i grew up in corfu, greece.
in 2002, i completed an MA in Dance Theatre Studies (choreological studies, choreography and education) at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in london.
since then i have lived, taught, danced and studied in holland, spain, portugal, germany, greece, the ukraine, thailand, israel and else where .
i am informed by
• dance and movement techniques such as limon, axis syllabus, flying low, passing through, contact, yoga, improvisation, physical theatre, theatrical clowning
• body/mind and therapeutic practices such as pilates, t’ai chi ch’uan, alexander, feldenkrais, qiqong, voicing
• martial arts, acrobatics and massage
• various approaches to learning such as democratic, agile, self-directed.
some of my teachers and sources of inspiration are Frey Faust, Julyen Hamilton, David Zambrano, Tew Bunnag, Kenzo Kusuda, Niskriya-Elena Kazantzidi, Gabor Maté, Eveline Kooren, Yaacov Hecht, Amber Elizabeth Gray, my mother, my children and nature.
for the past 25 years i choreograph, dance and teach in educational, artistic and therapy programmes for children, adolescents and adults.
i work with people of all ages with and without conditions such as quadriplegia, autism, degenerative neurological diseases, myo-skeletal atrophy, injuries and more.
this work has formed my undying faith in the limitlessness and brilliance of human potential.
i am the originator of Ensoma, a combination of dance and movement techniques, body/mind and therapeutic practices and contact and massage practices.
i am the single parent of two teenagers who, like all “minors” i have had the honor to be with, tirelessly remind me of a raw, uncompromising respect for human nature.
i collaborate with groups and individuals beyond dividing lines; cultural, academic, geographical, social, age, physical and mental; creating passage towards resilience for individuals and groups made vulnerable by social and/or economic marginalization.
i collaborate with musicians, doctors, acrobats, poets, teachers, therapists and schools.
my concerns are: improvisation, instant composition and open scores, art not only for art’s sake, theatrical alchemy, re-integrating the arts of movement, sound and touch into life and learning and the evolution of our species beyond what we have become accustomed to accept as our human limits.
my work and research focus on the effect that creativity and particularly the art of improvisation have on neurological development and social behavior.
the power of art to gently deconstruct repressive patterns without conflict and collapse is my driving force beyond dominant frames of what art is and what it is for.
i regularly travel to the sources of my inspiration in the areas of dance, education and healing.
since 2009 i direct the artistic, educational and cultural projects at casa lucia with valerie osborne.
in 2017 i co-founded eudec greece, a regional chapter of the european community for democratic education and in 2019 education plus, the greek association for the support of alternative and emancipatory forms of education.
since 2017 i run spring academy an intergenerational and interdisciplinary learning community without borders.
i am dedicated to safeguarding environments where human development is allowed, encouraged and facilitated.