bio-energetic dance workshop

with

MELINA RIZOPOULOU & GEORGIA PETRALI

1, 2, & 3 SEPTEMBER 2023

DANCE TO AWARENESS

Learn more

Balance is the first step to happiness

Connect with your Divine Feminine Energy

Find the Human Roots

Rebirth into Balance

Shaping our routines we shape a new life.

Throughout the workshop we aim to create an inspiring, safe space to develop connections and understandings of ourselves, our surroundings and of each other.

Using a fusion of expressive and somatic movement tools we aim to discover the authentic 'self' and achieve team ourishing.

In the process we will see the unnoticed patterns/behavioural mechanisms. We will explore how they aect our daily lives, and those of our fellow humans and the surrounding environment?

It is essential to observe, recognise, understand, accept, unfold, change, and evolve this patterns in order to obtain better understanding of ourselves and our lives.

Research your body to free your mind

Find your creative potential

Immerse yourself in the art of life

Connect with Earth

Our workshop is a contemporary movement dance voyage that draws inspiration from both modern societies and the Minoan civilization of Crete. At the heart of our approach is the snake Goddess, a symbol of Earth, divine feminine energy, health, abundance, prosperity, reincarnation, metamorphosis, and balance.

In Greek mythology, Uranos (father) and Gaia (mother) created life in balance, and the balance between male and female energy is the ultimate human essence.

Play like a kid

Never too late

balance in life

However, the world today seems to vibrate in a 'monomaniacal masculine energy' that often suppresses, abuses, and fights feminine energies. We even fight and abuse the earth itself, our "mother" energy. This separation from the earth and the signicant feminine energy creates imbalance, ugliness, and misery. Feminine energy should be present within everyone , whether one is a man or a woman.

By embracing and nurturing feminine qualities in our daily energy ow, we take an important step towards personal and global balance.

PROGRAMM

*wear comfortable cloths, long sleeves and trousers for more convenience on floor work

INFORMATIONS

meet the instructors

Georgia Petrali

Melina Rizopoulou

Georgia Petrali

was born in the island of Crete - Greece in 1978. She is an artist; dancer, performer, activist, poet, writer, choreographer, director, teacher of movement and dance, the founder of Fysalida Dance

- www.fysalidance.com and the International Contact Improvisation Festival in Crete

- www.contactimprocrete.com.

She studied classical and modern dance in England, and with a grant from the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benet Foundation she continued her postgraduate dance studies at the Rotterdamse Dansacademie in Holland, specialising in contemporary dance and choreography. Having received an extra bursary for the Dance Web Scholarship Program, Georgia Petrali was Greece's rst participation in this international dance festival in Vienna for the summer of 2000. As a student, she has been participating in a plethora of movement, dance, theatre, cinema and martial art workshops of signicant teachers, choreographers and directors, in Greece and abroad.

From 1998 until today, she has taught movement, improvisation, contact improvisation, stretching- strengthening, body awareness, classical and contemporary dance in England, Switzerland, Portugal, Germany, Italy, France, Australia and Greece. As a dancer, she has collaborated with Manc Dance Company, Terpsicorrick Dance Company, Doris Vuilleumier Compagnie, Haris Mantafounis, Artemis Ignatiou, Natassa Zouka, Carol Brown, Luca Silvestrini, Pierre Magendie, Jadi Carboni, Daniel Bear Davis, and more. For the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games she was assistant choreographer in the team of Dimitris Papaioannou and Angeliki Stellatou. Additionally, Georgia has choreographed-directed a variety of amateur- professional dance and theatre performances, artistic projects, thematic exhibitions, site specic art-works, community projects, music events, art videos, lms, documentaries and shows related to movement, dance, ecology, sociology, civilisation.

In 2007 she moved back to Crete in order to explore, create and present artworks through collaboration with artists, educators, therapists and scientists in Crete, Greece and abroad. Taking an architectural look at the various places where an artwork is presented, collaborating with professional-amateur artists and with ordinary people through ‘community dance-theatre’, improvising, contact-improvisation, dance, theatre, lming, traditional music and dancing, travelling, writing, socio-cultural activities and research, as well as the combination of art, ecology and activism are some of the characteristic ‘technical features’ and well-trodden ‘emotional paths’ in the artistic activities and productions prepared by Georgia. Her motto is ‘movement inside and outside’ and ‘geo_move’ is the name she has given to the technique and practices she is exploring, applying and working with during the past 22 years. ‘Geo_Move’ is inspired by the body, nature and the environment and is based upon the never-ending relationship and interaction among all these living elements.

Until today, the artistic-cultural-ecological oriented work of Georgia Petrali has traveled around the world and her productions have been acclaimed; most notably the lm Wrinkles and Dreams that has received 7 awards in Greece and abroad, the video of the performance Ma Crise dans Ta Crise that received the Award for the Best Art Film - Document. Art. International Film Festival - 16thEdition - 2012 - Pitesti - Romania and the dance video motel Labyrinthos that received the 2nd Prize at the Contact Dance International Film Festival - Torondo - Canada.

Last but not least, Georgia is a dreamer; constantly dreaming of a beautiful life that deeply believes practices and achieves the pure romantic idea, philosophy and praxis of the demanded ethics and qualities for the realization of harmony; harmony between human and nature, human and human...

Melina Rizopoulou

is an educator and movement researcher with over 25 years of experience as a dance pedagogue. She was born in Ethiopia and, with her family they moved around until the age of 12 when they settled in Athens. Early enought dance became her preferred way of expression. Thus Melina has an anthropocentric approach that integrates emotional intelligence into her dance teaching methods.

She began dancing at the age of four and has since studied and mastered various dance styles such as ballet, contemporary, jazz, tap, salsa, and Greek folk dances.

As a dance teacher and choreographer, Melina is passionate about inspiring her students to nd freedom and joy in dance. She creates an environment where they can grow both physically and emotionally.

In 2010 Melina founded the Dance Centre of the Municipality in Heraklion, Crete, with the aim of making dance accessible and aordable for all children and adults in the region. Despite facing numerous bureaucratic and procedural obstacles, she remained determined and worked tirelessly to build the project.

Within a year of its establishment, the Municipality Dance Centre had 200 students, 3 dance halls, 4 dance teachers, and oered 4 dierent styles of dance. Alongside her roles as a director, teacher, and choreographer, Melina also organized and supervised numerous performances, workshops, and cultural and dance events.

In 2016, Melina began her journey in the eld of movement research and developed Bioenergetic Dance, a movement-based method to gain self-awareness and achieve self-healing through meditation and expressive means. In this course, participants are encouraged to connect with their inner core, communicate their inner dialogue, and release it through movement.

In 2019, she set out on a travel journey of self-discovery and personal growth after leaving her job as a teacher and managing director of the Municipility Dance Centre in Heraklion to pursue further knowledge and expansion. She sought out new experiences and cultures, traveling to New York to attend workshops in contemporary, lyrical, and fusion jazz at Broadway Dance Centre. She then spent a year in London, Spain, and France, where she continued her research and professional reorientation while getting to know new cultures.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, while inlockdowns, she continued her movement research and reection. Her travels and experiences have broadened her horizons and enriched her knowledge and philosophy, which she brings to her work as an educator and movement researcher.

Currently, Melina leads research movement and dance workshops to inspire personal growth in her students. She believes that dance oers us a multitude of expressive possibilities and motivates her students to become the alchemists of their lives, transforming each experience into a step of consciousness towards personal growth. Melina's experiences have transformed into knowledge, philosophy, and awareness that she shares with her students to help them grow and develop.

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