Apostolia Papadamaki
Director, Choreographer
She was born in Alexandroupoli, Greece. She holds a degree from the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and from the Greek National School of Dance. She studied new techniques of modern dance in New York, on scholarships granted to her by the "Onassis", "Goulandris" and "Merce Cunningham" foundations. She has been choreographing for theatre and opera in Greece and abroad since 1996. She was a founding member of the Sine Qua Non dance company, where she also served as artistic director until 2001. In 2002, she founded, and then ran, the Quasi Stellar dance theatre, performing works such as Hermaphrodite, Mano a Mano, Electric Girl, in major European and international festivals. She has choreographed large and complex spectacles featuring live music, dance, song and multimedia, such as the opening ceremonies of the Athens 2004 Paralympics, the European Youth Week of the General Secretariat for Youth staged at the Badminton Theater, and the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Volos. She directed the musical tragedy Iocaste by George Kouroupos. She participated as a performer and co-producer in two works by Belgian director and visual artist Jan Fabre (2001, 2005). She was awarded the prize for choreography at the international competition in Bagnolet, France. She served as chairman of the Board of the Greek National School of Dance, member of the Board of the Centre for Ancient Greek Drama, honorary member of the Panhellenic Network of Educators for Theater in Education, and member of the Board of the International Theatre Institute (I.T.I.). She collaborated with the GNO as a choreographer for the operas The Chessboard Fugitives [Oi drapetes tis skakieras] (1998-99) and A Masked Ball [Un ballo in maschera] (2011-12), and as a director for the Lambros Liavas tribute to Greek operetta Remember Those Years [Thymisou ekeina ta chronia] (2007-08).