Educational program - Unplugged Dance

Landing week

MELT : Moving Waterscapes

Somatic Art Practice®

Embodied Voice Flow

Captured Body

Bouncing Between Viewing and Sensing

The Nature Within us

Voice Somatics

Sculpting Body-Images

PILATES: mindful movement

‘Embodying’ weeks

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Unplugged Dance 2025 | 7-week residential dance education program in Lefkada, Ionian islands, Greece

We are thrilled to announce the 4th edition of Unplugged Dance, a 7-week residential dance education program designed to encourage deep personal and collective learning in the fields of dance and somatic practices. Running from May to June 2025, this program offers participants the opportunity to engage in a holistic exploration of dance through contemporary methods that promote agency while cultivating an environment of collective care.

Our approach derives from a desire to experience dance in concepts and ways that don’t restrict themselves in movement aesthetics or technics, but neither condemns them. Instead further explores dance as a powerful mechanism for reaching the world within and the world around us. A time nurturing program for self and collective awareness that encourages participants to take responsibility for their own learning, make decisions, and shape their personal practice.

By creating a space where every participant feels seen, heard, and valued, we cultivate an environment that promotes mutual respect and encourages individuals to grow in a collective spirit. Through a balance of personal practice and collective inquiry, participants will have the space to deepen their own processes or even systematize their work in relation to movement and the art of dance.

When: 11 May – 29 June 2025

Where: Paleohori, Neohori, Lefkada, Ionian Islands, Greece

Maximum number of participants: 18

Deadline for applications: Applications will be reviewed as soon as they are received, and participants will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis until all remaining spots are filled.

What to expect

Unplugged Dance 2025 offers a blend of structured and organic learning through:

⫸ Experiential Workshops: Led by international facilitators, these sessions explore the relationship between body awareness and creative expression through dance improvisation, experiential anatomy, theory and critical thinking. Their orientation is dance experience as a field of observation, experimentation and creativity. Their methods are drawing from student-centered teaching methodologies and employing teaching tools such as: verbal guided improvisation through visualization and somatic imagery; scores; kinesthetic instructions; sensorial explorations; hands-on practices; playful explorations through props; drawing and vocal activation for body awareness. Also: shared feedback in a non-judgmental environment; individual reflective processes like journaling, automatic writing, or sensory mapping aimed at feeding back into and dialoguing with the dance practice, and more.

⫸ Seminars and open discussions: Specialized seminars on theory, somatics, anatomy, dramaturgy, performance and more. Open questions on the philosophical, political and socio-cultural relevance, such as;

⋗How can we create Dance through the prism of embodiment?

⋗Why choose this approach to dance?

⋗How can a dance method encourage agency, empowerment, and creative expression?

⋗How can practices of embodiment influence the socio political aspect of dance?

⋗How agency and collective care work together to create a space that is not only about personal growth but also about building stronger, more connected communities through dance? and many more.

⋗What is the significance of method, methodology, practice, research, and pedagogy in dance?

⋗How can I systematize my personal practice to share it with others?

… and more

⫸ Early morning soft awakening practices: Mobility and coordination sessions for awakening of the body and conditioning.

⫸ Personal and Collective Integration Time: Opportunities to reflect, connect, and grow through heart circles, feedback sessions and group sharings. Scheduled time for self-practice and research alone-together on the platform.

⫸ Mentoring: Three 3h scheduled mentoring sessions with any of the program’s teachers.

⫸ Shared living space:

One of the aspects that makes this program so unique is the way we share time and space. The location and geography of Paleohori that hosts the program, encourages communal exchange and collaboration.

Who Is It For?

This year’s program is seeking individuals who are ready to commit to a deeper learning and research process. It is open to both professionals and non-professionals with an interest in dance, movement, and somatic practices. Specifically, it is an ideal opportunity for:

⫸ Professionals in Performance, Dance, or Visual Arts: Individuals with years of experience who are interested in informing their personal practices with experiential anatomy, body awareness, and self-regulation tools and exploring their work through the lens of embodiment, with a focus on qualities such as self-reflection, observation, non-goal orientation, and care.

