About me
I work as a freelance dancer, choreographer and dance teacher. I received my education at the Palucca Academy of Dance Dresden. Half a year before completing this, I was diagnosed with an incomplete paraplegia. Despite this, I continued to choose a life of dance and choreographed my bachelor’s thesis “Behind human understanding” in 2018 in a wheelchair. I received my first arrangement at the Theater Pforzheim in the production “Perfekt Unperfekt. ” I was involved in “DieTanzkompanie” by Gregory Darcy in Esslingen and in “Echogedicht”, a production by Tiago Manquinho. In 2020 I led the inclusive dance workshop “Triple A” at the Landesbühne Sachsen and was also featured in “Nussknacker” and “Difference. ” At the same time, I am studying psychology at the Technical University in Dresden. I want to create a bridge between the two pillars in my life. As an artist, I want to convey the freedom of value of dance and break down the stigmatization of physical and mental limitations.
Lukas Stern e.V.
The association Lukas Stern e.V. fulfils the wishes of seriously ill people as well as people with disabilities, whether young or old. I am acting as an ambassador for them. I was a guest at the Benefit Gala 2020 and 2022.
Talent im Land
The Talent im Land Scholarship Programme aims to accompany, promote and support talented and committed young people who, due to their personal biography or their social background, have to overcome special obstacles on their way to the Abitur. I was a guest here for the summer academy in 2019 and 2020.
Stiftung Löwenbrücke
The Löwenbrücke Braunschweig Foundation opens up opportunities to present health promotion for people with physical disabilities for social participation and integration through technology in a comprehensive and unifying way. Interdisciplinary, creative thinking and acting are in demand when it comes to the development and application of technology for the treatment of complex, physical diseases in order to participate in social life.
Verbundnetz der Wärme
The “Verbundnetz der Wärme” supports projects of social engagement in various areas to promote charitable, charitable and church purposes financially (commitment prize) and ideally (information/event formats). The aim of the “Verbundnetz der Wärme” is to promote commitment and voluntary work, so that these projects can contribute to solving societal challenges. In this association I am an ambassador and may be part of the selection committee.
#TAKEHEART Residenzförderung
As part of the rescue package NEUSTART KULTUR of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media and the #TakeHeart funding programmes of the Fonds Darstellende Künste, the Alliance of International Production Houses is able to support these initiatives by awarding residency grants to five artists and groups. Thank you for your support in autumn 2022 and spring 2023.
Tanzbar Bremen
Through the support of the project Tanzraum – Zukunft by DIEHL+RITTER/TANZPAKT RECONNECT, Tanzbar Bremen 2022 was able to award three artists residences for individual artists with disabilities or inclusive creative duos. A residency offers time for research and rehearsal for artistic dance projects. Ideas or new movement material can be tried out alone or as a couple. I would like to thank you for the opportunity to hold my couple residence in autumn 2022.
Galileo
Border areas - What does success do to us?
Does success make you happy or lonely? To answer this question, "Galileo" reporter Jan Fritzowsky meets people who have achieved personal success in different ways.
Among them is former hedge fund manager and stock market speculator Florian Homm, who earned millions under questionable circumstances. By contrast, the story of Sophie Hauenherm, who despite paraplegia makes her dream of dancing come true, is quite different....
january 2023
NDR Nordmagazin
"Exceptional Performance: Dancing with Paralysis"
The stage play “Balance” is currently being performed in Steinfurth. The main character is Sophie Hauenherm – an impressive dancer.
september 2022
RTL
"Professional dancer fights herself back to the stage"
For years Sophie Hauenherm has been working towards her big dream: to become a professional dancer. When the dream is close at hand, fate strikes. She is paraplegic and will never be able to walk again, according to the diagnosis. But it’s only on paper and not written in stone. Sophie succeeds in the impossible and walkes again a few months later. How she managed this and whether her dance dream has not yet been shattered, you can see in the video.
february 2022
ZDF 37Grad
"Dancer Sophie gets back to the stage"
Sophie knows exactly where she belongs: on stage as a dancer. However, after an emergency operation, she may first sit in a wheelchair. Give up your dream? That’s out of the question for Sophie.
january 2022
SWR Nachtcafé Talkshow
"If your desire gets true"
Some things in life we wish for more than anything else in the world. We would do almost anything to make them come true. But what happens when our desires actually come true?
december 2021
ZDF Terra Xpress
"What makes people strong?"
