An improvisation performance with dance and music

For toddlers from 10 months and on and for kids up until 7 years old and their carers

The Surprise is being transported inside Kinitiras with the improvisational piece In the Land of Wherehowwhy! A magical journey for young spectators and their carers into a land, where curiosity and senses awake and are being drawn by music and dance! Heart pulses and the inner rhythm, the movements and the images will attract the kids’ wheres, their hows and their whys and the adults’ why nots, in order for them to co-create a unique and adventurous story. An improvisational performance that is led by three dancers and two musicians for spectators that want to get up, move, approach the action and choose what they will attend to but also affect the development of the piece. Because every time a different story will be brought to life, a SURPRISE for everyone!

Facilitator: Sania Strimpakou

Dancers: Katerina Gevetzi, Timos Zehas, Anthi Theofilidou, Hrysa Kalliafa, Eugenia Sigalou, Sania Strimpakou and Lia Chamilothori (three per performance).
Musicians: Kostas Giaksoglou (piano), Solis Barki (percussion), Nikos Sidirokastritis (percussion), Joe Tornabene (flute) (two per performance).
Costumes: Konstantina Vafeiadou
Lighting: Anti Steve
Production: Kinitiras

When: every Sunday at 17.00 (from the 4th of November and onwards)
Duration: 60 minutes
Entrance: 8€  adults, 5€ toddlers and kids, 20€ family (two adults, two kids)

Information/Bookings: 210-9248328; info@kinitiras.com*

*Bookings via phone or e-mail are done up until the Saturday 15.00 before every performance. Cancellations are done via e-mail or leaving a message at the answering machine.

Sania Strimpakou is a dancer and dance teacher. She studied at the National School of Dance in Athens and in New York with a scholarship from the Onassis Foundation. She has worked with many dance teams in Athens and Amsterdam as a dancer and assistant choreographer and she has edited the movement in plays. She has taught musical movement education, contemporary dance and improvisation at preschoolers, older children and adolescents as well as adults of all ages. She is the mother of a seven years old girl who is the inspiration for the workshop for parents and children in Kinitiras.

Anthi Theofilidou has graduated from the “Morianova Trasta”Professional Dance School. She studied for one year in the drama school “Archi” of Nelli Karra and in “Rubin Akademy of Dance” receiving a scholarship. She has worked as a dancer – performer with Greek and foreign choreographers and directors like Nive Shengfild, Amir Colban, Petros Gallias, Panagiotis Argyropoulos, Katerina Andriopoulou, Aggeliki Stellatou, Natasa Zouka, Antigoni Gyra, Nikos Koundouros, Carmen Rouggeri, Dimitirs Kouroumpalis and others. She has taught physical theatre in the Theatrology department in the University of Patra, as an assistant of the actor Kostas Filippoglou of the “Theatre de Comlicite’. She has taught movement and improvisation in the theatre workshop of Vlasi Zoth, contemporary dance in the professional and amateur dance school “Morianova”, as well as movement –improvisation – contact improvisation workshops in the drama school “ Iasmos”. She is one of the founding members of the “Paracoon” dance theatre company , for which she has choreographed two productions: “Den Variesai” performed in Roes Theatre and “ The night” performed in Kinitiras Residency Centre in Kakogianni Theatre (www.paracoon.com).

Katerina Gevetzi is a dancer / performer. She studied dance at the Higher Professional Dance School “Niki Kontaxaki” and at the academy SEAD (Salzburg’s Experimental Academy of Dance). From 2012 until 2015 she was based in Vienna, where she worked with Transitheart Productions and with Flowmotion Dance Company. She also worked at the National Opera of Berlin, with the director Philipp Stölzl and the choreographer Mara Kurotschka. In Greece she has collaborated as a performer with the Onassis Cultural Center, the Mihalis Kakogiannis Foundation, the Biennale and the Municipality of Athens, the Arc for Dance Festival as well as with the National Opera of Greece as a guest teacher of educational dance programs. She has also worked with Athanasia Kanellopoulou, Kosma Kosmopoulo, Mariela Nestora, Anthi Theofilidi, Antigone Gyra, Sania Strimbakou a.o. She teaches contemporary dance for teenagers and adults and she is member of Kinitiras Artistic Network since 2015.