⫸ Recent Graduates: Artists who have recently completed a formal education and are seeking a nourishing, empowering community to reveal their inner core and systematize their own personal practices into educational or creative methods, while meeting, connecting, exploring and sharing into a vibrant, non-institutional community.

⫸ Dance Therapists & Somatics Practitioners: Individuals who wish to expand their practices into a creative process informed by contemporary artistic methods and creative tools.

⫸ Critical Thinkers: Those looking to engage in meaningful discussions on methodology, pedagogy, dance dramaturgy through the prism of embodiment and the socio-political dimensions of dance.

Program Structure

‘land’ week one ⋗ 12 – 16 May

A week to land, meet each other, set a common ground.

Kyveli and Yorgos are facilitating this week and holding the space for participants to explore and get familiarized with the land, the program’s aspects and each other’s needs.

‘(un)learn – question – absorb – practice -explore’ week two – five ⋗ 19 May – 13 June

These four weeks will accommodate the main educational part of this program. Each week will host a different 3h workshop facilitated by different teachers, Monday-Friday, and specialized seminars. Integration time and personal practice time will be available alone-together on the platform, and/or outside of it.

’embody’ weeks six-seven ⋗ 16 – 27 June

The two last weeks of the program will be more flexible, and less facilitated. Participants will have the opportunity to take time to integrate all the information, and let it reveal through creating, sharing or just by being.

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Daily schedule

*small changes may be applied until the start of the program

07∘00-08∘30 early morning practice | mobility

09∘00-09∘40 breakfast

10∘30-12∘30 morning workshop | personal practice on Thursdays

12∘30-13∘30 integration time | personal practice

13∘30-14∘15 lunch

15∘30-16∘30 heart circle

17∘00-20∘00 afternoon workshop

20∘30-21∘10 light dinner

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More things that you may want to know before applying

⫸ Arrival is on Sunday 11 May, departure is on Sunday 29 June. These dates are the same for everyone, and we cannot accept later arrivals nor earlier departures.

⫸ Weekends are free days for personal or communal time to integrate and recharge for next week. Only breakfast is included.

⫸ Every participant is invited to take responsibility for their presence in the space by contributing to its daily care. This involves small, collective, and individual efforts to keep the shared space clean, well-maintained, and tidy. These are simple daily rituals rather than labor-intensive tasks and are expected from everyone staying in the space, as it will be our ‘home’ for a while. These communal activities not only help maintain common spaces but also deepen our connection with the environment and one another. By integrating them into our daily rhythm, we cultivate a shared sense of responsibility while nourishing creativity and sustainability.

What to expect

187h of classes | open discussions | seminars | workshops
9h of 1:1 mentoring sessions (3 sessions in total) with any of the program’s teachers.
Scheduled time for self-practice and research
3 vegetarian meals per day
Shared accommodation

Tuition 3900 euros

How to apply

Apply by submitting the following application form https://forms.gle/Uw2uzAnJsmuaoHdj6

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Maximum number of participants: 18

Spots left: 2

Applications will be reviewed as soon as they are received, and participants will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis until all remaining spots are filled.

Selected applicants will be invited for an interview, and notifications of acceptance are typically sent within three working days after the interview.

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Cancellation policy

As an independent, non-profit project without regular public funding, we strive to offer the lowest possible price. The project relies on the commitment of all participants, which is why, in case of cancellation on your side, the amount paid is non-refundable, with the only exception being circumstances of force majeure, such as closed borders, a pandemic, war, or natural disasters preventing your travel. If the event is canceled for any reason, the entire amount paid will be refunded without reservations.

We are looking forward to dancing and connecting with you.

