Krystel Khoury and Sabine Cmelniski in ISAC

ISAC, Institut Supérieur des Arts et Chorégraphies de la Ville de Bruxelles, is very pleased to announce that Krystel Khoury has been appointed as the new head of the department. Krystel succeeds Daniel Blanga Gubbay, who lead ISAC between 2015 and today. Sabine Cmelniski has been appointed at the position of teaching assistant of the department, succeeding Simon Asencio, who co-managed ISAC in the last year. Krystel Khoury and Sabine Cmelniski will be leading ISAC for the next years, in collaboration with Enzo Pezzella, who created and co-managed the project since 2012. Krystel Khoury is from Beirut. Since 2006, she has conceived cultural initiatives and exchange programs between artists from the two sides of the Mediterranean and has been involved in transnational dance and theatre research as well as creative projects in Alexandria, Athens, Beirut, Cairo, Paris, and Antwerp among others. A lecturer in Dance studies at Lumière University of Lyon from 2007 to 2010, her research focusses on dance transmission and choreographic artistic practices analysis from an anthropological perspective. Trained first as a dancer, Krystel holds a Masters in Performing Arts from Lumière University of Lyon as well as a PhD in Anthropology of Intercultural Dynamics from Auvergne University in France. Since 2017, she works as a dramaturge and artistic director at the Open Border Ensemble at The Münchner Kammerspiele in Munich. She is also part of the arts organisation Mophradat aisbl - team, Brussels. Sabine Cmelniski was born and raised in Brussels. From tapdancing as a child to practicing contemporary dance or shiatsu, she has been busy with dance and body practices since she was 6. She studied Linguistics (Belgium) and Choreography (SNDO, Amsterdam). During her studies in SNDO, she created « Friends with benefits ». a transdisciplinary platform exploring the notions of affective labour and friendship in the artistic sector. Friends with Benefits research unfolded in several formats such as a performance festival, a solo piece, a workshop, a publication and the curation of residencies. Beside, she works as a dramaturge, performer and curator. She is completing a MA in Cultural Studies in KuLeuven and recently took over the artistic direction of the Bâtard festival (Brussels) together with Bouchra Lamsyeh.