Brief curriculum vitae
for a complete biography, click  here 
 

  A Sorbonne graduate, choreographer, dancer, dance and yoga teacher, and dance movement therapist. Leda Shantala was born in Athens, where she studied ballet for 10 years. In France, alongside her university studies in French Literature, she studied modern dance, ethnology, humanistic psychology (with a particular stress on body image symbology).For three years she lived in India where she was trained in classical Bharata Natyam dance and in yoga, but her travels took her to other countries (Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Congo, Cameroon, Dahomey in Central Africa....) to study bodily expression and movement therapy of these civilizations. Back to Greece, she started, since 1985, giving Bharata Natyam recitals which, in the course of time, gave its way to a more complex choreographical language combining Asian and African influences with ancient Greek identity and with 20th century dance codes. At the same time, she never stopped enriching her knowledge with frequent extended trips to India. In the last 15 years, Leda Shantala with her group, since 1987 called the Leda Shantala Dance Theatre, has presented 14 productions.In 1987 she also founded the Mandiram Cultural Centre where for 16 years she taught yoga, Bharata Natyam and, since her degree in dance movement therapy (with Marcia Lowenthal of New York University) she animated dance therapy groups. In November 2003 she completed the construction of the Shantom House of Culture, a three-storey multi-purpose building in Chalandri (a suburb of Athens), hosting courses in yoga, Bharata Natyam Indian dance and dance movement therapy alongside courses by other teachers (in many kinds of dance, martial arts, as well as alternative therapies) seminars, performances (dance, music and drama), exhibitions and all kinds of multi-cultural events: a place of culture, entertainment and communication to help human beings expand their potential in an atmosphere of joy, openness, and respect.

Leda Shantala with her group, since 1987 called The Leda Shantala Dance Theatre, has presented so far 14 productions:
Indian Dance recital ('85), Theseus (’87), Avataras (’88), Gita Govinda (’89), Garlands (’90), Shakunthala (’91), Choreographic Improvisations (’92), Iros Anghelos (’93), The Light of Shadow (’94), Dance Paths of the East (’95), Sun in the Night (’96), The Roof of the World (’98), The Roof of the World -2 (’00), What a coincidence (2003).


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Page last updated on August 29th, 2019