ANNA KARAMITSOU
African Dance

1st Week – 2 hours/day
10:00 – 13:00

Acquaintance with traditional African dance of West Africa.
The sense of team. The circle. Compound percussionists and dancers.

Reconnect with your spine, chest and pelvis.
With our body and the right posture. With the earth and the sky. Distress and renewal through naked feet and direct contact with the earth.
A chance to break free, to unite and to allow ourselves to smile!

African Dance is an organic dance and addresses all body types and all ages. It is characterized by rhythmicity, internal rhythm and reunion with the body and the earth, it is euphoric dance.
It is a dance simple and approachable, there is no need of specific knowledge to participate, a dance that stimulates confidence through teamwork and cooperation.
The African dance is closely connected with African percussion.The percussion sound and more specifically the sound of the Djembe (a percussion instrument of West Africa, the most wide spread of the thousands of African instruments and more dynamic instruments in the world. very expressive and communicative) relates to the heartbeat which creates an explosive atmosphere full of polyrythmias and earthly sounds that in combination with the bare feet, results in the activation of the whole body.
The combination of polyrythmia with the movement causes euphoria and ultimate union in total coexistence musicians and dancers. Leaning the body to return to its normal position (relaxed basin, loose hips) touching the floor with bare foot and realizing our spine changes the attitude not only of our body but also our attitude towards life. Removing the tension from our body, we remove it also from our soul.

African Dance in its tradition and in its technique uses barefoot and the sternum area. It helps in the elimination of stress/anxiety, in the unblocking of accumulated emotions.

The workshop is suitable for all levels.

ANNA KARAMITSOU

Choreographer - Dance instructor - Dancer - Founder of SELI KANOU STUDIO, the School of African dance, music and arts in Greece.
Graduated from the State School of Dance (K.S.O.T) and continued with postgraduate studies in Paris. Studied Psychotherapy through Dance and History of Dance in Paris-Sorbonne University (Paris IV) under a scholarship from the French government. Studied contemporary dance in the Peter Goss Dance School under a scholarship from Peter Goss, and is certified by Peter Goss to teach his method.
Attended numerous other classes and seminars on classic, contemporary and other types of dance in Europe and the USA as well as in Africa.

Soloist, dancer, choreographer, singer and répétitrice in several dance and theatre groups: Y. Metsis, Ch. Mantafounis, Z. Nikoloudi, Editta Braun, Blanca Li, L.Gomes, M. Nalbandis, Urban Sax, Stavroupolis Salonica Professional Dance School, A. Pavlidou-Critical Mass e.o.). Has collaborated with the Karolos Koun Art Theatre as a dancer-soloist for the leading dance role of Nightingale and as répétitrice in Aristophanes' “The Birds”, direction K. Koun, music M. Chadjidakis, choreography Z. Nikoloudi - Epidaurus, Herod Atticus Theater and elsewhere. She has collaborated with the Comèdie Française theatre in Paris, as a choreographer, répétitrice and dancer in “Le Bal Masqué”, direction Anatol Vassiliev and numerous other stage works, music-theatre performances, films, video clips e.o. Has been teaching contemporary and classical dance in French and Greek dance schools since 1986.
She has studied African dance and African music (song, percussion, n'goni) since 1993 with: Norma Claire, Ibrahim Doumbia, Elsa Wolliaston, Irène Tassembedo, Mame Leno, Aicha Diallo, Doumbia Abdou, Moise Kourouma, Assetou Coulibaly, Ousmane Touré, Yelly Thioune, Mamadama Camara, Gérard Diby, Sourakhata Dioubaté, Yama “La Reine de Sabar” Wade, Maître Maré Sanogo, Bachir Sanogo, Kassoum Diarra, Sega Sidibé e.o,

Anna introduced African dance into Greece in 1997 when she started teaching it. Since then, she has been giving workshops around Greece and Europe.
Her method revolves around the realisation of the body, the “rehabilitation” of the relationship between the mind and the body in terms of communication and unity as well as their relation to space, people, and other surroundings. She focuses on the development of the participator as an individual and as a team member. She explores the connection of African and contemporary dance within the language of movement while paying close attention to the interactive relationship between the dancer and the musician within the dance-music context. Anna has organised numerous seminars with important teachers from abroad, as well as theatrical plays and events, while she arranges educational trips in relation to African dance and percussion, and the contintent's culture.

