Aliki Germanou – Dancer, Teacher, and Artistic Explorer
I grew up in Athens and first encountered dance at the age of six, forming a relationship that has remained constant ever since. After completing my studies, I trained formally in classical ballet and contemporary dance. At that time, teaching had never crossed my mind — my focus was entirely on performing and exploring the stage.
However, once I graduated, I began teaching classical ballet while also joining a contemporary dance company. A few years later, a strong need arose within me for a different kind of artistic exploration — a completely new path. That was when I discovered Butoh through my main teacher, Masaki Iwana.
Many say that Butoh is not merely dance; it exists within us regardless, as part of who we are — just as we are part of nature itself. For more than twenty-five years now, I have been engaged with this performative art, both as a teacher and as a performer, still unfolding its mysteries.
In parallel, I trained in yoga, wishing to approach Butoh through that path as well — with awareness, knowledge, and care for those I teach. I work with people of all ages and levels and collaborate with artists from various disciplines to create works and experiences that move between movement and the ineffable.
For the past four years, I’ve had the blessing of living on the island of Aegina, where I’ve come into contact with a vibrant and profoundly inspiring artistic community. The exchange and coexistence with these artists — painters, musicians, dancers, writers, performers, film directors, actors, and photographers — continually enrich both my life and my creative process. The island has become a place of inspiration, grounding, and creation, where the beauty of the island encourages presence and connection.
Yanis Zagorianakos or YZagor is a self-taught craftsman and artist. He has a BSC in Industrial Chemistry and Design from The City University London, making him an artist with a highly developed scientific interest and an inquisitive approach.
Born in Athens, he grew up between Athens, Johannesburg and London. He moved permanently to London at the age of 17, where he first studied and then worked as a Project scientist & designer carrying out research & innovation. After 15 years he moved back to Athens, gave up working as a scientist and started traveling to India, where by chance he got introduced to Arts & Crafts. For the next 10 years he regularly visited India and took seminars in various crafts and numerous workshops in painting in London and Athens while working as a full time artist/craftsman for the last 30 years. He now lives between the islands of Aegina & Amorgos where he works.
Statement
He has a broad interest in the materials he uses for his creations. He has worked with wood, metal, fabric, glass, and is always on the lookout for new materials and new combinations. In painting he works with watercolours, acrylics, oxidations, oil, collage… and almost anything he can put his hands on, which can fit the works.
His basic sources of inspiration are: the subconscious, dreams, fantasy, memory, feelings, randomness, chaos, the microscopic and macroscopic…
He likes working with pretty much everything: watercolors, acrylics, oils, oxidations, collage, fabric on canvas, paper, metal, wood and basically mixed media.
He usually starts a painting with a very flexible idea, a memory or a feeling, and allow room for constructive randomness and chance. Always experimenting with different or altered perspectives, and more interested in the fragmented, deformed, out of focus way of perceiving and expressing “reality”. Concentrating more in the just before becoming or just after existing of what there is, more in feelings and emotion then shape or form.
