Eshidoreen Paradiso

Choregrapher • Judge Hip Hop 2vs2

Eshidoreen Paradiso is a Tanzanian-Norwegian dance artist and choreographer from Furuset in Oslo, with a background in street and club dance and hip hop freestyle. She is affiliated with the collective B16 in Oslo.

As a choreographer, Paradiso explores identity, freedom and stories that arise from the experiences of women of colour. She is committed to creating spaces where Black and melanated women can be seen, recognised and celebrated. Eshidoreen was co-choreographer of the work-in-progress piece UHURU, which was presented during Soul Sessions Encounters and at Dansens Hus, Oslo in 2021.

Paradiso has taken part in several prominent productions such as Perspectives, The Way Out is the Way In, Trekant rundt firkant and Jam. She has also taught and been invited to judge dance competitions in France, Germany and Scandinavia, in recognition of her expertise and influence on the international dance scene.

Carlos Catún a.k.a. Gato

Choregrapher

Carlos Catún, better known as Gato, is a Guatemalan dancer and choreographer based in Oslo. He is rooted in breaking and rocking, and also has a growing practice within the contemporary field.

As a choreographer, his work revolves around migration, belonging and human dignity – themes he knows in his own body after a ten-year journey towards safety. In recent years, Gato has worked at the intersection of street culture and performing arts, including in productions such as Vidas Extremas (at the Sami National Theatre Beaivváš), Hyl i Hælen, Fragmenter and 3xHistorias, as well as in the international collaboration Reflets in Madagascar.

Catún has also worked with renowned Norwegian choreographers such as Mia Habib and Hooman Sharifi. In parallel, he has been active as a teacher and project leader in the hip hop community, working closely with young people and developing open, creative spaces for community and participation.

Emma Damskau

Choregrapher

Emma Damskau (NO) is an Oslo-based choreographer and dancer. She works across genres between club, stage, performance and ritual, and is interested in how dance styles carry emotional, energetic and symbolic qualities that open up new narratives.

Emma has contributed to and created projects such as All About Mimi (Dansens Hus, Oslo Nye, tour in Norway and Sweden), Mimi Devine – Spilling the T on the D, the solo work Nudges and the short film Voguing with Beethoven in collaboration with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. In addition, she has been active in the house and ballroom scene since 2016 and has taken part in a number of battles in Norway and internationally.

Sons Of Wind

Company / Collective

Sons of Wind (SOW) represent a lifestyle. Since they were established in 2013, they have explored hip hop freestyle, both in movement and music, in order to preserve and carry forward a shared cultural heritage that stretches from past to future. Since 2021, SOW has been supported and followed by the FAIR-E / CCN collective in Rennes and Brittany, and by Théâtre Louis Aragon in Tremblay-en-France in the 22–23 and 23–24 seasons.

SOW is a group made up of around twenty artists within dance, music, photography and video. The name points to a pure and simple idea of movement, and to a group where knowledge and expression are constantly shared and passed on between the members. It also refers to the diversity of identities that give the group life. Here, the individual is in the service of the collective. Sharing and transmission are at the core of the project. The artists wish to pass on what they themselves experience through music. S.O.W are more concerned with the experiences created than with the finished result.

Piero Issa and Ole Petter Knarvik

Duo

Piero Issa and Ole Petter Knarvik were part of founding Absence Crew in 1999.

Since then, they have worked closely together on productions aimed at children and young people. They have collaborated with Riksteatret, Den Nationale Scene, the Bergen International Festival and DKS.

In addition, they have carried out international projects in Afghanistan, China and Spain.

Their work combines dance, storytelling and documentary elements, with a focus on presence, play and audience participation.

Their latest project, Sans, is a dance performance created for children. The idea arose during a visit to Kabul, where they improvised without electricity and technical equipment. The performance explores presence in the moment and the fundamentals of dance and music.

The children’s curiosity and co-creation are at the centre.

Coflo (US)

DJ • Afterparty • House Exchange

Coflo is a multidisciplinary artist who brings a dancer’s soul to the heart of house music. Rooted in American house dance and capoeira, his sound is deeply physical, rhythmic, and embodied. Raised in the Bay Area house scene, Coflo honors the culture and community that shaped him while continuously pushing club music forward.

As Head of A&R and Label Manager at Ocha Records, and a core artist on Yoruba Records, Coflo’s releases and remixes have become staples for DJs worldwide. From “Stress Relief (Don’t f*** with me right now)” to acclaimed remixes for Ron Trent and Louie Vega, his work bridges underground history with future-facing grooves — always soulful, always intentional.

MUD Session • DJ Ghar & DJ Niwin (NO)

DJs • Afterparty • House Exchange

Our very own celebrated local heads, MUD resident DJs, @djgharofficial and @niwin_music aims to take us on a musical journey as they deliver a special set to get the crowd going and building an atmosphere on the dance floor! MUD stands for Movement Undefined and started as an open ‘House session’ for movers across different backgrounds. MUD Session concept was born in New York and created by the female House dance crew MAWU back in 2009, and later on brought to Norway, Oslo in 2015. Since then, MUD has been a common meeting ground where we share our spirit and love for House music, House dance and club culture. With roots in house, disco, funk and boogie music genre, MUD aims to recreate the atmosphere that has existed in the spirit of house clubbing culture for decades!

Chriz Nypan (NO)

Host • House Exchange

Chriz Nypan is and the co-founder of MUD sessions Oslo and place a central role in creating spaces within the house dance culture.

She works as a performing and creative dance artist based in Oslo. She started practicing hip-hop at x-Ray youthclub in the 90 and has furthered her education in street and club dances in Paris and New York where she is part of the NYC based female housedance crew MAWU. She is also a member of the Cre8 dance crew.

