Artemis Ignatiou
She graduated from the National School of Dance. She studied dance, theatre, music, and art history. She continued her studies in theatre and dance in New York.
She has been the choreographer and artistic director of the Lighting and Handover Ceremonies of the Olympic Flame since 2008. Beijing 2008, Vancouver 2010, London 2012, Sochi 2014, Rio 2016, Pyeongchang 2018, Tokyo 2020, Beijing 2022, and the Youth Olympic Games Singapore 2010, Innsbruck 2012, Nanjing 2014, Lillehammer 2016, Buenos Aires 2018, Lausanne 2020, Gangwon 2024.
From 1988 to 2006 she was a priestess, high priestess, and assistant to choreographer Maria Hors. She has been a torchbearer for the Olympic Games since 2006. She collaborated with the National Olympic Academy of Greece as part of the “Olympic Education Day” program and directed the revival of the History of the 1st Modern Olympic Games of 1896 at the Panathenaic Stadium in front of 45.000 students. She collaborates on educational programs organized by the Hellenic Olympic Committee, the International Olympic Truce Center, and the British Council. In support of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, she presented an Interactive Lecture on “Olympic Games in Ancient Greece and Lighting and Delivery Ceremonies of the Olympic Flame today”, which was attended by 470 French students. Since 2019, she has been participating in the educational program “The Generation of 2004 in Greece, on the road to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”
She is the founder of the ART Dance Theater, giving many performances in Greece and abroad, including in Italy, Germany, Tunisia, China, Cyprus, Serbia, Albania, while in 2008 she represented Greece at the Opening Ceremony of the 6th Beijing Cultural Festival for the Cultural Olympiad 2008 in China.
She has choreographed numerous theater performances and operas. She has collaborated with the National Theater, the Athens Concert Hall, the Benaki Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and many regional theatres. She directed the Opening Ceremony of the Authentic Marathon, the Dance Drama “The Fall of Tripolitsa” as part of the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of Tripoli and the Opening Ceremony of the Olympia Marathon.
In 2022, she directed and choreographed the music and dance performance “Memories of Smyrna”, under the auspices of the Attica region. In 2022, she was commissioned to direct the Inaugural Ceremony of the AEK – OPAP ARENA stadium, where she presented a choreography of 350 people, in front of 35.000 spectators. In 2023, she gave a lecture and workshop at the University of Patras, in the Department of Theater Studies, on the subject of “The Lighting Ceremony of the Olympic Flame.”
She teaches at the Higher School of Dance of the National Opera and at the National School of Dance, while in the past she taught at the Drama School of the National Theatre and the Drama School of the Athens Conservatory. She has been awarded for her work as a choreographer by the President of the Republic and by many organizations, while in 2016 she was honored as an honorary citizen of Ancient Olympia. She was also awarded in 2020 by the Hellenic Olympic Committee, with the highest award “Dimitrios Vikelas.” At the Ministry of Culture, she served as President of Examination Commissions for Higher Dance Schools and as a member of the Advisory Commissions for Dance, while she was appointed Secretary of the Greek Department of the UNESCO International Dance Council. In 2024, by decision of the Deputy Minister of Culture, she was appointed a member of the Advisory Commission of the Ministry of Culture under the program “Creative Greece – Grants for Contemporary Culture 2024”.