Marina Tsartsara

Marina Tsartsara is a Dance and Visual Artist & educator (MSc), a Body-Mind Centering® Teacher in the official Body-Mind Centering® trainings in the UK, Spain & Greece. She is also the Administrative Director of the Greek BMC® program ISTOS. Since 2014 she has been researching and developing 'Somatic Art Practice', an transdisciplinary practice that interlaces somatics and artmaking via the two branches of Mindfulness & Drawing and BMC® & Visual Artmaking. Her BA (Hons) and MSc studies are on 'Dance & Visual Art' and 'Screendance' (Videodance). Her MPhil is on Performance Autoethnography researching on the subject of the personal experience of genetic/chronic physical illness via dance and visual arts (Medical Humanities). She is a Somatic Therapist, Mindfulness teacher and a Hakomi student. Main influences in her teaching come from dear teachers like: Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, Curious, Charlie Morrissey, Julyen Hamilton, Deborah Hay, Miranda Tufnell, Rosemary Butcher, Kirstie Simson, Liz Aggiss among others. https://www.somaticwellbeing.info/ Full bio

Ori Flomin

Ori Flomin is a NYC-based dance artist. He holds an MFA in Dance from the Tisch School of the Arts, NYU. His choreography has been presented at NYC venues such as Gibney, Dance Theater Workshop, LaMama Experimental Theater, Arts on Site, Movement Research at Judson Church, and internationally in Europe, Japan, and Australia, as well as commissioned work for dance companies and universities across the US (Zenon Dance, LINK Dance, Purchase University). His teachings of dance, yoga, and shiatsu massage have taken him around the globe to prestigious international festivals, schools, and colleges around NYC: PARTS, Impulstanz, London Contemporary School, Sasha Waltz, Circuit Est, SUNY Purchase, NYU, Movement Research, and Gibney to name a few. He has performed in the works of acclaimed choreographers Stephen Petronio, Maria Hassabi, Neil Greenberg, Molissa Fenley, and Kevin Wynn, among others. He is a 2022-23 recipient of the Gibney Dance in Process (DIP) Residency. Most recently, he performed the solo Urban Crawler 2.0 in NYC, Brussels, Berlin, and Stockholm. www.Oriflomin.com Full bio

Penelope Morout

Penelope Morout is a graduate of the National School of Dance (Athens) and the National Technical University of Athens – School of Architecture, with a Master’s degree in Theatre Practices from ArtEZ University of the Arts (NL). She is an interdisciplinary dance artist interested in creating hybrid projects through the fusion of various mediums. As a dancer & performer, she has performed at the Kalamata International Dance Festival, at Athens and Epidaurus Festival, at Teatro de la Danza Guillermina Bravo CDMX and since 2018 she has been working with theatre companies as a director/choreographer/scenographer. As a filmmaker, she has collaborated with TANZAHOi International Screendance Festival Hamburg and has participated in exhibitions and various video dance & dance animation festivals around the world (Italy, Brazil, France, Greece, Indonesia). Within the years, she has evolved “Sculpting Body-Images” workshop, which she shares around the world (PERA GAU School of Performing Arts Cyprus, Munus Encuentro Mexico, Nunart Guinardó Barcelona, The School of Disobedience Budapest, Murate Art District Florence). Within 2023, she has created original group pieces in collaboration with Area Espai de Dansa i Creació Barcelona, MUDA Dance Center Ghent and Škola suvremenog plesa Ane Maletić Zagreb. She consistently trains and gets inspired by “Fighting Monkey Practice” (founded by Linda Kapetanea and Jozef Frucek), which she has been teaching since 2021 at the Kalamata International Dance Festival in Greece for participants over 50 years old. In 2021, Penelope Morout founded CROSS IMPACT Co, and, ever since, is actively creating her own work. Both her previous performance THE BOX || That Dead Space Between Us, as well as her new one EMOTIONAL DOGS have been funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture. For the latter, she has gained additional support from X-Church (Gainsborough, UK), El Sortidor (Barcelona, ES) and the Murate Art District (Florence, ΙΤ). Full bio

