“Dance is music made visual” – George Balanchine

Clare Merchant Andreou began her professional studies at the age of 9 when she gained a place at a full-time arts school- The Arts Educational School, now named Tring Park School of Performing Arts. At 16 she continued her studies at the Royal Ballet School where she graduated and at 19 embarked on a teaching career. Clare decided she wanted to gain experience working overseas and had a teaching post in the Canary Islands and then a position in Limasol, Cyprus. Upon meeting her future husband, Clare decided to settle in Cyprus and took over the Nicosia Academy of Dance in 1991, renaming it Dance Works School of Ballet. In 1994 Clare was invited to become a Grades Examiner and Tutor for the Royal Academy of Dance and in 2004 also became a Dual Examiner.

Courses taught on behalf of the Royal Academy of Dance include: 

• 2019 CPD Courses Cyprus, Portugal  RAD Courses
• 2018 CPD courses- Cyprus- Discovering Repertoire and Inside The Exam, Summer School Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, Toronto
• 2018 CPD Courses Cyprus, Sundance Summer School Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, Toronto
• 2017 CPD Grade 6 &7 course, Turkey
• 2016 CPD Courses Cyprus, Sundance Summer School Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, Toronto
• 2014 Malta & Greece – Advanced Foundation, Advanced 1 & Advanced 2 courses
• Numerous in Cyprus since 1994 including New Grades 1-3 in 2012 & New Advanced Foundation, Advanced 1 & 2 in 2013.
• 2011 Barbados, Trinidad and Cyprus Introduction to Intermediate Foundation and Intermediate
• 2010 New Zealand, Northern Ireland Summer schools
• 2009 Northern Ireland Summer school
• 2009 Malta and Cyprus Introduction to Pre Primary and Primary Teacher’s Course
• 2000 Athens, Greece Teaching Certificate Course
• 1999 Tokyo, Japan Summer School
• 1997 Athens, Greece and Guadalajara, Mexico Teaching Certificate Course
• 1995 Luxembourg Easter School
• 1994 Korea Summer School

“I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself” – Mikhail Baryshnikov

Andria Michaelidou was born in Limassol in 1995. She graduated form the University of Nicosia with a BA Dance and continued her studies in Madrid, Spain at Carabdanza with an Eramus scholarship. There, she choreographed “TRILOGIA” (2018) winning second place in “Dance of Rivas” – the national choreographic competition, for a group piece. While in Spain she also performed with choreographers Gonzalo Diaz and Jessica Russo.

With Cypriot choreographers Andria has collaborated with Eva Panayiotou ( dance group aRttitude), Milena Urgen Koulas and Lia Haraki.

As choreographer, Andria has presented works at Flash Dance, Yard Residency17- 2017, the 16^th Nea Kinisi Summer Dance Festival – 2019, Parallel Events “ Dance Throughout the Year –in the 2019 Dance Platform. Also she choreographed an experimental video “(IN)VISIBLE” shown at the NO Body Festival/ Moving On 2018, and later shown at the Inshort film festival in Nigeria Goethe-Institut. Her work Transfigurations was selected for the 28^th Quinzena de Dance de Almada, International dance Festival, Portugal 2020.

In 2020 Andria has choreographed a new work – PRIVATE KINGDOM for the Nea Kinisi  17^th Summer Dance Festival and has been selected to choreograph for the 2020 Dance Platform.

Charis Georgiou was born in Nicosia in 1996. She trained at the Royal Academy of Dance and the London Studio Centre, where she specialized in contemporary and ballet. She has performed with companies such as INTOTO Dance Company and Mein Schiff Cruises, while also teaching ballet, contemporary, and Pilates in Switzerland and Cyprus. In addition, she has prepared students for competitions, including the Swiss Championship and GDO Switzerland.

I trained at IFPRO – Institut de Formation Professionnelle de Danse Rick Odums in Paris (France), and went on to complete a BSc in Psychology at the University of Canterbury Christ Church (UK), followed by an MA in Dance Movement Psychotherapy at the University of Derby (UK).

Over the past five years, I have been teaching and leading workshops, seminars, and classes in both the UK and Cyprus, bringing together my background in psychology, therapy, and professional dance practice.

Competitions:

I received 2nd place and a scholarship at “Τερψιχόρης Έργα” (2017, Thessaloniki), and most recently achieved 1st place at Dance Link (2025) in the Contemporary 18+ Professional Dancers category.

Avgoustina Triarou is a dance artist, performer and choreographer from Cyprus. She holds a BA in Dance from the University of Nicosia and an MA in Choreography from the Theatre Academy of Uniarts Helsinki. She has worked in Cyprus and abroad as a performer, creator, and educator with experiences including Konin Dance Theatre in Poland and the International Contemporary Dance program at Nuova Officina Della Danza in Italy where she also choreographed a piece for Nod students. She further participated in an Erasmus+ exchange program in Sweden, named “Dance more” representing Cyprus and took part in the Next Generation LAB with the choreographer Jill Crovisier (Project of the ASSITEJ SMALL COUNTRIES NETWORK) in Liechtenstein. Her practice investigates the body as a site of thinking, transformation and resistance, and she is interested in how somatic processes can re-pattern perception and activate new relational modes of being. She recently presented her work in the OnBodies Dance and Performance Festival with The Mangonel Project and was part of Nea Kinisi Summer Dance Festival as a performer and creative coordinator with the Launch of Where the Divide Meets the Horizon.