Mimmi (SE)

Judge • Open Styles crew vs crew

Mimmi is a dancer from Sweden, specializing in locking. She has competed in battles across Europe, achieving multiple wins and final placements - Last time she visited Oslo, she won the Locking 2 vs 2 at Soul Sessions Extended 2025!!

To honor the people who brought Locking to Sweden – and who have been influential in her own dance journey – she created the 2021 documentary Lock It Up: The Documentary, a tribute to Swedish Locking history (available on Vimeo).

Over the years, she has actively sought training with pioneers such as Skeeter Rabbit, Scoo B Doo, and Tony Gogo. Her solid foundation was shaped by Supreme and Arvidos, and further developed through Funky Asparagus’ focus on foundations and floorwork, as well as Rob1’s creativity.

Ramona (FI)

Judge • Open Styles crew vs crew

Ramona Panula(she/her), also known as Bgirl Ramona, is a professional b-girl, dancer, teacher, and cultural producer. She has had a long international competitive career, performing on major global stages as well as in Finland. Beyond competitions, she has worked as a dancer across fields including theatre, and has been highly active as an event producer and community developer in the Finnish hip hop scene(SADE ry, Call Out Suomi, and Suomen Breikkiliitto ry).

Sighloaded (FR)

Judge • Open Styles crew vs crew

Sighloaded is a versatile dancer with roots in the club culture in Paris, where hip hop and house shaped both his movement language and musical sensibility. He's worked professionally as a dancer since 2007 and been living in Norway since 2015. Today he continues the club culture – on roller skates. With a unique combination of rhythm, flow, and wheels, he creates a style where dance and movement merge in new ways.

Sighloaded won the Soul Sessions Extended Hip Hop 1 vs 1 battle, two(!!) years in a row (2024 and 2025). He is also a co-founder of Skate Jam Norway, an initiative that helps develop and showcase “Dance on Wheels” both in Norway and internationally.

Jean-Baptiste Baele (BE/NO)

Judge • Encounters 1+1

Jean-Baptiste is a Belgian dance artist, choreographer, and educator based in Kristiansand, Norway. His work is characterized by strong physicality, embodied research, and emotional honesty, bridging contemporary dance, hip-hop foundations, and improvisation. Through his artistic practice, he addresses unspoken taboos and collective societal wounds, creating space for reflection, transformation, and shared humanity. Alongside choreographing, Jean-Baptiste is deeply engaged in education and community-building. He founded Step Forward, a dance training platform in Kristiansand with international reach, and teaches across Europe with a pedagogy rooted in movement research, creative process, and hip-hop/contemporary foundations.

As a winner of Encounters 1+1 in 2024 we are pleased to welcome him back as a judge for the 2026 edition!!

Sonya Lindfors (FI/CMR)

Judge • Encounters 1+1

Sonya Lindfors (FI/CMR) is an award-winning choreographer and artistic director whose works highlight questions of Blackness, representation, and power structures. She is the creator of performances such as One Drop (2023), common moves (2023), and camouflage (2021), and is the founder and artistic director of UrbanApa, a feminist and anti-racist platform for art and collective creation.

We are proud to have her with us at the Encounters Festival this year!

Kristina Gjems (NO)

Judge • Encounters 1+1

Kristina Gjems was trained at London Contemporary Dance School and has worked as a dancer and choreographer in the contemporary dance-field since 1984. Her works include stage and site-specific productions as well as dance films. She has been practicing and teaching Taiji for many years, which influences her movement vocabulary and inspires her artistic approach.Her practice often takes place in nature and the experience of connection between the body, movement, the elements and surroundings is strongly present in her work.

Thomas Pohlitz Strønen (NO)

Musician • Encounters 1+1

Thomas Pohlitz Strønen is one of Europe’s most prolific and boundary-pushing drummers, having been a driving force in the international music scene since 1999. A graduate of the renowned jazz program at NTNU Trondheim, he blends deep rhythmic precision with experimental soundscapes in a way that resonates with both the avant-garde as well as movements. With over 80 album credits to his name, Strønen has been a staple on the prestigious ECM Records label since 2005, where his work bridges the gap between structured composition and raw improvisation. His deep understanding of the relationship between sound and physical expression is evidenced by his commissions for The Norwegian National Opera & Ballet and the BBC. Throughout his career, he has toured the globe and collaborated with influential artists in a big variety of genres.Currently active with his ensembles Time is a Blind Guide and A Tinty Beat he continues to explore the intersection of delicate textures with grooves. photo: Anne Valeur

Henriette Eilertsen (NO)

Musician • Encounters 1+1

As first flutist Norway, Henriette Eilertsen has a BA in performing jazz. After her years at the Norwegian academy of music in Oslo, she has been exploring the role of the jazz flute in the present day music scene. Henriette has a versatile approach, where genre specifics, traditions and constellations are merely starting points for further explorations. Be it with her own solo project which culminated in the album“Poems for Flute”, where acoustic recordings float side by side with bitcrush sounds, in the space music band Billy Meier; in 60s free jazz group Andreas Røysum Ensemble; or in the highly active 16 pc composers’s collective OJKOS, where Eilertsen was one of the founders and has composed two commissioned pieces.

photo: Signe Fuglesteg Luksengard

Mathias Jin Budtz (DK/NO)

MC • Crew vs Cew Open Styles • Hip Hop 2vs2 & Encounters 1+1

Mathias Jin is an Oslo-based dance artist and dance activist. As co-founder of Soul Sessions Oslo he has played a crucial role for the organisation through the years and is still pushing forward with the team. Mathias Jin is also co-founder of the dance studio Subsdans and the crew dEEp doWN dopEiZM. He also represents Kingwings Crew. At this year’s festival he will guide us through all three battle categories aka we're in good hands!