FICHO Instititute

I’m Goran Bogdanovski — dance teacher, choreographer, embodiment coach, and founder of Ficho Institute.

I’ve lived and breathed dance professionally since 1990 — from the Slovene National Ballet to an international career as a contemporary dancer, performer, creator, and teacher.

Over the years, my work has expanded beyond performing.

I’ve created and toured performances with my dance company, Fičo Balet, and contributed to the development of the dance field by co-creating platforms, festivals, and networks such as Nomad Dance Academy, Kino Šiška, CoFestival, Gibanica, and the Centre for Contemporary Dance Arts Slovenia.

Looking back, I can see that much of my work has been about building spaces and communities where people can meet, move, and grow together.

In 2000, I shifted my focus toward dance improvisation and embodied practice — searching for a more authentic and direct way of moving, creating, and living.

This led to years of exploration across different disciplines, including dance improvisation, contact improvisation, martial arts, somatics, meditation, spirituality, and embodied practices.

Since 2006, I’ve been teaching, coaching, and mentoring internationally — working with over 3,000 people in 23 countries.

Through this process, I developed a body of work that brings together more than 100 practical tools, exercises, and principles — accessible to anyone, regardless of background or experience.

This work became what is now known as The Art of Dance Alchemy.

A structured, yet open practice that allows people to:

reconnect with themselves
understand how they function
and learn how to work with it through movement

Today, my focus is on teaching, developing this practice further, and creating spaces — from weekly trainings to retreats and facilitator programs — where people can explore, grow, and apply this work in their lives and work.

Part of this vision is taking shape in Bali, where I’m working toward creating a place to live, work, and host transformative experiences — a space that brings together practice, community, and environment.

This is not just something I teach.

It’s a practice I live.

See Selected Work & References

Read My Story

A Fun Fact — A Small Story Behind the Name

Many People Ask Me — What Does FICHO Mean?

Not everything has to be serious. This is where it all started.

Back in 2001, we were working on our second production as a dance company —in a small studio, just a group of guys figuring things out as we went.

At some point, the conversation came up: “Hey… we need a name. We’re already touring.”

And somehow, Fičo came up.

A small, iconic car from our youth in Yugoslavia — simple, a bit rough, not very impressive on the outside…
but somehow magical.

We were a small group ourselves — all male dancers who had left the National Ballet to follow a different path,
a path towards more freedom, exploration, and creation.

Then we added Ballet. Even though we weren’t really doing ballet anymore, it was our shared background — our common language.

So it became: Fičo Balet.

A strange combination, maybe. But it perfectly reflected how we worked at the time:
👉 serious work — done in a completely unserious way

Even though the car wasn’t as stylish or elegant as its European counterparts, driving it was pure magic.
It was easy to master, fun to ride, and delivered far more than anyone expected.

Over the years, as the work evolved,vFičo Balet became Ficho Institute.

And somehow, those qualities stayed.

👉 simple 👉 playful 👉 accessible 👉 and capable of going much further than expected

That spirit is still at the core of everything I create and share today.

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