SEAD (Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance) is a training centre for contemporary dancers and choreographers. It was founded in 1993 by Susan Quinn, who was a solo dancer with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 1981 to 1988 before continuing her career in New York City and abroad.
SEAD is also a year-round production and event venue for contemporary dance and performance art. The dance academy and its international students enrich the cultural scene of the city of Salzburg with numerous events, in-house productions, guest events and guest performances.
Today, SEAD is a well-known academy with more than a hundred international students from over thirty countries, who undertake various educational programmes: the four-year undergraduate programme, the one-year postgraduate programme for choreographers (I. C. E.) and the training programmes for dancers (FIRE year, MoveMentors Dance Intensive Workshops).
SEAD is a meeting place for experimental collaborations, residencies and performances. As a cultural space open to the general public, SEAD offers an educational programme for adults, teenagers and children, and organizes various events in the fields of contemporary dance and performance art.
Since 2008, SEAD is the home-base and residency for the internationally touring repertory company BODHI PROJECT, which since 2018 is part of the BLACKMOUNTAIN non-profit organization.
