Born in February 1, 1980 I grew up in the country side of South Germany.  From an early childhood I was exposed to sports, business, arts and politics.

My parents were both former gymnasts who went into teaching, where they covered areas from business, arts and sports.  My grandparents were also involved in gymnastics and held club positions until a high age. I always enjoyed helping to organize the different Club events. One of my Grandfathers was also in the local Political Party which opened my eyes to these activities at a very young age. 

Growing up, I played a lot out in the nature, climbing trees, playing in the mud, jumping of houses. In addition I was involved in a lot of sports. I did Gymnastics (of course), Ballet, Athletics, Swimming, Handball, Volleyball, Tennis, Skiing, Snowbaording, Waterskiing, Inlineskating.

It sounds obvious while getting older I needed to focus a bit!

I fell for persuing ballett and waterskiing professionally during High School.

In Ballet I completed the RAD Children’s examinations (Grade 1 to 5) until the age of 14. I then continued with the Adult exams completing Grade 6 Syllabus at age 16. During that time I also had the possibility to participate in yearly performances, and in 4 Theatre and Opera productions each.

In Waterskiing I started attending Training camps in Florida over summer, teaching at summer camp and Training myself. With that in the bag I won some German and Vorarlberg (part of Austria) Competitions.

All that I could only do thanks to my parents. I did take the train to school like every normal kid most days but I was quite often picked up and driven to Ballet classes some 30 km away from school and 20 km away from home. Usually I did my homework in the car driving from school to training and from training home. During the months from May to October which was waterski season it was even tougher as I was often driven to Austria for a training session BEFORE school. In addition to homework in the car, it also often meant breakfast, lunch and dinner in the car. But that was what I wanted. I remember once actually having spare time. My parents asked me what I would like to do and I said: I would like to attend the athletics training. I guess sport is in my blood ☺

After finishing High school, at age 19, I moved to Australia for IT studies (Bachelor in Information Systems and Masters in IT). My parents would have preferred me to do the “Duale Hochschule” but I wanted to study, however not in Germany. Back in 1999 living cost and tuition fees were still cheaper in Australia than in the US or UK. Hence I moved to Australia with my white Sports Bag filled with summer clothes. Just to find out that Australian Winters are not that warm at all!!

Soon I also figured out that I needed more money and searched for a job. Thanks to some connections I managed to land my first job at a small software company.  Later on, I was working as an IT consultant in various companies.

Even though the conditions to continue with Waterski training would have been perfect in Australia I did not have sufficient funds to continue that path. Instead I compensated by completing my Inshore Skipper Certificate and became a regular Crew member on “Jaroda Tide” for the Sunday sailing races in Mooloolabah. It was tons of fun and taught me a lot about teamwork.

 Dance, my passion, however remained part of my life and I continued my Dance education at Ann Fraser’s School of Dance. I completed the RAD Vocational Syllabus (Intermediate, Advanced 1 and 2) until the age of 23. Besides the yearly school performance I also competed in the Sunshine Coast Eisteddford where I received first prices for Classical, Neoclassical and Contemporary group respectively. At age 25 I performed my last performance in Australia

After 6 years I had seen enough of Australia and wanted to move back to Europe. Out of several Job offers Novartis was the best and so I moved to Switzerland with 25 and my White sportsbag had turned into a Container full of furniture!! Besides a reverse culture shock due to everything being closed on Sundays and people planning a lot more than in Australia, I initially also struggled to find appropriate Dance lessons that would fit around my work schedule. In 2011 I then danced at the Basel Theatre open class before starting up at Art and Dance in Lörrach. In 2013 I performed again at the Burghof in Lörrach and the fire was ignited again!!

Since 2013 I am also a Dancer with David P. France Dance Company. Where in addition I am heavily investing myself in organizing the productions.. The latest performance was Transcendence at Union Basel in April 2014.  Further Shows at the Expat Expo in Basel on 15th of June and Kiwanis Family day 21st of June have been a full success. They were all fantastic experiences and helped me to further myself in dance! More performances will follow next year and I am really looking forward to it already.

In between Performances I practice Dance with Art und Dance Lörrach and through various Dance Workshops with teachers like Paul Haze, Jorge Garcia and Franz Brodmann.

Besides Dance, I regularly do weight training and plan my weekly nutrition to match my activities. For more Information have a look at my Training and Nutrition Pages..

Besides Dance I am also a member of the Kiwanis Club St- Alban.

In the Corporate world I am successfully leading a Team of IT specialists contributing to the success of Novartis.

I feel lucky that the different facets of my live help me in dealing with the challenges at my work. It helps me to see all the different perspectives/cultures, always find a way forward and handle the unexpected.  Besides balancing all of the above I manage to make time for additional things I love, such as cooking, diving, skiing, hiking, biking, Basler Fasnacht and travelling, especially to one of the several places I call “home” such as Basel, Stoos, Mannheim, Neckarsteinach, Langenargen, Tignes, Brisbane, Gibb River Road.

I have to admit, that my beautiful partner Mikael Lindvik is helping me a lot to accomplish all of this. He is also a member of the same Kiwanis Club, which helps us to contribute to the Club at a higher level. Mikael has also been dancing a lot when he was a Child and Teenager. His Focus was on Standard Dance, but that means that he understands Dance, and can Support not only but the Dance Company at great length.

I would also like to thank Mikael’s parents who set an example by always showing great Teamwork and care for one another.

In addition, my parents are always a great help supporting us where they can, either running errants or just being there for mental support  ☺