We are an Athens-based production platform co-founded by two artists and choreographers who have moved into producing, bringing together artistic practice and structural support. Our international and cross-cultural work has developed both through our individual artistic practices and, more recently, through our work as producers through Cicadas. As artists, we have presented our work internationally and participated in festivals, residencies and professional development programmes across Europe and beyond, building relationships with artists, producers and organisations from different cultural contexts. These experiences have given us first-hand insight into the possibilities and challenges of international collaboration.
Cicadas emerged from this experience. Our approach is also inherently interdisciplinary: alongside our backgrounds in dance and the performing arts, our academic backgrounds are in mechanical engineering and economics, bringing together analytical, organisational and creative perspectives. More recently, Cicadas has been selected for international producer development initiatives, including the Moving Balkans Contemporary Dance Platform, supported by Creative Europe, and the Next Stage+ Residency for Performing Arts Producers in Sweden, organised by Johnson & Bergsmark. We are particularly interested in cross-cultural exchange because we see it as an opportunity not only to connect different artistic contexts, but also to question established ways of working and create new forms of collaboration.
He is an ARTWORKS fellow of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and a graduate of the MRes Choreography & Performance program at Roehampton University (2022). He studied dance in State School of Dance & Greek National Opera. He holds a BA in Economics from AUEB.
He has taught choreography seminars at the University of Peloponnese and Moragemou Professional Dance School, and is a certified Pilates instructor trained under Michael King.
Stella Spyrou is a choreographer and teacher of African diaspora dances based in Athens. Her practice centers on rhythm, the body as a carrier of memory, and the collective experience of movement, drawing from her research in Brazil and Afro-Brazilian dance and ritual practices.
Her work has been presented at international festivals including Arc for Dance, 21Masdanza (Special Mention of the Jury Award), Cádiz en Danza, Trayectos, and Danza Urbana. Her upcoming production Ânsia has received funding from the Greek Ministry of Culture for 2025–2026. She has collaborated with the Athens and Epidaurus Festival, Touch Compass (New Zealand), and the Onassis Public Schools, and has led workshops for mixed-ability groups across multiple platforms.
Spyrou holds an MSc in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Patras, a BA in Contemporary Dance Practice from the American College of Greece, and pursued postgraduate research in Biomechanics at the University of Campinas, Brazil.