The past years she has choreographed the performances “Kelen Maana Farafina Ye” (A Story for Africa), “Masque”, “Female Gender” etc, where she blends African dance with contemporary dance, flamenco, drama, dancetheatre and storytelling which can be seen as a contemporary approach towards tradition, by using the sounds of Africa in live music.

Member of several performance groups. Member of Sega Sidibé’s and Mamadou Kanté’s Traditional African Percussion and Dance School in Bamako, Mali.
In 2004 she founded the African Dance and Music Company Seli Kanou in collaboration with musician Antonis Papadopoulos.
In 2007 she founded the first School of African dance, music, and arts in Greece, named Seli Kanou Studio (Seli Kanou means love festival, in bambara, principal Mali dialect).


LIVE MUSIC BY:

ANTONIS PAPADOPOULOS

Antonis Papadopoulos was born in Athens in 1981, and started studying (2000-2005) Greek and Middle Eastern percussion (darbuka, bedir, davul etc) with Michael Klapakis, Glen Velez, Okay Temiz, Misirli Ahmed etc. He went on to study (2005-2011) Orchestral percussion (snare drum, timpani, marimba etc) with Konstantinos Vorisis and Konstantinos Theodorakos. However, since he discovered the djembe in 2001, West African percussion has been his main passion and the main focus of his musical journey. He has attended a multitude of seminars and masterclasses in Europe and Africa, his mentor and main influence being Maître Maré Sanogo (former director and soloist of the National Ballet of Mali). In 2003 he met choreographer, dancer, and dance instructor Anna Karamitsou, who taught him how to accompany Dance on the highest level. As a result of this collaboration they founded the African Dance and Music Company Seli Kanou, where he is the soloist and the head of music training. In 2007, Anna funds Seli Kanou School, one of the most important centers regarding the research, education and transmission of African culture in Greece, of which Antonis is a permanent collaborator. As a member of Seli Kanou School/Company, he has taken part in numerous performances, concerts, and led seminars and percussion classes in Greece and Europe. He has played on stage with Seraphin Zekoua (2005-2010), Moussa Oularé (2010), Maître Maré Sanogo (2011,2012,2013), Mama Adama Camara (2012), Bachir Sanogo (2012,2013), Kassoum Diarra (2014), Sega Sidibé (2015) etc. He has collaborated with professionals from a variety of art forms and he is a member of Nikos Touliatos’ «Echodrasi» and Petros Kourtis’ «Drumvoice» percussion groups, and the world music band «Los Dos O Mas». He is teaching adults and children with passion, faith and loyalty since 2007. His primal cause is to introduce and promote the heritage of the African percussion to bigger audiences.

NATASA PAVLATOU

Natasa was born in Athens at 1985.
In 2004 began to study classical percussion with Kiriaki Tsakiridou and then continued at the Municipal Conservatory of Muscat and Acropolis Conservatory with Constantine Vorissis. Since May 2004 is a member of the percussion group "ECHODRASI" of Nikos Touliatos with which has taken part in many performances throughout Greece. An important highlight was the opening ceremony and closing of the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004. In March 2008 starts attending african percussion with Antonis Papadopoulos and African dance with Anna Karamitsou in African school of Dance, Music & Arts STUDIO SELI KANOU. The next year accompany the African dance classes on percussion and becomes a member of the group African dance and percussion “SELI KANOU”. In December of 2009 traveled to Mali, West Africa and attended African percussion seminars with Maître Maré Sanogo and Karim Coulibaly and African dance with Ibrahim Doumbia and other local teachers. Natasa has also attended African percussion seminars with S. Zekoua, I. Toure, K. Diarra, B. Sanogo and African dance with N. Claire, S. Zekoua, M. Camara, G. Diby, M. Kourouma. For one week every year since July 2011 attends african percussion seminars with H. Dembele, S. Camara, P.A. Diarra, T. Guei, A.B. Dembele, M. Ndiaye, etc. and African dance with A. Kouyate, A. Coulibaly, M. Nyakam, F. Camara, S. Dioubate etc festival Mama Africa Meeting in Italy. In the summer of 2012 participated in concerts of the composer Thanos Mikroutsikos with Maria Farantouri in Sani Festival, in Halkidiki and the Odeon in Mikis Theodorakis’s project "State of Siege". On December 2015 starts to collaborate with Dionyssis Savvopoulos and Eleni Vitali.