Ontario Arts Council Chalmers Professsional Development Award 2024!
Ontario Arts Council Chalmers Professsional Development Award 2024!
Irèni movement arts integrates Contemporary Dance, Hatha yoga, innovative practices and somatic movement inquiry for well-being and creative process. A diverse movement practice in connection to nature sourced for training, artistic practice and personal development.
Irèni Stamou is an award-winning, critically acclaimed, Greek Canadian dancer, choreographer and yoga teacher. With over 30 years of experience, she has trained, toured and practiced internationally, most notably in Canada, Europe, New York, and Costa Rica.
Irèni (Irini) signifies peace in Greek. Greek-born Irèni is passionate about well-being in body, mind, heart and soul. Intuitive, creative and wise: Irèni Movement Arts is an embodied practice. Artists, students, and participants of all ages, from all walks of life, are welcomed to take the journey home to themselves.
Irèni's curiosity for the healing arts began in her dance career when she experienced spinal difficulties while in high-impact performances, tours and running her own dance company. Receiving numerous treatments, her mentorship with Nancy Topf of the Topf Technique / Dynamic Anatomy 1996 -1998 was the modality that shifted her way of being in the body and movement, a life-changing somatic training that offered longevity practices for dancers.
Irèni discovered the unplugged world of remote Costa Rica in the year 2000 in an Artist Residency project at Estudio Los Almendros and mentorship with Dr. Ninoska Gomez (Soma rhythms).
Falling in love with the pure life force of Costa Rica, ocean, jungle and wildlife, she immersed herself in the blue zone environment. A journey of nearly two decades of personal growth and professional development ensued; advanced yoga certifications enriched her teaching and artistic practice. She developed a Healing Arts Practice in remote locations in Costa Rica; founded Bamboo Yoga, FullMoonRise Yoga, and Shakti Women's Retreats.
Her therapeutic work deepened at The Harmony Healing Center in Nosara, Costa Rica, where she combined Somatic and Yoga techniques in her classes, workshops and treatements.
Her healing practice influenced her choreographic explorations resulting in collaborations and performances in San Jose, Costa Rica, Granada, Nicaragua and mentorship for Montreal dance artists.
Presently Irèni is integrating her knowledge and experience with Irèni Movement Arts based in Peterborough, Nogojiwanong, Ontario, and continues her projects in Costa Rica and Greece.
"Irèni, you are truly a creative force and our last dance "bones" I don't think I will ever forget...there was such a high level of exploration, such courage, such adventure...the work, so strong."
Nancy Topf, New York
" Irèni is kind, present, and compassionate. She beautifully integrates the physical with the spiritual, truly embodying what people talk about when they talk about the mind-body connection. She's so much more than a bodyworker or yoga instructor. She's a healer. Katie, Washington, DC"
"you were already such a highly attuned, gifted healer and teacher; you came in as a master".
Angela Boltz, Rasa Yoga, Montezuma, Costa Rica
Irèni Stamou is an award-winning Canadian dancer and choreographer who interweaves contemporary and multicultural dance forms that, piece after piece, reveal profoundly imaginative and poetic journeys.
Born in Athens, Greece, Irèni's family immigrated to Canada when she was five and a half years old. She grew up in a traditional Greek upbringing within Montreal's multicultural center, a melting pot of arts, culture, and languages. Irèni is a Fine Arts graduate from Concordia University, Montreal, majoring in Contemporary Dance directed by Elizabeth Langley' ( recipient of the Order of Canada Award). Irèni graduated with honours for outstanding achievements in choreography.
Irèni founded her Montreal-based dance company, Métaspora Danse ( After diaspora/dispersion), from 1994-2007. Spanning over three decades as an independent soloist and choreographer for her company, she toured Canada and Europe and performed in New York and Costa Rica to critical acclaim. Irèni has received commissions for original choreography from dance companies such as Echine Do, Montréal, Festival du Monde Arabe/Les Jeunes Ballet du Québec, L' Ecole de danse du Québec, and Danse en Kortright, Belgium. As weIl Irèni has collaborated and choreographed solos for prestigious Canadian dancers and interpreters Roger Sinha, Ken Roy, Lydia Wagerer, Dreda Blow and Costa Rican Danny Marenko.
"Because her work delves into the human heart, exploring with intensity its sensory and emotional zones while presenting an aesthetic that is at once original and finely wrought, The fine mélange of truly contemporary language and gestures drawn from the treasure-house of traditional Greek dances give each one of her choreographies a unique character." André Martin, Le Devoir, Montreal, Québec
Recipient of The Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec, Conseil des Arts de Montréal, and Canadian Heritage, Irèni is one of the few ethnic women artists of her time that broke ground in the 1990s with multicultural content and unique choreography.
Irèni has taught somatic workshops at The University of Costa Rica and has received the Choreographers Award for Mia Zoi (One Life) 2008 at Festival de Coreógrafos XX1V, San José, Costa Rica. Irèni collaborated and danced in the Spirit of Athena, a series of short videos created in Costa Rica by Diane Carriere, Université de Montréal, Québec.
2017 Irèni choreographed the ancient Greek play La Orestíada by Aeschylus, adapted in Spanish by director Luis Fernando Gómez for The National Theatre of Costa Rica.
In 2018, Irèni relocated to Peterborough, Nogojiwanong, Ontario. She founded Irèni Movement Arts, practicing the healing arts and dance artistry. Her recent choreographies include collaborations with diverse ballet, theatre and video artists. Irèni received an Artist Residency with Public Energy Performing Arts (2020-21), and Alternating Currents Theatre on King project ( 2023)— and an Electric City Council Individual Grants recipient to support her research and creative process. Recent works include Inside the Sculpture Pivot Festival and Bone Stories at Small Dances for a small stage Theatre on King and Public Energy Performing Arts Pivot II. In 2023, Irèni renewed her passion for solo dance for herself and was selected to participate in Solo Dance Labs and mentorship with Canadian choreographers Denise Fujiwara and Elizabeth Langley .
A Yoga Alliance 2023 Teaching for Equity grant offered Irèni the opportunity to teach Yoga to women in vulnerable communities at The New Canadian Centre and women with Acquired Brain Injury at The Brain Injury Association, Peterborough, Nogojiwanong, Ontario.
Serving the community is an integral part of Irèni's healing arts practice. Since COVID-19, Irèni has taught in vulnerable communities in Peterborough, Nogojiwanong, Ontario. Her offerings have benefitted seniors 80 to 102 years old with Somatic movement, Therapeutic Barre and Dance classes at Senior Retirement Residencies. Irèni has expanded her knowledge to clients of the Brain Injury Association.
Irèni's compassionate loving kindness and joyful teaching help people connect to sensation, imagination, spirit and hope in their bodies, hearts, souls and minds.
"Ireni"s best quality is the ability to care, without bias, for all the humans I have seen her come in contact with. The compassion she shows the older adults speak to her remarkable character."
Andra Hughes, Wellness Coordinator: AON Senior Retirement Residencies. Peterborough, Ontario
"My mother has Alzheimer's, and how she blossoms during the Somatic Movement class at the Senior Residency is remarkable. With each class, her movements expand. She tells me that it makes her feel "creative and good." Irèni sincerely connects with each person who attends. My mother always remembers her, which is interesting and unusual. It's a beautiful class."
Meredee
Peterborough, Ontario
"Irèni has a natural talent in how she connects with clients. With Irèni's support, participants experienced the healing benefits of movement, freedom of personal expression, and increased self-concept ".
Margaret Camp
Recreation Therapist
Brain Injury Association, Peterborough Region.