Bence Gáspár

Pronounce: [ˈbɛnt͡sɛ ˈɡaːʃpaːr]
Pronouns: he / him / ő

  • Open Floor Teacher and Biologist

  • Born and raised in Budapest, Hungary

  • Based in Berlin, Germany

Embodiment & Mindfulness Experience

  • Open Floor Teacher (trained 2017–2019)

    • Assistant Faculty and Mentor in Teacher Training (2022–2024)

    • Open Floor International (OFI) Working Member (2021– )

    • Serving on the OFI Board of Directors (2023–)

  • Dancing since 1998

  • Yoga practice since 2004

  • Vipassana meditation since 2016

Academic Studies

  • 2014–2020: PhD in Plant Evolutionary Ecology

  • 2007–2013: BSc and MSc in Biology

  • 2007–2013: Member of the College for Advanced Studies in Social Theory

  • 2005–2009: Studies in Economics, International Relations

Picking up trash on Aegna island in Estonia <3

Places I have taught at

  • Berlin, Erfurt, Leipzig, Tübingen, Weimar (Germany)

  • Budapest, Csemő (Hungary)

  • London (UK)

  • Luxembourg

  • Tallinn, Aegna, Prangli (Estonia)

  • Puglia (Italy)

  • Prague (Czech Republic)

I am a dancer, mover, meditator, lover, rebel, walker, wanderer, wonderer, nature-lover, learner, critical thinker, researcher, communicator, sharer, listener, feeler, enjoyer, appreciator, time-bender, seeker, survivor, transformer, shaper, sense-maker, observer, contemplator, navigator, resourcer, and teacher.

I am trying to find a way through this life, and feel good in my skin. Every year is better than the one before. The overflowing gratitude in me for all the gifts and opportunities I have received from this world motivates me to share the tricks I learned with others.

~ • ~

Every milestone on my journey came with a feeling of home—right there wherever I was. In these moments, I feel more complete and at ease. There is less physical tension. There is less worry. Every time a little (or big) piece of me finds its way home, the energy previously used to keep it away becomes suddenly available for me to live with. I suddenly have more resources and possibilities. And it feels more as if I had a place in this world.

One of these moments was when I first stepped on an Open Floor in 2015. Andrea Juhan welcomed me, and I felt immediately at home.

~ • ~

I have been dancing (folk dances, ballroom, hip-hop, ballet, Limón-technique, contemporary, contact improvisation) and meditating since my childhood, and practicing yoga since I was 17. And since I was 5, I wanted to be a biologist. Every now and then the idea came to dance professionally, but then studying biology and critical social theory ‘won’. Dancing, although a very important part of my life, remained a hobby. At the age of 25 I was ready to start my healing journey—choreography gave way to movement improvisation; psychedelic trips to psychotherapy, retreats and ceremonies; ‘just enjoying’ and pleasing others to self-discovery and striving for integrity.

As a queer person with Jewish and Roma ancestry and a childhood in post-socialist Hungary, I experienced injustice and inequality in countless forms, so it was inevitable that I seek ways of using the privileges I had to empower myself and others. My first access was through education and intellect, and then the physical, somatic followed. When I learned that inclusion, diversity, equity and social justice are inherent to the Open Floor movement practice, another piece of the puzzle found its place.

While I was doing my PhD in biology–still trying to find my way in the image of the world that I received at the beginning of my life–I understood that the Open Floor was wide enough to make space for both worlds... I didn’t have to choose anymore between dancing and studying. So I trained to be an Open Floor teacher, and this container is spacious enough to be a medium for anything I can transmit—only what I have experienced myself.

~ • ~

Today, my training and over a decade of inner work support me to confidently hold space for transformative processes and encounter others authentically. I’m looking forward to working with you.