Henning Rübsam

Henning Rübsam is a choreographer, dancer, writer, and educator. He received his MFA in Dance Education from Hunter College in 2016. Already an accomplished dancer and choreographer when he began his studies at Hunter, Rübsam trained in classical ballet at John Neumeier’s Hamburg Opera Ballet School before emigrating to New York from Germany, then earned his BFA from the Juilliard School and eventually formed his own dance company, SENSEDANCE, in 1992. During his time at Hunter, Rübsam produced and directed the critically acclaimed “Radical Bodies: An Evening of Dances by Anna Halprin, Simone Forti, Yvonne Rainer” at the Kaye Playhouse, a 50th anniversary commemorative performance of Anna Halprin’s Parades and Changes, originally performed at Hunter in 1967. 

Though Rübsam was influenced by José Limón and touring internationally with the Limón Dance Company, his independant choreography and collaborations for SENSEDANCE aims to create melodic lines in movement that conversed with the music rather than mirrored it. In 2021 he set Ted Shawn’s “Floor Plastique” on the dancers of Limón 2 for the Denishawn Festival. SENSEDANCE represented the United States on a State Department-sponsored tour through Peru, and he has choreographed for contemporary ballet and modern dance companies as well as for conservatory dance programs such as the Ailey School. 

Rübsam is the recipient of a Jerome L. Greene Fellowship, a Lincoln Center Fellowship, a Manhattan Spirit Award as "best male dancer" in 1997, and an award for his advocacy from Dancers Responding to AIDS in 2004. Rübsam has taught at the Juilliard School since 2006 and also teaches the history of dance at Fordham University.