Ioannis Mandafounis was born in Athens in 1981. He studied dance at the Greek State School of Dance and in Paris, at the Conservatoire national supérieur (CNSMDP). He was a dancer with the Gothenburg Opera Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater II and the Forsythe Company (2005-2009). At the same time, he started creating his own works: in Athens with the group Lemurius (since 2005); in Geneva with Fabrice Mazliah and their group, Cie Projet 11 (since 2007); and in Frankfurt with May Zarhy and Fabrice Mazliah, with their group MAMAZA (since 2009). Since 2015, he has been the artistic director of Cie Ioannis Mandafounis, based in Geneva, inviting various artists to collaborate with him on each new project. He has been commissioned to create new works by the Greek National Opera Ballet, the Greek National Theater, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Corpus (Royal Ballet of Denmark), the Lyon Opera Ballet, Norrdans of Sweden, etc. In 2015 he was awarded the Swiss Dance Prize, in the category of Outstanding Male Dancer, and from 2023 he will take over the artistic direction of Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company.
Born in Athens, Yannis Adoniou studied at the State School of Dance (KSOT) and the School of Hamburg Ballet. He danced with the Hamburg Ballet, Osnabruck State Theater, Bonn Ballet, Underwegs Theater in Heidelberg, William Forsythe’s member project, Alonzo King's LINES Ballet, San Francisco Opera and Sara Shelton Mann's Contraband, among others. In 1998 he created the organization KUNST-STOFF productions where as artistic director he was honored with the Goldie Award. In addition to the KUNST-STOFF Dance Company, he created works for groups and universities such as Seattle Opera, Sacramento Ballet, Bonn Ballet, Opera Santa Barbara, National Opera House of Kuwait, the Modern Department at the University of Utah, Florida State University, Lines Ballet/Dominican University, Municipal Theatre of Patras, NEON Organization, Benaki Museum, among others.
CONCEPT: Ioannis Mandafounis
CHOREOGRAPHY: Ioannis Mandafounis, Yannis Adoniou
PERFORMERS: Emmanouela Alexandrinaki, Ioanna Loupeti, Konstantina Verrou, Evini Pantelaki, Yannis Adoniou, Spyros Ntogas, Yannis Adoniou, Ioannis Mandafounis
MUSIC: Johann Sebastian Bach, Nina Simone
TEXTS: Ioanna Loupeti, Konstantina Verrou
PRODUCTION: Yannis Adoniou | KUNST-STOFF productions & Cie ++1
WITH THE SUPPORT OF: Ancient Ilida Festival, Dance Cultural Centre (DAN.C.CE), City of Geneva, State of Geneva, Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.
