About Ummi
Alongside her work with The Explore Practice and TRE®, Ummi is a professional dancer, mover, dance teacher and maker under the name of Ummi Yanuba.
Explore & TRE®
Ummi graduated as a professional dancer. During her education she fell in love with the endless depth of movement and it’s powerful potential to bring us new insights and make us feel more connected from inside out. She does ongoing research into the topic of Embodied Wisdom, combining the fields of cognitive science, neurosciences and philosophy with her expertise in movement and dance. To be able to share this love with others, she created The Explore Practice.
Through TRE® she was introduced to the fascinating world of our autonomic nervous system. This has brought many insights, empowerment, depth and understanding, both in her personal life and into her work. As a certified TRE® provider, she is passionate to create space for meaningful changes and new possibilities by building trust and safety in your body.
Dancer and Mover
Ummi Yanuba is a freelance dancer and performer. She graduated from the Expanded Contemporary Dance program at Amsterdam University of the Arts. Her training spans a broad range of techniques, centering on somatics and body awareness. In her journey, Ummi has developed a signature style characterized by fluidity, strength, and a love for improvisation, floorwork, Countertechnique and breaking. Outside the stage, Ummi diversifies her bodily vocabulary through bouldering, martial arts and parkour.
Performances: Currently, Ummi is working with Keren Levi/Never Like in the new production 'BALBALLOONA' and performing as part of the original cast of 'A Perfect Sky' by Anouk van Dijk and Falk Richter. Recent performances include 'Knock Out' by Jakop Ahlbom Company x ISH, 'FUNK' by Christian Guerrematchi, 'We Want It All' by ICK Amsterdam and 'Reverberated Emissions' by Andreas Hannes.
Teacher
Besides developing and sharing her own practice, Ummi also likes to teach dance classes. She offers courses in various styles, including Floorwork, Contemporary, Improvisation, Movement research, African Dance, and Afro Contemporary. Regardless of the genre, her teaching philosophy remains rooted in fostering a love for dance, emphasizing enjoyment and connection with oneself and others.
Recently, Ummi has enjoyed teaching at Danscentrum Utrecht, Parnassos cultuurcentrum and at various primary schools with the organization Hallo Wereld.
Maker
As a creator, Ummi is captivated by themes of nondualism, interconnectedness, art as an immersive experience and the inherent power of “being fully with (...)”. Her projects, such as #nofilter, Stubbornism, and Meat by Meat, delve into the abstract terrains of self, other and environment, while questioning the norms of our current day society.
Currently, Ummi is working on her new performance 'Aquí estamos de pie', a research into how the personal, the generational and the social intertwine and manifest in her own body. Inspired by the traces of recent personal experiences and the overlap she finds in them, her solo is a personal reflection on the effects of systemic inequality. A reflection on the experience of sharing about one's experiences and a reflection on the difference between resilience and hope.