Eugenia Sigalou is a dancer and pedagogic teacher. She was born in Athens and she studied dance in the State School of Orchestral Art (1999 – 2002) and pedagogics in the National Kapodistrian University of Athens (1999-2005). Since 2003 she works with Antigoni Gyra as a member of the Kinitiras Company. She has also cooperated with choreographers like Artemis Ignatiou, Natasa Zouka, Kiki Baka, Foti Nikolaou, Valia Papachristou, Maria Koliopoulou, as well as in productions of Megaro Mousikis Festival. She has worked as a teacher in the Greek German school Athener Schule. Since 2007 she is teaching dance in private schools.

Lia Chamilothori was born in Athens in 1985 and she was a rhythmic gymnast and later for many years member of the acrobatic club Irini Peristeriou. After graduating from the Economic University of Athens, she studied dance in the Higher Professional Dance School “Rallou Manou” and graduated in 2010 with honors. In 2011, after being examined, she received a scholarship from the Onassis Foundation for technical improvement in Brussels, Belgium (Danscentrum Jette), where for two years she attended seminars for technical improvement and improvisation and she worked with various modern dance groups.
She has attended seminars in Greece and abroad with major dancers and choreographers. As a dancer she has worked with various groups in Greece and abroad (Cie la ignorancia, Creo dance company, Paracoon, Krama, Transito etc), she was a member of the Greek participation in the European project Homme @ home through the dance center I.R.Ntankan and as an assistant for the team Fora etc. She has taught modern dance and partnering in the “school dance Michael Nalbantis”, at the dance school “Rallou Manou” and “Morianova-Charalampi”.

Joe Tornabene is an award winning multimedia musician, stage and film actor and sound designer. He has been sound designing, performing, composing, and exploring performance practice for music, dance and theatre for over 40 years. He has been researching the dynamics and creative possibilities of improvisation and embodied performance practice in multimedia contexts in the USA and Europe. He has taught experiential workshops concerned with the relationships of Performance, embodiment, movement, music, sound, and improvisation in major dance, theatre and music academies in 10 countries. In Greece, he has taught in schools and studios including Nellie Karra’s Advanced School of Dramatic Arts, APXH, Deree College, Kinitiras, Synergio Technon, Kodo Stage and Sinergatiko Studio, with Thalia Ditsa. He was an actor with Theatro Technis (The Art Theatre of Greece). He was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Award at the 46th Thessaloniki International Film Festival (Greece) 2005 for his role in Kyriakos Katzourakis’ film, Sweet Memory. Joe Tornabene currently lives in Greece, continuing his performing and teaching in various venues.

Chrysa Kalliafa graduated from the National School of Dance (KSOT) and continued her studies with a Postgraduate Diploma (Edge Company) in dance performance and teaching at London Contemporary Dance School-The PLace funded by the K.Pratsika Foundation. Since 2007 she has been collaborating as a dancer with choreographers and other artists in Greece and abroad. She has lived and worked in London and in Amman and she has collaborated with Freddie Opoku-Addaie (Jagged Antics), Harriet Macauley (Pair Dance Company), Nico Monaco (Akhram Kahn), Dina Abu Hamdan, Paolo Cingolani (Allens Line), Teti Nikolopoulou, Mihali Argyrou, Olga Spiraki, Joe Tornabene. The past years she has been working with the art of improvisation, embodiment and instant composition taking part in performances but also teaching based on the Somatics principles. Meanwhile she studies the Feldenkrais method, the Skinner Releasing technique, yoga and Contact Improvisation in order to expand her personal movemebt and expression but also in order to delve into the teaching of movement to people with injuries and movement difficulties. Since 2015 she has cofounded the Lalun dance company (Athens) along with Erifyli Dafermou and she dances in Instant Composition Performances along with reknown artists in dance and music. She teaches contemporary dance and improvisation classes and workshops on a regular basis and she facilitates practice of hatha yoga. She has taught Movement In Theatre in high school classes and creative movement to kids of preschool age. She has also taught in the professional, pre-professional and children’s classes at the professional dance school “Center of Dance and Art-Dansarte” in Patras.

