 2016, I was a permanent member of the artistic team of Lírica Lado B, an independent opera company founded by a collective of artists including Camilo Santostéfano and Diego Ernesto Rodríguez. The company developed alternative approaches to opera production through rarely performed repertoire, unconventional spaces, recycled materials and collaborative creation processes.
Within Lírica Lado B, I directed Mozart’s Il sogno di Scipione and co-directed Benjamin Britten’s Curlew River. These productions involved the creation of original scenic concepts, dramaturgical approaches and visual languages for operas rarely presented in Argentina.
I also directed and developed the dramaturgical adaptation of Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon and the short operas Feliz cumple ella and El malvón rojo within independent production contexts, working with artists such as Luis Nesa and Guillermo Vega Fischer.
In theatre, I have developed work as a co-director and performer in projects including adaptations of Molière’s Tartuffe, Ibsen’s The Wild Duck and Augusto Boal’s Torquemada, exploring the relationship between classical texts, political conflicts and contemporary forms of power through physical performance.
Alongside stage direction, I have developed extensive experience as a choreographer, particularly within opera productions. Among these works are Vicente Martín y Soler’s L’arbore di Diana, Haydn’s L’Isola Disabitata, Gilbert & Sullivan’s Utopia Limited, Vicente Martín y Soler’s La festa del villaggio and Antonio Tauriello’s Las guerras Picrocholinas.
Since 2006, my artistic research has explored tango as a scenic language beyond traditional forms. Through collectives such as Tangueteros and Compañía Tragicómica Tanguera, I developed performances and interventions combining tango, theatre, contemporary movement and improvisation, approaching the city and the body as spaces for scenic exploration.
At Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern, Germany, I worked as choreographic collaborator, dancer and Argentine culture consultant for Piazzolla and Ferrer’s María de Buenos Aires (2024), and as dancer and assistant director intern for Kurt Weill’s Die sieben Todsünden and Der Zar lässt sich fotografieren (2025), both directed by Martina Veh. I have also collaborated as an external artistic eye for the dance piece The Glory of It by Saskia Hamala and Leonard Exner at FUSIONEN Festival (Projekttheater Dresden, 2024).
Research, Teaching and Movement
Since 2006, my artistic practice across tango, theatre, opera and dance has developed an ongoing research into improvisation, corporal expression and movement as tools for artistic creation, exploring the relationship between body, voice, presence and expression.
This research informs two main areas of my practice. Tango Labs explores tango as a creative system rather than a fixed tradition, deconstructing its fundamental principles to make them available as tools for expression, improvisation and personal authorship. Through experimentation, play and shared exploration, participants are invited to develop their own relationship with tango beyond the reproduction of established forms.
Alongside this work, I develop Creative Movement Labs and training processes for performers, including singers, dancers and actors. These practices focus on physical creativity, embodied communication and the integration of movement, articulation and presence, using the body as a tool for artistic expression and creation.
Building Artistic Communities
I was a co-founder and president of Barbados Artes Escénicas (2014-2021), a non-profit organization dedicated to artistic production and to building the conditions, networks and collaborative frameworks that enabled emerging artists to develop, experiment and present their work. Within this Barbados, I contributed to the creation of artistic programs, residencies and publications, including Nanópera, a residency program for the creation, publication and production of small-scale opera. Across its editions, Nanópera generated 15 original micro-operas, involving more than 30 creators, and resulted in editorial publications that documented and expanded the project’s research and productions.
From 2015 to 2021, I co-directed Machado Teatro, an independent performing arts venue in Buenos Aires and part of the city’s dynamic independent theatre network. I shaped its artistic vision, programming and organizational development, while fostering production processes and initiatives that supported independent artists and collaborative creation.
I was an active member of ESCENA – Espacios Escénicos Autónomos (2015-2021), a network of more than 40 independent performing arts venues in Buenos Aires, contributing to the development of collective programs, festival design, production processes and institutional relationships. As part of this collective effort, I participated in initiatives aimed at strengthening collaboration between independent venues, artists and cultural communities.
I co-created projects such as La Danza en ESCENA, a program designed to strengthen the circulation and visibility of independent dance. Across three editions, the initiative involved 20 theatres, presenting 66 pieces through 121 performances, while fostering collaboration between venues and artists and expanding access to contemporary dance within Buenos Aires’ cultural landscape.
I co-created initiatives such as the New Opera Market and the Music Hybridisation Platform, designed to strengthen the independent contemporary music theater ecosystem in Buenos Aires. The New Opera Market (2019) brought together 74 artists and 18 theatres through a program combining professional encounters, knowledge exchange and opportunities for the development of new opera projects.
Artistic & Academic Background
After graduating in Computer Science in 2005, I shifted my professional path toward the performing arts, beginning a journey of continuous artistic research, creation and collaboration.
My artistic formation has been built through ongoing study across different disciplines, including stage direction, dramaturgy, dance, tango and movement research.
A fundamental part of my formation comes from Expresión Corporal-Danza, the Argentine movement practice developed and systematized by Patricia Stokoe. Its exploration of the body as a space of perception, creativity and expression, with a focus on improvisation and individual movement language, continues to inform my artistic practice and research into embodied communication.
My training in scenic creation has included work with artists such as Rubén Szuchmacher and Emilio García Wehbi in theatre direction, Rodolfo Dinzel and Gustavo Naveira in tango, as well as Román Ghilotti, Marcelo Pitrola and Norberto Laino, among others.
In 2021, I studied a Master’s degree in Cultural Administration at the University of Buenos Aires, complementing my artistic practice with research into the design, management and sustainability of cultural organizations.
To this day, my academic background continues to inform the analytical and systemic perspective I bring to artistic creation, collaborative processes and the development of cultural projects.