BIOGRAPHY
Following a lengthy career abroad and in Greece, Pavlina Veremi took over the management of the National School of Dance (KSOT) (1999-2018). She focused her interest in the field of performance and choreography, respecting the existing structures, while exploring new trends in contemporary dance by establishing a multifaceted education programme. Aiming at artistic expression, she founded, within the School, the Hellenic Dance Company (2000-2018) and established the Open Studio (Black Box) institution. During her tenure, new generations of dancers, choreographers, dance teachers and artistic directors underwent training and managed to make their own creative contribution in Greece and in the international dance arena. The present work constitutes the record of a personal journey and further aspires to be at the service of dance educators and historians in our country.
Pavlina Veremi began her studies on a scholarship at the Koula Pratsika School and completed them at the Martha Graham School in New York and at the London School of Contemporary Dance, where she continued her specialization in choreography on a scholarship donated by the iconic May O’Donnell. There, she was selected by Jane Dudley as a demonstrator of the Martha Graham technique for presentations at universities in London, in England and abroad.
She has participated as a dancer in more than twenty productions of the London Contemporary Dance Theatre, in choreographies by Leopoldo Mayer, Richard Alston, Tamara Mc Lorg and in many experimental groups in London. In Greece she performed with the National Opera Ballet.
She has taught at the London School of Contemporary Dance, at most of the Higher Professional Dance Schools in Greece, taught seminars in Athens, at the Municipality of Thessaloniki (Stavroupoli), and at the Experimental Ballet of Yannis Metsis.
She choreographed works to music by J.S Bach, B. Bartók, the percussion orchestra, V. Lobos, E. Varese, Nikos Skalkotas, Stavros Xarchakos, James Brown, which were presented in productions of the London Contemporary Dance Theatre and in international festivals. At the Cologne International Festival her choreography Cell won first prize and subsequently her choreography In a Journey, In a Journey, In a Journey, won second prize. She has also choreographed for Laban Centre Studio Theatre, Camden Town Festival, Saint Pancras Church Festival (London), etc.
In Greece she was a member of various committees and councils of the Ministry of Culture, such as the first committee of the entrance and diploma examinations of the Higher Professional Dance Schools of Greece, at the invitation of Melina Mercouri; she has also been a Chairperson of the Grants Committee of Dance Groups, Chairperson of the Grants Committee of Dance Groups, Chairperson of the Theatre and Dance Department of the Ministry of Culture for several years, member of the evaluation committee of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus performances and member of the Board of the National School of Dance. In her position as Director of the National School of Dance she represented the School in workshops and conferences at Zappeion, the House of Letters & Arts and the Old Parliament, organized by the Ministry of Culture, the Onassis Scholars’ Association and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
PHOTO GALLERY
From 1999 to 2018 she was the director of the National School of Dance founding the School’s Library, which now numbers six thousand five hundred volumes, the preparatory section of the professional department, the Hellenic Dance Company, and the Hellenic Dance Company-Junior. Ιn a 2017 she also reintroduced and enshrined by law the fourth year of studies at the National School of Dance, specializing in performance and choreography. During her tenure, the main hall of the historic building was equipped and converted into a small theatre (Black Box) with significant sponsorship by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. As a result of her initiative and financial support, Kostas Varotsos transformed the School’s exterior space into a venue for dance events that also housed the sculpture Dancers, created especially for the National School of Dance.In 2016, her work was supported by ESPA for the following three years, for the integrated programme Attiki, concerning educational cycles and performances in Attica.
Today, she is involved in the development of her students, and she teaches and participates in international conferences and research seminars on contemporary dance and theater.
