Our team and commitee

Prev Next
Shigeru Takahashi

Shigeru Takahashi

President

Born in Ticino from Japanese father and Swiss mother, Shigeru began his early career in finance in Lugano. After one year in Singapore, he moved to Geneva as asset manager. He is interested in investing funds for the well-being of society.
Michèle Righettoni

Michèle Righettoni

Treasurer

Born in Lugano from Japanese father and Swiss mother, Shigeru started his career in finance. He has spent all his life traveling since, from Latin America, Middle East & Africa to Asia. He is now the owner of a business that strongly focuses on sustainable farming and ethical processes.
Virginie Barbiera

Virginie Barbiera

Secretary

Virginie has been teaching for more than 10 years in primary schools. A few years ago, she decided to expand her experience by working with children affected by psychotic and behavioral disorders and to promote integration between "specialized" and "regular" classes. Passionate about theater and staging, she sees in this art a powerful tool to accompany the children to discover themselves and others.
Benedetta Barabino

Benedetta Barabino

Director

A biologist by training, Benedetta received a Ph.D. in Biophysics from the University La Sapienza of Rome. Ten years of academic research in neuroscience and her personal experience led her to search for new approaches to health care, particularly through creative activities. She holds a Masters in Adult Education and has worked for 9 years as a researcher and a trainer for the Foundation for Research and Training for Patient Education. Since 2011 she has trained at Marshall Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication and she has been organizing training seminars in Switzerland and Italy. She created Dance with me in 2009 and since then she has been working for Dance with me as Director.
Karine Mazza

Karine Mazza

Assistant director

Karine, with a degree in public relations, has a long experience in communication and business. Ten years ago, she oriented herself toward health care. As a therapist in the psycho-physical domain, she has been working for nine years in the psychiatric clinic La Métairie. She also runs workshops aiming at developing body awareness. Music and dance have always been part of her life. This is the reason she became interested in the Dulaine method that allows her to bring a new dimension to the field of care. She has been working as Director of Communication for Dance with me since its creation.

Claudia Cittadini

Claudia Cittadini

Project manager

After graduating at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences (University of Geneva), Claudia has worked in various social institutions. These experiences led her to continue her studies and to obtain a bachelor's degree in psychology (University of Geneva). She worked as a social worker at the Hospice général until 2012. Claudia became aware of the socio-cultural diversity at an early age. She takes specially at heart the right to be different and the respect for others. She has been working for Dance with me as Project manager since 2011.
Didier Stauffer-Paulos

Didier Stauffer-Paulos

Dancing Communities programs Artistic director

Born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Didier moved to the Lake Geneva region, where he currently lives and works, to pursue his studies. He holds a BA in International Relations and a federal patent in Adult Education. He now shares his time between teaching and dancing, two centers interests.

He has been a teacher in accounting and commercial branches for several years, attaching great importance to the exploration of new approaches to teaching and to the relationship with the learner.
In another field, teaching tango allows him to convey his love of movement, communication through the body and musicality. As a teenager he followed a training in ballroom dance, and, at a professional level, in ballet and contemporary dance. His discovery of argentinian tango few years ago led to develop a real passion. Didier considers dance as an essential element of balance. He joined Dance with me in 2011 as Teaching Artist and since 2015 he is Senior Teaching Artist, trainer for the new Teaching Artists in Switzerland.

Giovanna Carrassi

Giovanna Carrassi

Collaborator in theater and creative writing

After graduating in history and philosophy, Giovanna trained as an actress with Vittorio Gassman in Florence. She has worked both as actress and stage director with some of the most renown Italian artists: Ettore Scola, Vittorio Gassman, Adolfo Celi, Stefania Sandrelli and Maurizio Nichetti. Her interest in the social impact of art led her to introduce theater in contexts such as prisons and therapeutic communities dealing with addiction. For several years she devoted herself to the study of theatrical and cinematographic writing with Ettore Scola and Leo Benvenuti and later she deepened the approach of creative writing. She has collaborated with Professor Jean Philippe Assal and the Fondation Recherche et Formation pour l'Éducation des Patients (Geneva) contributing to the development of the method “Theatre of Living Experience” in Italy in the fields of chronic diseases, addictions and post-traumatic stress disorders.
Silvia Barbetta

Silvia Barbetta

Collaborator in public relations with medical institutions

Silvia was born in Italy from an Italian father and a Swiss mother. After studying medicine at the University of Rome La Sapienza she continued her training in internal medicine in various hospitals in Switzerland. In 1997 she moved to Geneva, where she practices as a general practitioner.
She is particularly interested in therapeutic education and in doctor-patient communication.
Fabiana Tirone

Fabiana Tirone

Collaborator in research

Fabiana is a graduate in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Naples. She holds a PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Geneva and is currently working at the University Medical Centre in Geneva as postdoc in Structural Biology and Bioinformatics. She is interested in the ethical issues of scientific research as well as its impact on the individual and society.

