Digital Presence
Through the Body
NIPAI LAB · BERLIN · SECOND EDITION
for Performing Artists
Four evenings in a Berlin studio for actors, dancers, directors and other performing artists. Using movement, a phone camera and a partner's outside eye, you look at your profile the way a director, producer or curator would, and start changing it while you are still in the room.
WHEN
8-11 January 2027,
18:30-20:30
WHERE
DOCK 11 EDEN, Berlin
FORMAT
8 hours in the studio, plus workbooks for the weeks after
LANGUAGE
Taught in English. Bring your smartphone
TUITION
€150 until 7 October 2026
WHAT SENDS YOU TO OPEN SOCIAL MEDIA?
On the first evening of the first Lab, in August 2026, we asked the group what feeling sends them to open social media. The answers came in anonymously:
Boredom
Obligation
Work
To promote my work and create a network
Job and collaboration opportunities
Curiosity
Seeing what people are up to
Connecting with friends
Checking the news
Loneliness
Nervousness
Sadness
If you're happy with something and want to share
Boredom came up most often. Work, promotion and job opportunities came up too, sometimes in the same answer as friends and curiosity.
Most of these answers describe scrolling that happens by itself. The Lab works on the part that needs a decision: what you show, who it is for, and a rhythm that fits your working week.
WHAT ARTISTS BROUGHT TO THE FIRST LAB
Six things that came up in August 2026, and how the Lab works with each of them.
I don't know what to post.
You build a content table from your own practice: a theme, a real moment from your work, what you want it to achieve and who it is for. You also get a guide with content ideas for performing artists, for the weeks between premieres.
I can film it. Pressing Post is where it stops.
Everything in the Lab stays in draft, and you decide what goes online. You practise the steps before posting: making material quickly, watching it with others, choosing. Afterwards you keep one small daily habit, such as filming ten seconds or writing one sentence, and publish on a weekly rhythm.
It feels like something I have to use.
You start with your goals: where you want your work to lead, who can help, and what those people need to see. Once you know who your profile is for, deciding what to post gets much easier.
I'm afraid it will look unprofessional.
We look at the difference between imperfect and unprofessional. A phone video reads as a phone video. Someone who opens your profile for work is looking for your role, your current project and a way to reach you.
I do too many things.
In one scene, a producer arrives with one specific job. Every time the artist speaks, another profession joins the list, and the producer leaves alone. You choose which role leads your profile and give the others their own place in Highlights and pinned posts.
I want to be found, and I want to stay an artist.
For many artists, Instagram works best as a living professional CV built from their actual work. Someone who has already heard your name opens it and quickly understands what you do and how to reach you.
WHY THROUGH THE BODY
The body often reacts before the head explains. On the first evening of the first Lab, many people tensed up the moment a phone camera turned towards them. The question "why are we doing this?" came afterwards. Later, some of them used the material filmed in those exercises.
The Lab works with that reaction. Each evening takes one real problem and turns it into a short physical situation. You go through it, notice what happened, talk it through with the group and turn it into one practical change to your profile. The workbook then shows you how to repeat the process on your own.
FOUR EVENINGS
EVENING 1 · FRI 8 JAN
The camera
Getting used to your own image on the phone. The performer leads, then the camera leads. A 15-second wordless group video.
EVENING 2 · SAT 9 JAN
Goals and the outside eye
Your goals, the people who can help you reach them and what they need to see. A partner watches your étude, then reads your profile.
EVENING 3 · SUN 10 JAN
From a moment to material
Three gestures for one moment from your work, directed and filmed by a partner in three shots. At home you edit a short video with the workbook guide and rewrite your bio.
EVENING 4 · MON 11 JAN
The professional visitor
Inner Voice scenes built on common profile problems. You rewrite one element of your profile and test it on a partner who reads it as a stranger.
From the second evening on, each session opens with the questions you bring from the day before.
WHAT YOU LEAVE WITH
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8 hours of practical work in the studio, alone, in pairs and in small groups
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one element of your profile rewritten and tested on a reader, and a new bio (150 characters for Instagram, 220 for a LinkedIn headline)
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your own recorded material and a short video edited from it
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a content table built from your practice, and a guide to content ideas for performing artists
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a daily habit of collecting material that takes under 30 seconds, and a weekly publishing rhythm
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a workbook for each evening and the 60-Day Digital Presence Menu
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individual feedback at day 30, when you complete the checkpoint and send a short reflection.
The workbooks are there for the weeks after, when you continue on your own.
WHO THE LAB IS FOR
Actors, dancers, choreographers, theatre and movement directors, physical theatre and circus performers, performance makers, musicians and composers who work in theatre, and educators who teach alongside their art. The first edition brought together twelve actors, directors, choreographers and dancers from the United States, Greece, the United Kingdom, Germany and Slovenia.
The Lab suits you if:
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your profile still describes the work you did two years ago;
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your strongest credits sit in other people's accounts;
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your profile goes quiet between projects;
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you want professional contacts and would rather keep your posts about the work;
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you have a profile on at least one platform, or are ready to draft one.