Alessio Castellacci

Alessio Castellacci is a vocal dancer, teacher, sound composer, coach/therapist. He has taught his approach Embodied Voice Flow since 2008 across Europe, including Tanzfabrik Berlin, Tanzhaus Zurich, HFDK BA Oslo, Hzt BA Berlin, Choreography BA Copenhagen and many more. After living 16 years in Berlin as an active part of the german contemporary dance-music scene, he is now based in Italy. He has been the founder and curator of the experimental dance programs SMASH Berlin and ROAR Berlin. Together with vocal artist and choreographer Irena Z. Tomazin he runs since 2014 the World is Sound, a platform dedicated to workshops and retreats in the nature around the voice and its expression. He is a certified Level 1 IFS (Internal Family Systems) Practitioner. Full bio

Vasiliki Tsagkari

Vasiliki Tsagkari studied education at the Early childhood Education Department of University of Athens and Dance in City of Bristol College in the U.K. She has studied improvisation techniques, release and releasing techniques (Skinner releasing technique, Mary Fulkerson's Imagery Release), Alexander technique, Body Mind Centering, martial arts (Aikido and Tai-Chi) and physical theatre (Odin Theatre). Since 2004 she has been creating performance work and collaborating with dancers, choreographers, musicians and visual artists, creating performances and performing in Greece, England, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany. From 2008 to 2010 she was an artist in residence and a member of the artists' collective ARM based in artspace Rondeel in Maastricht (NL). Vasiliki has taught improvisation and contemporary dance workshops and classes for children and adults in U.K., The Netherlands and Greece. She is a mother of a twelve year old boy and the last eight years she has been looking after an olive farm in Messinia, Greece. Physical work close to the earth as well as the observation of nature's elements through the process of cultivating, opened up a wide research field and has informed a lot her approach to dance. In 2022 she created the solo ritualistic performance “The passage”. It was a project related to climate change and environmental crisis and later on, in 2023, it became a performance pilgrimage, along the line of the Hellenic Trench, a sea biome that is currently under threat of drilling for oil in the sea. For “The Passage” pilgrimage she collaborated with several local activist organisations as well as photographers and videographers. Since 2022 she has been working on her own dance pedagogy, MELT, giving workshops about dance with nature, combining several different influences, approaches on somatics and physical experiences like physically working with the earth and allowing for more than human life to have agency in the process of embodied learning. Her main interests are sensitivity and sensuality in movement, the kinaesthetics of language, as well as the transformation of elements of everyday living into physical poetry. The experience of the body moving that asks to be shared, to be articulated as a public statement. She is a certified teacher of SkinnerReleasing Technique (introductory) since 2017. Full bio

Antoinette Helbing

Antoinette Helbing (she/her) is a German dance artist and member of the artist-run platform Dance CooperativE in Copenhagen (DK). She divides her time between creating choreographic works, guest performing in dance works by others, a broad teaching practice, motherhood (two kids 10 & 8) and her practice within the Feldenkrais method. Her choreographic work is driven by her wish to create art that evokes the viewer's sense of belonging, of togetherness and empathy - seeing those attributes as patches for the holes in the world’s community. Our endlessly self-centered way of life is threatening both ecosystems and humanity. Societies are increasingly categorizing and exclusive while our physical closeness with each other reduces. And yet we are bodies - ripe, receptive, vulnerable and demanding. Despite the influence of the digital world that reduces our ability to sense ourselves and others. What does it mean to exist as a body in our modern world? As a reminder that we, beyond our instagram handles, are actual living and breathing beings, Antoinette creates experiences within and across bodies. Working towards connection, she addresses the empathic through multi-sensory experiences. Confronting with the sensual force of the moment, she makes the audience aware of themselves by their own sensual experience of themselves as spectators. She wishes to use her research within sensorial transference to transfer the performers’ sensations directly into the audience's body. In this bodily translation she sees the potential to fantasize, to sense and to think from another body's perspective. Her works can often be placed in borderline situations: fluctuating betweens dance, installation, concert and film. They might unfold in several versions that apply the artistic research in different formats - making it possible for all her works to perform outside of the theater space. With a simple touring setup and the flexibility to perform in a great variety of spaces she continuously expands her artistic research by performing her works. Full bio