Some people don’t hurt. They defy strokes of fate and illness, perform special achievements that seem unbelievable for their age. Where does their power come from?
december 2021
TruDoku
"Dancer in a wheelchair"
Shock diagnosis: incomplete paraplegia! After an emergency operation, Ballerina Sophie can’t move her legs anymore. But she fights herself back on stage.
june 2021
MDR
Health
Paraplegia after back pain: Dancer fights back into life.
march 2021
MDR Dokumentation
"What makes us happy?"
The new documentary by MDR WISSEN visits people who tell us about their life satisfaction. Is happiness in the Otto family bakery in Oberlausitz? Here one is obviously completely satisfied, happiness seems like innate, like self-evident. Or do we have to become humble like Sophie Hauenherm, who continues to dance despite spinal cord injury and seems happier than in her previous life? Do we find happiness in community, in social togetherness? Alexandra Kugler is an honorary voltigier teacher and is there for her students four times a week. Or is happiness on the highest mountains on earth? Do we have to fight to be happy like the young climber Jobst Kobusch?
september 2020
WDR Kölner Treff
Talkshow
Giving up is just not her thing. One year after the dancer Sophie Hauenherm was suddenly dependent on a wheelchair due to an abscess in her spine, she fought back impressively. The now 19-year-old is on the verge of her final exam at the Palucca Hochschule für Tanz in Dresden when she is diagnosed. “Incomplete paraplegic” is what the doctors say, with the prognosis that they will probably never be able to walk again. Sophie then dances her exam while sitting – and then proves in her rehab that much more is possible. Today she can walk a few meters free again and made her debut as a guest dancer in the Pforzheim Ballet Ensemble in November.
february 2019
MDR
Sachsenspiegel
19 years old woman fights back to life.
january 2019
ZDF
Hallo Deutschland
A female dancer in a wheelchair.
july 2018
MDR DOKU
WDR Kölner Treff
TRUDOKU
SWR NACHTCAFE
Terra Xpress
RTL
Backstage Podcast
"I may not be able to walk, but I can dance!"
Sophie Hauenherm moved from home at the age of 12 to become a dancer. Shortly before graduating from the Palucca Academy of Dance in Dresden, she was diagnosed with “Incomplete paralysis”, caused by an abscess in the spinal cord. She is told that she would never run again, let alone dance. But this is out of the question for Sophie and she reinvents herself as a dancer. In the backstage podcast, she tells her story and we talk about Sophie’s new definition of dance, about inclusion and self-determination, and about seizing opportunities.
Jenke. Extreme Momente Podcast
"Dancer in a wheelchair!"
“If life gives you lemons, make it lemonade.“ But what if life gives you a spinal cord injury? And that as a prospective professional dancer? Sophie Hauenherm was confined to a wheelchair from one day to the next and had to exchange her dreams for rehab – at least for a while. With tremendous strength, she has fought back into her passion, proving to herself and the whole world that happiness is not linked to a physical deficit.
Deine Lieblingsmenschen
"Sophie wants to dance"
Sophie Hauenherrn does not let her dream of dancing be destroyed. In this podcast episode, she talks about how she deals with her paralysis.
“All my life I wanted was to dance. That’s why I moved from home at the age of 12, to a boarding school of dance. I trained every day in the ballet hall and conquered the stages. My dream seemed to come true. Half a year before completing my dance training, I had immeasurable back pain. I’m going to tell you today why I admitted myself to the hospital, what an incomplete spinal cord injury, and why I didn’t accept the phrase “I can never walk again. I’m Sophie Hauenherm. Today I’ll tell you my story. "
