Steen Haakon Hansen
He was born in Copenhagen Wednesday, 12.March 1947. It was a snowing winter.
Steen made his entrance in theatre in 1971 as a stagehand and technician. And he worked as such until 1973 when he started his education as a director, actor, and acting teacher at Statens Teater Skole in Copenhagen.
In 1972 he worked as a technician on the production when Keith Johnstone staged “The Last Bird” at Statens Teater Skole in Copenhagen.
During his education, 1973-1977, at The Danish National School of Theater, Steen studied at the studio of Etienne Decroux and L´Ecole Nationale Du Cirque in Paris for a term.
Since 1977 Steen has worked as an actor, director, and teacher in Denmark and abroad.
Keith Johnstone’s improvisational methods and teaching ethics greatly influence Steen’s work.
Today, Steen Haakon Hansen is considered one of the best acting teachers in his field, especially in improvisation.
His hallmark is creating a safe environment where students can unleash their imaginations and let their ideas come to life on stage. As well as how you can use your acting skills to make the body, the props, and the room part of the narrative.
He constantly creates new exercises so that the individual student learns his craft and students learn to create stage art together.
Steen finds inspiration for new exercises rooted in the work of Keith Johnstone, Yevgeny Vakhtangov, Etienne Decroux, Yves Lebreton, Jacques Lecoq, Michael Chekhov to bring out the best in the students and actors he works with.
He has taught in these places, among others:
The Danish National School of Performance Arts
Colgate University, New York
GITIS, Moskva
Danish Actors Union
Odense Theatre School
London Contemporary Dance School
Łaźnia Nowa Theatre, Krakow
ImproKRK, Krakow
AST National Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków
Odsherred Theatre School
Nordic Black Theatre, Oslo
Danish Children’s Theatre Association
Aarhus Theatre Academy
Theatre AU DOUZE, Aix en Provence, France
Ricketts Dance Company, Askov Højskole, Snoghøj Højskole, Artlab, and different festivals in Europe.