Daria Iuriichuk

Daria Iuriichuk (she/her) is a dance artist based in Berlin. In her works informed by visual and performance studies, she explores political dimensions of performativity, labour politics in arts and body politics within the various economic regimes. Her works have been presented in the MyWildFlag festival (Stockholm), nGbK (Berlin), Hellerau Europäisches Zentrum der Künste (Dresden), H0 Institut für Metamorphose festival (Zürich), Meyerhold Theatre Center (Moscow). Full bio

Androniki Marathaki

Androniki Marathaki is a choreographer, performer and dance teacher. With the support of the State Scholarship Foundation she started her artistic research in choreography and dance improvisation. Maintaining flexibility in what dance can mean and pushing the boundaries in dance facilitation and choreography, she is interested in the various ways humans perceive movement and in doing so shape cultural forms and social relationships in different contexts. So far she has presented her research on movement flows, kinetic landscapes, landscapes shaped through relationships, the regulatory mechanisms of the body and the sensory communication of self and communities (Love & Revolution, it's not about if you will love me tomorrow , holy purple, Let's be comfortable in our own skin). For the last three years, under the title "Let's be comfortable in our own skin" she has been developing a dance improvisation practice that cultivates the relationship between sensory stimuli and movement. Through a desire to continue moving without pain and maintaining the pleasure of dance, this dance practice informs her new research theme of the “pain-movement-pleasure” triangle. Her latest performance was presented at the Athens and Epidaurus Festival 2023 and was supported by NEON, the Ministry of Culture and Sports, Island Connection Residency Program and Unplugged Dance. This year she completed the research project "performing pleasure" supported by the Ministry of Culture and Sport, while her research and the group's research was also hosted by Cochlea Studia with the choreographer's workshop "On pain: sensitizing, decentralizing, transforming". This year she organizes and curates the nightscores, thus cultivating a network of international and Greek artists, contemporary and not, through the periodic visiting of scores with a group of people from different fields and disciplines. Part of her research was presented at TWIXTlab: art, anthropology & the everyday in collaboration with the Duncan Center for the Study of Dance and her lecture is part of the online archive for artistic research in Greece. https://www.andronikimarathaki.com/ Full bio

Eliane Roumié

Eliane Roumié is a half Greek, half Syrian, artist born and raised in Athens. She started her education in Business Administration and Marketing graduating from Royal Holloway University of London (BSc) and Bath University (MSc). She then studied contemporary dance in Tanzfabrik Berlin, Dans Centrum Jette Brussels, Professional Dance School Aktina in Athens and Royal Holloway University of London for her Postgraduate Certificate in Physical Theatre for Dancers and Actors in collaboration with Jasmin Vardimon Company. She is intensively practicing Pilates, holding a Comprehensive Teacher Training Certification by the American Academy of Body Arts and Science International (BASI). For the completion of her studies, she submitted her original research dissertation titled Pilates for Improving Contemporary Dancers’ Technique. As a dancer and performer, she has been involved with artistic productions in Belgium, Germany, Cyprus, and Greece. Specifically, she has collaborated with Ingri Fiksdal, Madeline Hollander, Dominique Duszynski, Lydia de Beer, Sevim Akpinar, Yelp Danceco., Patricia Apergi, Nostalghia Theater Co. and more. In 2016 she has been involved with the AS ONE project of the Marina Abramovic Institute (MAI) and the Greek organization NEON at the Benaki Museum in Athens, working as a performer of Marina’s Abramović piece (1975) Art must be beautiful; artist must be beautiful and as a facilitator for The Abramovic Method. At the same time, she has been chosen to present her work at the Artist Talk led by Marina Abramović. In 2017 she worked as an invigilator for the DOCUMENTA14 contemporary exhibition in Athens. Additionally, she worked with director Pierre – Antoine Susini for the French documentary Athènes L’art et La Manière presented at France 3 Channel. Personal choreographic work has been presented at various festivals such as Young Choreographers Festival/Haut Scene Copenhagen, Our Festival 5 & 6 (2019,2020), SoloDuo Internationales Tanz Festival Köln (2020), Dance Days Chania (2021), Solo Dance Ankara (2021), Arc for Dance Festival (2022), Solocoreografico Festival Frankfurt (2021) and Torino (2023) (Special Jury Award), ELEVΣIS European Capital of Culture (2022, 2023), On Bodies Dance & Performance Arts Festival Cyprus (2021, 2024), Colonus Festival Athens (2024). Eliane received a scholarship from Goethe Institute and was invited by Tanzplattform Rhein - Main to participate as a 1-month resident at Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt (2022). She was also invited by Between the Seas: Mediterranean Performing Arts Organization for a 10-day residency (Monemvasia, Greece) to research the coupling of choreography and dramaturgy (2023). In 2021-2023, she participated in the two-year artistic residency program U(r)TOPIAS Academy of Choreography following which she was selected to research and present her site-specific project in the framework of 2023 ELEVΣIS European Capital of Culture. Eliane has been awarded the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Artist Fellowship 2022 by ARTWORKS and has been further supported by Cultural & Development Non-profit Organization NEON and the Municipality of Athens (OPANDA & Technopolis City of Athens). For the past few years, Eliane has been teaching Dance & Physical Theater to middle and high-school students of The Moraitis School of Athens. She continues to dance, create, and teach the techniques of contemporary dance, physical theater and Pilates to students of all ages. Full bio

