Melisa Diktaş is a dancer and mover of Kurdish/Indonesian descent, born in the Netherlands. She develops a narrative dance idiom rooted in govend (traditional Kurdish folk dance) and urban contemporary dance techniques. She primarily works as a performer in theatres for various productions, companies, choreographers, poets, and events. Since graduating nine years ago from the Lucia Marthas Institute for Performing Arts, she has continued to explore and grow professionally, gaining a wealth of experience in the field. Her solo performances are grounded in her personal movement language and shaped by her worldview and beliefs. Melisa is a creator whose starting point is the power of origin. “Everything that moves, dances.” Her work navigates what connects us as well as what sets us apart. As a choreographer, her work has been presented in Sweden, Norway, Turkey, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
Melisa is part of the New Makers Scheme, with ICK Dans Amsterdam, Cinedans, and RIGHTABOUTNOW INC. as her collaborating partners.
With RIGHTABOUTNOW INC., she developed her performance That which is indomitable: Criatura. She presented her work-in-progress at the WIPCOOP Festival 2023 in Brussels and during Dansdagen Haarlem 2024. She participated in Amsterdam Fringe 2024, where her piece won the Fringe at Best Awards 2024, and performed it at various venues throughout the Netherlands as part of the RIGHTABOUTNOW Festival 2024. In April 2025, Melisa won the BNG Dance Prize for hat which is indomitable. The performance will go on tour alongside Antibodies, a duet by Korzo artist Constantin Trommlitz, as part of DansClick 27.
RIGHTABOUTNOW INC. is een interdisciplinair hiphop en urban productiehuis en stedelijk centrum voor podiumkunsten in Amsterdam. RAN INC. brengt een nieuwe generatie makers en artiesten voor het voetlicht door het produceren van evenementen, tentoonstellingen en sociaal-maatschappelijke projecten in binnen- en buitenland. Ze coacht en cureert opkomende kunstenaars uit verschillende (sub)culturen en disciplines, van muziek, hedendaagse kunst tot dans en theater. Als ‘Centre for the urban arts’ gelooft zij in diversiteit als de krachtigste bron van culturele en artistieke innovatie.
