EDUCATION
For Pavlina Veremi, dance education is the site of development and acceptance with a human-centered character. During her tenure, the field of education at the National School of Dance has been adapted in accordance with international standards. Through the development of critical dance skills, sensitivity to diversity and communication with other arts, the educational environment became creative, disciplined, and open to free ideas.
This environment helped in forming ever-evolving dance artists who exhibit their work while exposing their art. Through the experience of successes but mostly failures, students were able to eventually direct their personalities towards their ambitions and personal pursuits. With great love for the animated material at her fingertips, Veremi emphasized strengthening each student’s potential so that each could develop their talents and enrich their inner world; the goal and lifelong challenge were to push the boundaries of their bodies and minds and to find themselves, upon completion of their studies, with a well-rounded personality, self-confidence and an undiminished curiosity to enthusiastically continue their exploration of dance and life.
It is important that in the multi-level programme for education a new institution emerged and established itself, the Preparatory Faculty of the School, involving a full year study. Through the large number of dancer candidates who took the School’s entrance examinations each year, the Preparatory Department was formed so that its students could benefit from the educational program of the National School of Dance and prepare for their future studies.
Seminars
Alongside the curriculum, already since 1999, Pavlina Veremi has selected a number of renowned foreign and Greek dance artists to complement the students’ training and add significant experience to their development. These included sculptor Costas Varotsos, visual designer Thomas Economakos, video dance artist Margaret Williams, musicians Christos Papageorgiou, Risa Steinberg (José Limón) and Denise Vale (Martha Graham Company) for contemporary art. Also, Juan Cruz Díaz de Garaio Esnaola, Devid Zambrano, Ann Abramovic, Ori Flomin, Olivier Dubois, Chrysa Parkison, Gill Clark, Laura Aris-Alvarez (Ultima Vez), Thomas Plischke, Charles Linehan, Nana Vachla, Ignacio Camio Azpillaga, Martin Lawrance, Mary Sano, Gregory Apostolidis, Ann Papoulis (Cunningham), Linda Kapetanea and Jozef Frucek (Rootless Root).
Collaborations
Through a spirit of constant growth, the National School of Dance has been on a steady trajectory since 1999, becoming an exemplary educational institution and an arts centre of international renown and credibility. It is no coincidence that thanks to the School’s dynamic profile and collaborations, students have had the opportunity to work with important creators from all over the world, in the classroom or on stage. More specifically, the School has maintained fruitful collaborations with educational circles and artistic organizations of global scope, such as the Martha Graham Company, the London Contemporary Dance Theater, the Richard Alston Company, Ultima Vez, the Junior Ballet Conservatoire of Paris, Teatro alla Scala with the participation of 25 young dancers (British Council,), the Britich Council, the Hellenic American Association, etc.
Three-year choreography cycle
The choreography course was based on a rigorous but multi-level methodology that supported, inspired and assisted the training of the creative student throughout the three-year study course at the National School of Dance, in order to become an autonomous professional. The Choreography Curriculum has seen regular revisions and adaptations to meet pedagogical needs within the school, while remaining relevant to the larger international dance scene. Over a period of nearly twenty years, the design of the choreography curriculum has continued to evolve, guided and monitored by UK-based choreographer and lecturer Dr. Athena Vahla.
Some of the aims of the Choreography Curriculum included: developing an understanding of the key pillars of the movement medium, namely the acting body and theory; exploring ways of creating performances and designing scenography worlds; introducing and applying compositional strategies used for dance as well as drama and Performance. This included some of the methods and techniques of established choreographers such as Pina Bausch, William Forsythe, Meg Stuart, Trisha Brown, Xavier Le Roy and combining rigorous guided works with improvisation techniques, exploration, experimentation, and analysis. Peer feedback, teamwork and reflection were central to the course.
In the first year of the curriculum, the student learning began with an embodied understanding of tendencies of the body as a choreographic tool and an introduction to the basic tasks of listening and compositional analysis of classical music. Year two progressed to the creation of experimental sketches as a means of shaping material. Lastly, the final year comprised of independent works supported by a reflective portfolio of projects. In recent years, the Choreographic Studies Programme has increasingly involved interdisciplinary collaboration, and has been further developed with the contribution of other the National School of Dance faculty who have generously contributed their time and expertise in the history of music, rhythm, writing, art history, as well as dance technique. Iris Karayan was in charge of the choreography course.
4th YEAR
The National School of Dance is the only educational institution for dance with a long history and record of 92 years.
During these years, it has continuously offered the best possible education in the field of dance, while great names of dancers and dance teachers have passed through its classes. Key to its success has been the desire to keep up with the major trends in world education, to provide an environment where students are best prepared for the challenges of their profession and are able meet the competitive conditions of artistic creation and stage performance.
The constant request of Greek dance artists is for an educational institution to be able to offer a postgraduate programme in the fields of Performance and Choreography. This would be both economically advantageous and a lifesaver, as anyone who wants to specialize in these areas has to pursue studies in universities abroad, often unaffordable to students and their families
It should be noted here that the almost twenty-year informal preparatory work was an important experience for the network that had been created with collaborations of artists and groups from Greece and abroad.
In conclusion, it is particularly important that the pertinent authorities understand that they have to support the upgrading of the National School of Dance, an issue that has long been of concern to us. The School, however, should not be judged like a Technological Educational Institute (TEI) but should be considered analogous to the Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA).
Dance education is artistic education with particularities such as the ASFA; the Government Gazette concerning ASFA determines that its candidates are not included in the programme of the national examinations. Moreover, the ASFA regulations set out certain special elements such as the workshops, which constitute the standard mode of study. The National School of Dance cannot be judged based on the criteria of the technical higher education of TEI. It must remain an independent institution of artistic education and pave the way for similar changes and modifications in the operation of other artistic sectors so that Greece positions itself effectively at the level of educational reform. A significant economic benefit will result from the money saved fee payments abroad for postgraduate studies. In the long term, it will also raise the level of artistic creativity, while it will be able to attract foreign students and artists…
Student’s assignments and projects
