Guest Schools and organisations
Kafantari Dance School
Kafantari Dance School was founded in 1963 by Spyridoula Kafantari – a dance educator and visionary with a passion for the art of dance, who created a ballet syllabus for early-age students. Today her children Andromachi and Konstantinos Kafantaris successfully continue her work and develop further her vision. The school consists of four purpose-built studios housing four pre-professional schools, and one professional dance academy in the city of Thessaloniki – all of them licenced and operating under the Greek Ministry of Culture. Through the years, Kafantari Dance School has trained a plethora of dancers, choreographers, dance teachers, dance therapists, dance researchers, artistic directors and founders of dance schools with successful careers both within Greece and internationally.
The school welcomes and supports each student, respecting their individual characteristics and needs whilst nurturing their imagination, cooperative spirit, sense of self-worth, and discipline. It also works to support students’ mental, emotional, and physical development through dance education. Since 1963 the school has organized multiple performances and taken part in many dance festivals and events in Greece and abroad, often to critical acclaim. Our efforts are always focused on offering a high quality, well-informed, inclusive, and ever-developing curriculum in dance education, and on contributing to the enhancement of Greek dance culture and community.
Andromachi Kafantari, the director of Kafantari Professional Dance Academy, is an honorary guest of the Belfast International Ballet Festival and is going to teach a ballet Masterclass on Saturday the 10th of August at the MAC Theatre.
School of dance Aristea Litou
The Higher Professional and Amateur School of Dance ''Aristea Litou'' was founded in the historic city of Ioannina in Greece, a city with a rich dance community and tradition, aiming to become a pillar of culture, exchange, meeting and opportunities for young and established artists of the art of dance. The school provides its students, through three years of study, with a dance teacher degree recognized by the state.
The methodology of the school is based on:
Daily lessons, rehearsals and participation in performances, acquaintance with classical and contemporary dance repertoire, pedagogical tools and group and art psychology lessons, music and rhythmic education, seminars with renowned artists from the entire spectrum of arts, nutrition and preventive health advice, somatic practices (yoga, pilates, etc.).
The school is housed in the historic Papafilou building, which was built in 1870, to host the music scene - Café Theatre named “Olympia” (<<ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑ>>). This unique building, which housed the first theatre of Ioannina and later hosted the Philharmonic of the Municipality of Ioannina, was a place of cultural gatherings and has been characterised as a Work of Art and a Historical Monument by the Ministry of Culture in 1980.
Giorgos Zafeiris, a student of the school and the son of the Director Aristea Litou, will attend both the Summer Intensive and the week of the Belfast International Ballet Festival and dance in the Galas. Giorgos was recently accepted into the Academy of Dance of Vienna Opera and is starting his studies in September 2024.