Maria Garefi

Maria Garefi is a Greek dance practitioner based in Thessaloniki. She graduated from the Pedagogical Department (2015), from the MA "History of Philosophy" (2019), from a Higher Professional School in Thessaloniki (2016) and from ReDance (2018), a one-year postgraduate program regarding contemporary dance and performance. She has participated in numerous workshops on classical ballet and contemporary dance both at home and abroad. She introduced herself to the audience of Thessaloniki and Athens as an independent artist through her participation in festivals as a choreographer and performer, as well as by presenting personal performances in collaboration with artists from the city. She is founding member of the Faos dance company (2019) and a dance teacher of professional and amateur classes of classical ballet, contemporary dance and improvisation. Lately, she devotes valuable time to physical exploration and kinesiological experimentation. She uses improvisation and emotional expression as a strong basis for choreographic composition and is particularly attracted to material that can be drawn from the imaginary space and the subconscious. A milestone in her career as a young choreographer was her participation in the educational platform 10th International Choreographers Week in Tilburg. For the last year, she is also an active member of the dance company Under Construction Project (2020) which operates as a loose collective maintaining an active presence both in the field of teaching contemporary dance and improvisation and in that of creation through dance theatre and video dance projects.