Chara Kotsali is a dance maker, performer and teacher based in Greece. She graduated from the Rallou Manou Professional School of Dance, where she now teaches contemporary dance. She also teaches and choreographs at the Marmarinou Professional Dance School and the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD) as a guest teacher, as well as at several other schools across Europe. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Theater Studies and a master’s degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology, as well as professional drumming training from the Modern Music School.
She explores choreography and performance through an expanded approach, attempting to incorporate methodologies from anthropology, documentary art, music, and other performing languages, while being particularly interested in the politics of sound and movement. Her practice encompasses writing, field recordings, and DIY sound composition. She has presented her work in venues in Greece and abroad, and has been selected as one of the Twenty24 Aerowaves artists.
In March 2023, she presented her debut solo choreographic work, “to be possessed,” as part of the Onassis Dance Days, which is currently touring festivals and venues across Europe. This piece was selected as part of the Aerowaves Twenty24 artists program and the [8: tension] Young Choreographers’ Series at the 2023 ImPulsTanz Festival, where it received an honourable mention from the jury. In July 2024, her second work, “borborygmi,” premiered at the Athens Epidaurus Festival, where it received an audience award. It is now touring.
She has worked as a movement director on theatre productions by renowned Greek directors, and received the Greek Critics Association award for Best Theater Choreography in 2023. From 2016 to 2022, she coordinated movement workshops that took place at the Women’s Prison in Eleonas, Thiva, as part of the Greek National Opera’s Educational Programs. Furthermore she is a contributor to the magazine “Yusra.”
PICTURE: Louisa Vradi