Georgia Petrali is a dancer, director, choreographer, teacher of movement and dance.
She is a member of the organising committee of the International Contact Improvisation Festival in Crete (www.contactimprocrete.com), founding member of Fysalida Dance Company and an external associate of the Dance Centre based at the Pancretan Stadium’s facilities in Heraklion.
Georgia studied classical and modern dance in England and continued her postgraduate dance studies in specialising in contemporary dance and choreography at the Rotterdamse Dansacademie in Holland with a grant from the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation. Having received a bursary, Georgia Petrali was Greece's first participation in the international dance festival, Dance Web in Vienna in the summer of 2000.
From 1998 to the present day, she has taught movement, improvisation, classical ballet and contemporary dance in England, Switzerland, Portugal and Greece. In 1999 she ‘discovered’ contact improvisation and ever since has declared herself to be ‘in love’ with it.
On Crete, she started teaching ballet, contemporary dance and contact improvisation in 2002.
As a dancer she has collaborated with the Manc Dance Company, the Terpsicorrick Dance Company, Doris Vuilleumier, Haris Mantafounis, Artemis Ignatiou, Natasa Zouka, Carol Brown, Luca Silvestrini, Dimitris Papaioannou and Angeliki Stellatou as assistant choreographer for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.
In 2006 she founded the dance company ‘Fysalida’ (www.fysalidance.com), based in Heraklion, Crete to explore, create and present artworks in the regions through collaboration with artists, educators, therapists and scientists from Greece and abroad.
Productions for Fysalida which Georgia has directed, choreographed and danced in include the performances Rooms (2006), ‘Flock-the stargazer’ (2007), ‘Moments of Metamorphosis’ (2010), ‘Insect’ (2010-2011), ‘To Trizoni’ (2011), ‘My Crisis in Your Crisis’ (2011) and the video-art pieces ‘Rooms’ (2006), ‘Flock-the glassfish’ (2007), ‘Flock-the stargazer’ (2007), ‘Insect’ (2009), ‘The 7 deadlies in a relationship’ (2009), ‘Phobias’ (2010), ‘To Trizoni’ (2011).
In 2008 she directed and choreographed the film ‘Wrinkles and Dreams’ starring the picturesque neighbourhood of Agia Triada in Heraklion, Crete emphasizing on local architecture and community dance. The film so far, has won 6 prizes in Greece and abroad.
The characteristics of the dance theatre performance ‘Moments of Metamorphosis’ were that it used a winery in the village of Houdetsi Crete to stage the performance and utilised the change from natural to artificial light, combining the natural beauty of the landscape with the special features of the interior of the winery.
The solo performance ‘To Trizoni’ which was first presented in March 2011 in Athens and the dance theatre piece ‘Ma Crise dans Ta Crise’ which premiered in Renens, Switzerland in November 2011 were both inspired by the general ‘crisis’ which is occurring globally the last few years.
Fulfilling activist actions through movement and art, taking an architectural look at the various places where an artwork is presented, improvising and using elements of contact improvisation and dance-theatre, collaborating with professional and amateur artists and with ordinary people through ‘community dance’ are characteristic technical features and well-trooden ‘emotional paths’ of the artistic activities and productions prepared by Georgia Petrali.
Last but not least, Georgia is interested in dancing and exploring artwork by collaborating with other dancers and artists in Greece and mainly abroad. She travels a lot, speaks fluently Greek, English, French and ‘hands gesture language’ when needed. She likes eating mangos and lotus and enjoys looking at the big fat white clouds changing shapes in the sky.
