The Aachen-based cultural manager and choreographer Yvonne Eibig is the new director of the internationally renowned Schrittmacher Festival 2026, succeeding Rick Takvorian, who gave up the organization and coordination of the dance festival after 30 years this spring. She says: "I am looking forward to the new task and the new challenges, which I am taking on with great respect for Rick Takvorian's many years of work. I will shape the future of the festival together with the very dynamic and motivated team of partners and colleagues".

Yvonne Eibig is very familiar with the national and international dance scene and is a board member and project manager of the dance network ARTbewegt. In this role, she was responsible for the Aachen part of the program GENERATION2 as a previous cooperation partner of the Schrittmacher Festival as well as the annual co-production "Co-Laboration" with young people from NRW and South Limburg, which is shown in Aachen and Heerlen during the festival period. Eibig is also active as artistic director for innovative stage productions - including for the NRW State Youth Orchestra, Theater Aachen and the Aachen Compound Company - and accompanies change processes in the cultural sector.

Heinrich Brötz, Deputy for Education, Youth and Culture, emphasizes that the festival has gained a highly competent new director in Yvonne Eibig. "Her infectious passion for modern dance will give the festival new impetus," explains Brötz. "Yvonne Eibig has an excellent network. Thanks to her good contacts with the local actors in Aachen, the Parkstad Limburg Theaters Heerlen and Kerkrade as well as the Alter Schlachthof Eupen, she is ideally equipped to pick up the many threads directly and to further develop the Schrittmacher Festival together with the municipal cultural sector and Theater Aachen."

Elena Tzavara, General Director of Theater Aachen, adds: "I warmly congratulate Yvonne Eibig on her appointment as the new Festival Director of the Schrittmacher Festival. With her many years of experience as project manager of the Generation2 platform and her proven expertise in international cultural management, she is excellently qualified to give the renowned Euregio dance festival new, pioneering impetus. Her curatorial signature stands for artistic quality, interdisciplinary openness and a deep sense of the developments in contemporary dance."