Our "teaching artists"

Didier Stauffer-Paulos

Didier Stauffer-Paulos

Born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Didier moved to the Lake Geneva region, where he currently lives and works, to pursue his studies. He holds a BA in International Relations and a federal patent in Adult Education. He now shares his time between teaching and dancing, two centers interests.

He has been a teacher in accounting and commercial branches for several years, attaching great importance to the exploration of new approaches to teaching and to the relationship with the learner.
In another field, teaching tango allows him to convey his love of movement, communication through the body and musicality. As a teenager he followed a training in ballroom dance, and, at a professional level, in ballet and contemporary dance. His discovery of argentinian tango few years ago led to develop a real passion. Didier considers dance as an essential element of balance. He joined Dance with me in 2011 as Teaching Artist and since 2015 he is Senior Teaching Artist, trainer for the new Teaching Artists in Switzerland.

Stefania Nuzzo

Stefania Nuzzo

Trained at the theatre school Serge Martin, Stefania holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Geneva and has been working in theater as a professional actress since 2008.
She co-founded the theater company La Balibaloo Compagnie, the musical group Pizzicamore and the rehearsal space Walhalla in Chavannes-près-Renens. She regularly collaborates with the Foundation Research and Training for Patient Education. Formed by Pierre Dulaine, she has been working as Teaching Artist since 2009.
Karine Mazza

Karine Mazza

Karine, with a degree in public relations, has a long experience in communication and business. Since more than ten years, she oriented herself toward health care. As a therapist in the psycho-physical domain, she has worked for nine years, part-time, in the psychiatric clinic La Métairie. She also runs workshops aiming at developing body awareness. Music and dance have always been part of her life. This is the reason she became interested in the Dulaine method that allows her to bring a new dimension to the field of care.
Myriam Sintado

Myriam Sintado

Myriam was born in Buenos Aires and arrived in Switzerland at the age of 12. After studying theology, she graduated from the theater school Serge Martin in Geneva. Throughout the years, her acting career led her to develop her pedagogical skills and to share her work abroad with her tours.

Passionate about many forms of artistic expression that she develops, she discovers in 2010 the Dulaine method and decides to commit to its development. Working with Dance with me as Teaching Artist and teaching ballroom dance to adults in different contexts is for her a constant source of joy and personal enrichment.

Marine Heiniger

Marine Heiniger

From a young age, Marine has been passionate about music, circus, theater and dance. She very much enjoys sharing human and social values through the arts. She therefore naturally went to study psychomotricity and received her Bachelor in 2020.

In 2018, she discovered the Dulaine method for the first time in Geneva with a group of young migrants and fell in love with this compassionate and human approach. She took part in several projects with the Association Dance with me in the field of dance and theater.

At the same time, Marine is very involved in an association for people with disabilities (Cérébral Vaud, in Lausanne), in which she has been a facilitator (since 2018) and manager (since 2021). With the desire to enrich her social and artistic experience and contribute to her community, Marine enthusiastically joined the Teachings Artist team in 2020 (Vaud and Geneva region).

David Capelan Barral

David Capelan Barral

Born in Geneva from Spanish parents, David has a professional baccalaureate in commerce and seven years of experience as a caregiver.
Today, he is also an administrative assistant in a nursing association.
His journey led him to encounter all the age groups. In a very natural way he turned to dance as a means of expression, for it is important in his family. He attended classes at Kap'Danse for about ten years. In the fall of 2015 he was trained as a Teaching Artist.
Today, he is ready to transmit the Dulaine values and method with joy.
Valérie Chérix

Valérie Chérix

Valerie began dance and theater from her childhood and she specialized in Argentinian tango and swing.
The cinema also occupies an important place in her cultural activities, where she works as a director and actress. Valérie has a double baccalaureate in visual arts and languages.
Mother of two children, she wishes to encourage values such as respect, benevolence, self-esteem and social well-being through dance. She joined the Teaching Artists team in 2015.
Lorianne Cherpillod

Lorianne Cherpillod

Lorianne Cherpillod is a complete artist. Singer, actress, musician, she studied in Geneva, Lausanne or Paris. She began her career as a singer in the children's choir of the Grand Theater, and then in musicals like Cats, Grease or West Side Story. As an actress, she regularly plays Jean Winiger's plays and has participated for several years in the Revue de Genève. She also animates the character of Popette in the show for children Les Théopopettes. She appeared on television alongside Jean-Claude Brialy in Le hasard fait bien les choses, or as an animator on Leman Bleu. She also worked in cinema. Lately, she started her career as director and, among others, she directs the troupe Open scène.

On the dance side, she regularly performs in her various shows and has the chance to start teaching the Dulaine method as a Teaching Artist!

You need tom know more about us?

Contact us !