BIOGRAPHY
Alexandra Tsiapi was born and raised in Athens, Greece. Throughout the years she has trained in Ballet, Jazz, Street, Contemporary and Tap dance. Alexandra has trained in Byzantine and Classical Solfege, and plays three musical instruments: the piano, tampouras, and orchestral percussions.
In 2009 she joined an amateur dance company, ‘Cyclades’. The company travelled abroad to take part in cultural exchanges and dance competitions: In 2009 they travelled to Tianjin, China, in 2011 to Barcelona, Spain and in 2013 to St. Petersburg, Russia.
Alexandra moved to Glasgow, Scotland in 2014. In 2015 she joined Anniesland College where she trained for three years and acquired a Higher National Diploma in Dance. During her three years of training there, she studied Ballet, Cunningham, Release, Limon, Tap, Street and Jazz. In 2017 she was part of the National Youth Dance Company of Scotland, with Anna Kenrick as artistic director. They toured nationally (Glasgow, Dundee, Inverness) and internationally (Melbourne, Australia) with their piece Di-ve-rgent. While in Melbourne, the company collaborated with Yellowwheel Dance Company, and performed alongside them.
In 2018 Alexandra enrolled in The Scottish School of Contemporary Dance in Dundee. There, she continued her training in Release, Cunningham and Ballet as well as floor work and choreography. She joined the student dance company "Flyzone" and worked with two different choreographers to produce two diverse pieces to be shown at festivals and the SSCD annual show. Alexandra graduated from the SSCD with a First Class (Hons) Degree.
While training in Scotland Alexandra had the opportunity to perform at various venues such as the Glasgow Theatre Royal, Dundee Rep Theatre, Tramway, Eden Court and Aberdeen Art Galleries. In addition, Alexandra had the opportunity to take part in workshops carried out by very inspiring people and companies such as Guy Nader, Maeva Berthelot, Sam Amos, Ben Wright, Lali Ayguade, Luke Jessop, Scottish Ballet, John Henney, Richard Chapel, Jen Wren, Rambert, Richard Alston, Shaper Capper, Joan Cleville, Solene Weinachter, Gosia Mielech, Adam Wheeler, Min Li.
She volunteered and took part in various performances:
She worked with Ydance, performing at the World Badminton Championship 2017 and took part in a film created by the BBC for the Dance Passion Week 2019, collaborating with Scottish Ballet dancers and choreographers. Moreover, Alexandra was selected to perform in “Glimpse”, a performance at the Scottish Art Club in Edinburgh, organized by Dance Base.
During her final year of training at the SSCD, Alexandra took part at the opening ceremony of the V&A museum in Dundee, Scotland, performing alongside schools from the surrounding areas as well as “Shaper Capper” company dancers, with Thomas Small as director. Under the mentorship of Dawn Hartley, Alexandra created a duet work, "Our colours", which was performed at the SSCD annual show and at the Tic tac Art Centre in Brussels, Belgium.
Since her graduation Alexandra has taken up several projects. In January 2020, Alexandra was invited to take part in the DEBS residency at Dance Base. There she started her research on femininity and its association with the element of water, with the support of Angus McLean Balbernie. In February 2020 she was featured at Seafrets Music Video for the song "Magnetic". In May 2020, Alexandra, alongside Francesca Till collaborated with the Scottish based Dance Artist Jenna Corker in a remote residency awared to Jenna Corker by Citymoves Aberdeen. The same residency opportunity was awarded to the three dance artists in September 2020 when they were able to carry out the residency in the Citymoves studio in Aberdeen, after the easing of the COVID- 19 safety measures. Alexandra presented the first part of her solo work “Naiads and Nereids” at Lacuna Festival 2020 in July and at Insights Online Platform 2020 in December. In July 2020, Alexandra alongside the dance artists Carmen Berbell and Francesca Till, performed "Fish People", an outdoor dance performance choreographed by Scottish based Dance Artist Jenna Corker with the support of Sussex Dance Network. It was performed live at Lumberton Bay and broadcasted through the online platform Zoom, as part of Neverthere Festival @ Surge 2020. In 2021 through a residency awarded to her by Th Work Room @ Tramway, she continued her research on her solo work "Naiads and Nereids" exploring further her abilities to tell stories with her voice and body. In 2021 Alexandra choreographed and directed the screen dance short film “Distance Between” which was selected for "Lift Off First Time Filmakers Online Film Festival April 2021", "Lacuna Festival 2021", "Dumfries and Galloway Dance watch Party 2021 Autumn-Winter Edition" and "Insight Platform Digital 2021. Alexandra performed “Shoreway” an outdoor artist led project with lead artist Jenna Corker at Cramond Island in June 2021 funded by Dance North, The Work Room, and Citymoves. Alexandra performed "It was the Soundest Pile of Unwantedness I knew" at Unfix Festival 2021, under the direction of Carmen Berbel Lapaz. In October 2021, Alexandra presented her solo work "Of Deep and Shallow" at the Aberdeen Art Galleries, part of Dance Live 2021. Alexandra was the Community Facilitator for STRUT, part of Dance International Glasgow 2021. Through a collaboration with musicians Ele and Evanthea, Alexandra created and performed "Thread of Life" at Civic House 2021 and St. Peters Seminary 2021. In 2022, Alexandra was commissioned by Aberdeen Performing Arts to create her work "Holding the Forest Floor" which was performed as part of "Wonderland" festival in Aberdeen. Through a collaboration with artists David West, Alexandra has been awarded with two residencies by Dance Base and The Work Room, where she co-created the work "Individuals and Intimacies".
picture by Dafni Michalaki
