Ioannis Mandafounis

Ioannis Mandafounis was born in Athens and studied dance at the Paris Conservatoire. He was a dancer with the GöteborgsOperan Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater II and The Forsythe Company. He began working as a choreographer in 2004. From 2009, he was a member of the successful Frankfurt collective mamaza. At the same time, he led his own company in Switzerland and toured worldwide. He has developed commissioned works for a large number of international companies, including the Ballet de l'Opéra de Lyon, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Corpus des Royal Danish Ballets, the Greek National Opera Ballet, the National Theatre in Athens, the Theater Junge Generation Dresden, Norrdans, the Gärtnerplatztheater in Munich and the Regionteater Väst.

He has been the Artistic Director of the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company since the 2023/24 season. He works with the ensemble using the methodology he developed: live choreography. This enables the dancers to create a new choreography live on stage from their bodies, movements and actions in every performance and every moment.