Yorgos Sioras Deligiannis

Graduate of National School of Dance (2014), dancer, choreographer and curator in the field of dance research and education. He curated Platform for the performing arts Meta (2015-2019), meetings for artistic research and creation (2018-2019) and co-curated festival Lycabettus (2020-2021). For the past seven years collective initiatives have been a main source of interest, reflection and a place to be. His personal artistic research raises questions regarding identity and creates practices that provoke the relation between the public and the private space. Since 2018 he has showcased two series of works, The Selfy Series and Regulatory Bodies, both partly founded by the Greek Ministry of Arts. Since 2009 he has been a yoga instructor and currently he has been giving classes mainly outdoors throughout the year. Full bio

Kyveli Kouvatsi

Kyveli Kouvatsi is facilitating, researching and curating in the field of dance, based in Lefkada. She has graduated from National School of Dance (2021), and she is finishing her studies in School of Drama – Faculty of Fine Arts – Auth. Her main interest revolves around educational processes and ways of holding the space for people to explore & flourish through the dance experience. Since 2017 she has been teaching dance classes for children in dance schools and summer camps. Her lessons focus on the experience of dance, the development of children's creativity within non-judgmental contexts, the cultivation of body awareness and the relationship with rhythm and the environment. Since 2020 she has been developing with Yorgos Sioras Deligiannis a practice in couples with the basic working condition of the closed eyes of one body and the feeling of touch as a moving stimulus, under the name of Losing Ground. Together they share workshops and continue their common research and practice. Since 2020 she has been researching, developing and sharing a series of workshops and classes under the title Bloom Inside | sensorial explorations | reflective dances | creative practices -a practice of mindful movement and dance improvisation, which suggests ways around how we can move and dance with awareness of the environment while maintaining a honest and lucid connection with our inner core. Since 2021 she is the co-founder and co-curator of the international dance educational program Unplugged Dance, which focuses on highlighting practices and methods that approach dance as a practice of embodiment, and of Paleohori, an art-space focusing body & mind practices. In November 2022, she presented the film “About Dance Education and Other Mysteries | Interviews of graduates and seniors in 2021”, a documentary about professional dance education in Greece. For the last few years, she has been working as an organization and communication manager in dance schools, artistic educational programs and productions in the field of dance. Full bio

APPLY

Unplugged Dance 2025 | 7-week residential dance education program in Lefkada, Ionian islands, Greece

What to expect

Who Is It For?

Program Structure

What to expect

How to apply

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Please feel free to send us your questions!