ABOUT SAMI GIRON

Sami / Samantha Giron is an international choreographer and dance teacher based in Berlin and San Francisco. For decades, her work has been presented in major dance hubs, exploring themes of identity, transformation, and social issues. Notable works include Play Bow (2024, Expo Festival, English Theater Berlin), Girls (2020, Lucky Trimmer, Sophiensaele, Berlin), and Grace (2016, Ufer Studios, Berlin; Dance Mission Theater, San Francisco).

She holds an MFA in Choreography and Dance from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), a BA in Dance from Mills College, and a Post-Baccalaureate degree in Dance and Sports Pedagogy from California State University. She also holds a lifetime certification to teach dance to adults, teenagers, and children.

Giron’s teaching style conveys the joy of dance while fostering both technical growth and creative intelligence. Her classes integrate modern and contemporary dance training with a foundation in urban dance and electronic music communities. Her choreography merges formal dance techniques with street-dance influences, characterized by a grounded center, fluid joint articulation, and expansive horizontal weight transfers.

Recently, Giron returned from a teaching and choreographing tour in San Francisco. While there, she created new choreography and taught for ODC, led master classes at Sonoma State University, and worked with students at the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts (SOTA). Now, back in Berlin, she teaches her Contemporary Fusion classes locally.

Collaborating with designers and electronic musicians, Giron has created works that investigate social issues such as the role of marriage in society, gender fluidity, and bi-cultural identity. Her more recent research focuses on play as an interspecies phenomenon. A long-standing partnership with a sound designer, established in 2005, continues to shape her creative process.

Her choreography has been featured at prominent U.S. venues including Z Space, Project Artaud, ODC, and CounterPULSE, as well as at iconic nightclubs such as The Mezzanine and Public Works. In Berlin, she has presented her work at the Expo Festival at English Theater Berlin, Sophiensaele (Lucky Trimmer Festival), and Ufer Studios. She has also choreographed for Berlin-based advertising agencies.

Giron has lectured at the American Dance Festival and is a published dance essayist. She served as head of the dance program at Thomas Edison Primary and Secondary School in San Francisco for four years and has taught dance at San Francisco State University as well as at numerous colleges and universities throughout California. In Berlin, she has taught at leading studios including Marameo, Tanzfabrik, Dock 11, and the Berlin Cosmopolitan School, mentoring dancers of all levels and styles.