Konstantinos Jiaxoglou studied classic piano and singing. He has a jazz diploma (Athenaeum Conservatorium), Bachelor in Music Jazz Piano Performance (Conservatorium Van Amsterdam) and is a graduate from the Department of Theatre Studies E.K.P.A. He has been teaching music and piano in schools and conservatoires since 2008. He was the artistic director of the International Jazz Festival in Kalamata (2010-2011). He teaches jazz in the summer jazz seminars at Horto in Pilio (2015-2018). He has collaborated and created discography with various artists at music scenes and festivals, at the Thessaloniki Consert Hall (2008-Bossanova National Theatre, 2009-Poly Quartet, 2014-Cabaret-K.Rigos), at the Athens Concert Hall (2013-Cabaret K. Rigos) and more.

Timos Zehas is a dancer, performer and dance teacher. He graduated from the professional dance school “Niki Kontaxaki-Mpakali” and he has studied with scholarship from the Fullbright Institution at the Trisha Brown studio in New York. He is a certified teacher of the International Research Network Axis Syllabus (ASIRN) as well as a certified Feldenkrais practitioner. He holds a diploma in Somatic-Psychoeducation (Danis Bois method) and he is also a Pilates teacher and Fascial Fitness Trainer. He was a permanent member of the ballet of the Greek National Opera. He has collaborated with institutions such as the National Theatre of Greece, The National Theatre of Northern Greece, DIPETHE of Patras and with companies of the contemporary dance scene along with reknown Greek and foreign choreographers. He has experience in improvisation and contact improvisation. He has taken part in national and international Dance Festivals in Athens as well as abroad and he has presented his own choreographic work.  He has taught at the Drama School of DIPETHE in Patras, the professional dance scool “Dansarte-Center of Dance and Art” of Tatiana Lomverdou, at the Nomadic College of Axis Syllabus and in workshops in Greece and abroad with various experience levels, dance amateurs and professionals as well as people of various age groups and needs.

Solis Barki works with illustration and comics. He is a musician and is specialized in percussion from all over the world, in didgeridoo and musical objects. He has been taught Mediterranean, African and Persian percussion from Mihalis Klapakis and Lefteris Grigoriou. He has collaborated and collaborates with Mimis Plessas, Mihalis Nikoloudis, Vasilis Rakopoulos, Ross Daly, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Nena Venetsanou, Aliki Kagialoglou, Kristi Stasinopoulou, Vaggelis Fampa, Nikos Touliatos, Alkis Kaloumenos, Panagiotis Stefos, Nikos Xidakis, Notis Mauroudis, Anastasia Moutsatsou, and other musicians, as well as with choreographers and theatre companies (National Theatre, Theatre of Thessalia, Spring Theatre). He has worked with fairytales’ narration performances along with Melina Karakosta, Mania Maratou and Agni Stroumpouli. He has published discography in collaboration with Lamia Bedioui, under the title FIN’AMOR and more productions in which he participates.

Nikos Sidirokastritis was born in ‘63 in Athens. He grew up in an appartment awaiting for the spring. In 1978 he commences his practice with music. He studies and listens to foreign music. On this pathway he meets people, he plays music with them, he collaborates, he makes friends, he falls in love, he creates a family, he gets happy-sad, dissapointed-he hopes, he dreams, he lands into reality and he feels nostalgic. He stays on the pathway. He tries to engrave all this and much more onto silence with two pieces of wood.