Christina Mertzani

Contemporary for Dancers

Training for Dancers

Bio

A choreographer, dancer and teacher, Christina Mertzani graduated from Athens State School of Dance in Greece, in 2004, and holds a degree in Homeopathy by Akadimia of Ancient Greek and Traditional Chinese Medicine.
As a performer, Christina has worked with Johannes Wieland (Germany), Stella Zannou (Greece), Peter Vosperton (New Zealand), Kostandin Mixos (Greece), Helder Seabra (Belgium), Kat Valastur (Germany), Apostolia Papadamaki (Greece) and among others, as well as performed choreographies by Wim Vandekeybus, Mark Morris and Martha Graham.
Christina has presented her creations Metamorfosis, Inside, Athenian house, Mix-up, Cube, Alternative Bodies, Stheno, Run Away, Minotaur, Beyond Illusion and video dance works Entanglement, Reborn Temptation and 60 Pulses in more than 30 countries around the world. In the past 16 years, she has been teaching and choreographing around the world for different companies, universities, state theaters, festivals and studios for professional dancers. Some of the places she has collaborated with are the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Beijing Dance Academy, Tainan University of Technology, b12 festival, one small step festival, Cie.toula limnaios, Marameo, Staatstheater Osnabrück, Landesbühnen Sachsen, Staatstheater Kassel, Staatstheater Heidelberg, Tanzbüro Basel, Staatstheater St. Gallen, Staatstheater Bern, Nachschub, HJS Profitraining Amsterdam, SOZO visions in motion, Landestheater Linz, Anton Bruckner University, Staatstheater Bielefeld, Staststheater Braunschweig, AKBANK Sanat Istanbul and many more. She served as a faculty member of Anton Bruckner University in Linz, Austria for two years (2017-2018). Christina co-directed for 9 years (2010-2018) the International Contemporary Dance Festival in Corfu, Greece, One Small Step.

Class Description

In this class we will focus on technique and performance of movement. Starting with warm up and body preparation, we will use simple exercises to train the mechanisms we have at our disposal in order to approach the floor with safety and speed, to move rapidly and with agility at the same time, and to cover as much space as possible using our full potential. We will then work with complex movement, choreography and focus on intention and the ways we can present movement to the audience. We will take into consideration the individual differences and at the same time we will work as a team. The main goal of this class is to open our senses, to communicate through movement, and to gain more satisfaction through our dancing.