Choose another format if you need paid advertising, SEO, a website, fast audience growth or someone to run your accounts. For three months of structured work with weekly individual feedback, see Digital Presence for Performing Artists, NIPAI's distance programme.
START ON YOUR OWN: A FREE PROFILE AUDIT
A workbook for auditing your profile
Look at your profile the way a stranger would, write down your goals and the people who can help you reach them, ask someone to look at it with you, then rebuild your profile photo, name line, bio, Highlights and pinned posts. The same route the Lab takes, for working on your own. 26 pages, free.
IN PARTICIPANTS' WORDS
“For people like me - who are allergic to social media and against the principle of promoting yourself through channels of questionable validity and touch with reality - Kseniia's input into how to do it in a structured way, avoiding traps and pitfalls, helped me see things in a different way and be more open to embrace the rules of the modern market.”
ACTRESS, GREECE
“At first, I was somewhat sceptical and expected it to be less engaging, but Kseniia found creative and entertaining ways to introduce us to social media and encouraged us to view it more positively, not simply as something we have to use, but as a practical tool that can support our professional work.”
ACTRESS, GREECE
“I never thought a workshop for artists in social media would be so fun and creative.”
CHOREOGRAPHER, USA
“What an innovative way to look at marketing and existing in the digital world.”
DIRECTOR, USA
“Kseniia's explanation and exercises on developing a social media routine as an artist expanded my idea of what I can be doing to better promote and share my work with others.”
ACTOR, USA
In the weeks after the first Lab, one participant opened a new professional account, others began changing their profiles, and another shared their first step towards a daily routine in Instagram stories.
WHO LEADS THE LAB
Kseniia Lohvyniuk has led NIPAI's marketing and international communication since 2022. She has worked in marketing and public relations at the Nationaltheater Mannheim and the Mittelsächsische Theater und Philharmonie, trained in acting in Odessa and completed NIPAI's year-long Theatre Directing for Beginners programme. She developed Digital Strategy Through the Body, the method behind this Lab, inspired by the physical theatre training of Sergei and Gennadiy Ostrenko at NIPAI, and led the first edition in August 2026.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Dates
Friday 8 to Monday 11 January 2027
Time
18:30-20:30 each evening. The organiser may adjust timings.
Format
four sessions, 8 hours in the studio, plus workbooks for the weeks after
Group
up to 16 participants
Venue
DOCK 11 EDEN, Breite Str. 43, 13187 Berlin (Pankow)
Language
English
Tuition
€150 for registrations confirmed by 7 October 2026. The fee covers the four sessions and all workbooks.
Bring
a charged smartphone, a video-editing app such as Edits or CapCut, and clothes you can move in
After you apply
we contact you with the next steps and ask for a link to the profile you want to work on.
Same week
Text, Voice & Physical Action, NIPAI's physical theatre workshop, runs in the daytime from 8 to 12 January 2027 at the same venue. The Lab starts after its daily sessions.
Participants follow NIPAI's etiquette and terms and conditions.
FAQ
What is Digital Presence Through the Body?
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A four-evening lab for performing artists, run by NIPAI (New International Performing Arts Institute) in Berlin and led by Kseniia Lohvyniuk. Participants work on how their professional profile reads to directors, producers and curators, through physical exercises and camera work in pairs. The second edition takes place on 8-11 January 2027 at DOCK 11 EDEN. The first edition ran in August 2026 as Digital Presence Lab for Performing Artists.
Is this a social media course?
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Most of the practical work happens on your own profiles, mainly Instagram and LinkedIn. The subject is your professional presence: how a stranger understands your work and finds a way to reach you. Websites, ads and analytics belong to other formats.
Is this about self-promotion?
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It is about making your work easy to understand for people who might want to work with you. That includes saying clearly what you do, which some artists experience as self-promotion. In the Lab you approach it from your practice and from what a professional visitor needs in order to act. What you publish, and how personal it gets, is your decision.
What if I dislike social media?
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Several participants of the first Lab arrived sceptical. You can keep your opinion and still use the platforms for your work in a small, practical way that fits into a normal working week.
Do I need marketing experience or an active account?
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You can start from zero. Participants without a profile draft its first screen during the Lab.
Will I be filmed? Do I have to post personal content?
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You film each other during the exercises, and you can always choose to hold the camera instead. Everything stays in draft during the Lab, and how much of your personal life appears online is your call.
Can I combine the Lab with the physical theatre workshop in the same week?
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Yes. Text, Voice & Physical Action runs in the daytime from 8 to 12 January 2027 at the same venue, and the Lab starts at 18:30, after its sessions end.
What can change after the Lab?
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You leave with a clearer profile, material from your own practice and a weekly rhythm. That can make it easier for people who already know your name to understand your work and take the next step: write to you, invite you or recommend you. Roles, bookings and followers depend on much more than a profile, so the Lab concentrates on the part you can control.
FREE WORKBOOK
Audit your profile the way a stranger would
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26 pages. The same route the Lab takes, for working on your own.