Fotis Nikolaou
Choreographer, Movement Director
He was born in Famagusta. He studied dance at the State School of the Art of Dance as well as in New York on a stipend granted to him by the "Koula Pratsika" Foundation. As a dancer, he worked with well known dance companies (Oktana, Sine Qua Non, Εcho Arts, Noema Dance Works, Aelion, Omada Pente, Wrong Move/Lathos Kinisi, Chorika of Zouzou Nikoloudi, etc.), as well as with the Athens Concert Hall, the Art Theatre, the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, etc. He was a member of the creative team and choreographer at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. In 1996 he represented Greece in the 7th International Dance Competition in Paris and won third place. During the years 1994-2005, he was a permanent member of the dance company Omada Edafous (Edafos Dance Theatre) of Dimitris Papaioannou. As founder, artistic director and choreographer of the X-it Dance & Theatre Company, he has been in charge of all its productions since its founding (2003): Love Shots, Not Yet, Ninth Hour, etc. As an independent choreographer, he has collaborated with the dance companies Syghroni Choreftiki Ekfrasi (Contemporary Dance Expression) and Elatirio (Spring). He has served as movement director in contemporary and classical drama performances of renowned Greek directors, such as: Michael Marmarinos, Yiannis Kakleas, Stamatis Fasoulis, Theodoros Grampsas, Giorgos Armenis, Despina Sidiropoulou, Marianna Kalbari, Sofia Vgenopoulou, etc. He also collaborated with Panos Kokkinopoulos for the ET1 television series Eroica, as well as with Nikos Nikolaidis for the film "The Loser Takes It All". He was the official choreographer/director of the 2008 Eurovision Junior contest staged in Cyprus. He worked with the GNO during the 2006/07 artistic season, when he created the choreographed insert for the opera Orpheus and Eurydice [Orfeo ed Euridice], directed by Stephen Langridge, as well as the ballet "Lonely Room" in the context of the trilogy of dance-theatre one-acts under the title "American Dream."