Dr Vanio Papadelli

Lecturer in Movement BA European Theatre Arts

Summary

Vanio Papadelli is a movement and theatre artist, educator, performer and maker. At Rose Bruford College, she has been teaching regularly movement at the BA European Theatre Arts (since 2011) as well as contributing to other modules, and has convened the Research Methodologies unit at the MA Ensemble Theatre from 2014-2018. She also teaches regularly at Goldsmiths, University of London and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, and has worked in various other Higher Education Institutions including LAMDA and Middlesex University.

Vanio’s teaching practice fuses elements from Eastern European Laboratory theatre and dance-theatre; yoga; somatic movement; postmodern dance; Laban/Bartenieff; and Contact Improvisation. After training as an actor and a dancer in Greece and the UK, she embarked on a doctoral research research (Goldsmiths, 2013) into the Post-Grotowskian theatre tradition and worked with the award-winning company Song of the Goat Theatre (Poland). She has studied internationally with various inspirational theatre and dance practitioners including Farm in the Cave (Czech Republic), Studio Matejka (Poland), Meg Stuart (UK), Nancy Stark Smith (UK/Spain), Charlie Morrissey (UK/Malta), Kirstie Simson (UK), and Simonetta Alessandri (UK).

As a performer, she has worked with an eclectic mix of artists and has produced her own work that engages with issues of vulnerability, memory and candidness fusing physicality, video projections and poetic texts (Greece, UK, Italy, Poland, Germany, Egypt, Lebanon).

Teaching Area

BA (Hons) European Theatre Arts

Movement
Actor and movement training
Postmodern performance practices
Supervision of practical and written dissertations

As a movement tutor, Vanio is deeply interested in cultivating somatic (anatomical and postural) awareness as a foundation for accessing heightened expressive states and taking risks. Her practice fosters attention to breath; mindfulness; and fine tuning with the self, the partner, and the environment. It emphasises experimentation within a playful and inclusive environment while also offering opportunities for reflection, contextualisation and integration. Her aim is to enable students to cherish the richness of their expressive palette with confidence, pleasure, and ease – to feel equipped to move when driven by emotion, the desire to tell a story and/or anatomical curiosity.

Qualifications

Fellowship in Accessible Performance Practice (granted by Rose Bruford College) with GRAEAE 2017-2018
200hours Yoga Teacher Training (Yoga on the Lane) 2019
Practice-Based PhD /Goldsmiths, supervised by Professor Anna Furse (Funded by State Scholarship Foundation of Greece IKY and A.G. Leventis Foundation) 2013
Diploma in Dance / Birkbeck University 2008
MA Performance Making (Distinction) / Goldsmiths, University of London (Funded by IKY) 2007
Diploma in Acting / Drama School of the Odeion Athinon / Athens, Greece 2004
BA in Theatre Studies (First) / National and Kapodistrian University of Athens 2003

Professional Practice

Performances (selection)

2013-20: CANDID life-long performance ritual by Vanio Papadelli & Tania Batzoglou LONDON: GREENHOUSE CAFE / TWOFOLD platform, BIRKBECK University / ImpFest / THE LION AND THE UNICORN THEATRE (GOlive-GOlab platform) / ANTIPA Gallery / ATHENS: EILISSOS (concept, performer)
2016-17: CLOSE DISTANCE by Angela Woodhouse, Nic Sandiland and Caroline Broadhead / WOLLATON HALL, Nottingham (dancer)
2014-15: MY CITY MY REVOLUTION by Nesreen Nabil Hussein / RICH MIX, SHOREDITCH TOWN HALL – THE DITCH – London (performer)
2014: CLINAMEN residency co-organised with Christina Klisiouni / Tripspace London, Present body Athens (performer/co-organiser)
2010: THE CRUCIBLE by Song of the Goat, Role: Mary Warren, Chorus / TEATR STUDIO – Warsaw / Teatr PIESN KOZLA – Wroclaw (performer)
2009-14: THE AIR CHANGES THE COLOUR OF THINGS HERE… solo / LOST Theatre, HACKNEY EMPIRE, SHUNT Vaults, GO-LIVE – London / ZOUKAK Theatre, Sidewalks – BEIRUT, Lebanon (performer, maker).

Facilitated workshops/residencies

2020 – 2021: Write Moves, online intergenerational course for women combining movement, yoga and writing co-facilitated with Rakhee Jasani (Poplar Union, funded by Culture Seeds, Mayor of London)
2015 ECITE (European Contact Improvisation Teachers Exchange), Co-organiser (PAF, France)
2015: The Mythopoetic Body, physical theatre and movement workshop co-facilitated with Tania Batzoglou (Eilissos Theatre, Athens)
2014: Moving ~ Objects, movement performance workshop co-facilitated with Alex Crowe (London Buddhist Arts Centre, London)
2013: Moving into Attunement, workshop as part of CON/Verge residency on group collaboration and artistic practice – (Ponderosa, Germany)
2013: Tuning into Impulses, workshop & performance residency (Zoukak Theatre, Festival Sidewalks, residency sponsored by the British Council, Beirut, Lebanon)
2011: Tuning into Impulses, workshop & residency (Present Body, Athens, Greece)

Publications

Papadelli, Vanio. 2020. Sensing and making sense of touch within movement pedagogies for theatre and performance.In: Malaika Sarco-Thomas (Ed.) Thinking Touch in Partnering and Contact Improvisation: Philosophy, Pedagogy, Practice. Newcastle Upon Thyne: Cambridge Scholars, pp. 180-205. ISBN: 1-5275-5363-9
Lownie, Alistair; Hussein, Nesreen Nabil & Papadelli, Vanio; Lennox Solomon & Yanikkaya Zerrin. 2017. Training and Borders. In: Theatre, Dance and Performance Training 8(1), pp. 109-110.
Chung, Ray and Papadelli, Vanio. 2010. A conversation with Ray Chung. Interviewed by Vanio Papadelli. In Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices, 2(2), pp.155-161.

Conference Papers

Papadelli, Vanio. 2021. ‘Sensing and making sense of touch within movement pedagogies for the theatre and performance’. (Paper presentation) In: ‘The Makings of the Actor: the Actor-Dancer’ (online conference), 8-10 January 2021.
Papadelli, Vanio. 2021. ‘Ripples, cliffs, spheres and strings: Applications of Laban’s effort phrasing’. (Paper presentation). In: ‘Rhythm in Acting and Performance International Conference’ (online conference) 26-28 March 2021.

Research Interests

Physical Theatre.
Intersections between dance and theatre training and devising.
Critical discourses around the body.
Embodied approaches to moving and writing.
History and Theory of 20^th Century European and American performance practice.
Critical perspectives: Phenomenology, ecology, feminism, postmodernism.

Grants and Awards

2000-2001: ERASMUS SOCRATES FREEMOVER one-year scholarship
Theatre Studies Department (Paris 8 – Vincennes-Saint Denis, France) & the Department of History of Art (Universidad de Salamanca, Spain).
2007: Full scholarship from the State Scholarships Foundation of Greece (IKY) for postgraduate studies. (MA Performance Making 2007-2008, Goldsmiths)
2009-2012: Full scholarship from the State Scholarships Foundation of Greece (IKY) for PhD studies. (Royal Central School of Speech and Drama & Goldsmiths).
2010-2012: Grant from A.G. Leventis Foundation for PhD studies.

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