Maria Koliopoulou
Choreographer
Maria Koliopoulou studied with a scholarship at the Laban Centre fοr Movement and Dance in London, completing a BA and a Diploma (Hons) in Dance Theatre. She also studied Fine Arts at Vacalo School of Arts & Design and is currently trained in Aikido martial art. She is a founding member of Prosxima Dance Company where she choreographs and performs since 1996.
She started choreographing collectively with the company, gradually branching out to her own choreographic works. These have been presented at the: Festival Culturel International de la Danse Contemporaine in Algiers ,Onassis Cultural Centre, Athens and Epidaurus Festival, Abundance Festival in Karlstadt, Tanz_House Festival in Salzburg, New Europe Festival in Prague, Solo and Duo Dance Festival in Budapest, 1st Mediterranean dance platform in Chania, Athens Concert Hall (4th & 2nd Greek Dance Platform), School of Fine Arts, Opening of the Attiko Metro, at theatre stages and alternative spaces in Athens.
Since 2005 she has collaborated as an independent choreographer, with the Danish Institute – Bridges between Women Artists, the Neos Kosmos Theatre in W. Shakespeare’s Othello, the National Theatre in M. Gorky’s Lower depths, L. Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and N. Kazantzakis Zorba the Greek.
She has been awarded with the:
• 2nd Prix @ Festival Culturel International de la Danse Contemporaine, Algiers 2013
• Jarmila Jeřábková Choreography Award ‐ New Europe Festival 2008
While working for over ten years in primary and secondary education, she has been teaching movement skills to dancers, actors, artists, performers, people with disabilities and people who just love dancing; She is currently leading contemporary dance workshops for adults with and without disabilities in the Unlimited Access programme at the Onassis Cultural Centre.
She has written the essay “The development of the Artistic Skills in Dance Teaching” that is included in the book Culture and Art- seven essays on dance, (propobos publications, Athens 2000, Greece).
She is a member of the Greek collaborative dance network “syndesmos chorou” http://syndesmoschorou.wordpress.com/ where amongst other she is involved in collaborative choreographic workshops for amateurs and professionals and community dance seminars.
She is on the board of Directors of the Greek Choreographers Association and a member in the Board of the Hellenic Centre of the International Theatre Institute.
Reviews
...Through her [actions] series, created for the Prosxima Dance Company since 2006, Maria Koliopoulou has been crystallizing her choreographic intent and the ways she approaches dance composition. She seeks to create open works that invite audience participation. The stage area takes the form of an installation, revealing eclectic links to the visual arts. Her eighth [action] carefully sub – headed Singularity, is a duet on the constant shifting states of the individual searching for their “own branch of the inviolate”...
Athens & Epidaurus Festival programme
...Greek dancer Maria Koliopoulou,.., had introduced herself as a consequential conceptual choreographer versed in contemporary trends... Her current performance entitled [action 8] – Singularity affirmed her crystallizing conceptual direction and was witness to a marked shift towards a greater articulation, a greater clarity of communication and at the same time vigour and singularity of artistic expression...
...We lean forward – we the audience – physically forward, for the fervent rotation of the dancers creates gravity. We take control of ourselves, we straighten up, we lean forward again and thus the performance exercises its influence on us right to the end...
..The conceptual, abstract performance of Maria Koliopoulou and the Prosxima company does not neglect sensual perceptions, even pure hedonists will find satisfaction..
..you follow the performance with curiosity, with excitement, with a sensual and all encompassing aesthetic satisfaction..“
Nina Vangeli in Dance Zone Magazine, Prague, May 2010
