Perception and Expression Elements: A Dialogue on Music and Dance Education
Nena Papageorgiou- Mouratoglou & Michael Heupel (GR/DE)
30.07 | 10:00 – 13:30
For information and registrations email to: [email protected]
The project consists of two interactive lectures exploring music and dance as means of cultivating mindful listening and emotional connection through free movement. With a short break between lectures, participants will experience different yet interconnected approaches focusing on personal interpretation and expression through body and music. These lectures are designed for educators of all levels, musicians, dancers, actors, parents, and anyone interested in adopting a more creative perspective on life.
Lecture 1: “The Art of Listening: Understanding Music Without Musical Education”
This presentation explores how anyone, regardless of musical training, can develop a deeper appreciation and understanding of music. We will delve into techniques that help recognize and interpret musical patterns, both rhythmic and melodic, discovering how these patterns form the foundation of a musical piece. By identifying recurring motifs and themes, listeners can begin to intuitively grasp the emotional and narrative “character” of a composition.
Participants will be encouraged to cultivate associative thinking, connecting sounds with images, emotions, and ideas, enriching their listening experience. Through a series of examples from various musical genres, we will explore how these methods make music more accessible and meaningful, fostering a richer and more detailed way of listening that anyone can develop.
Lecture 2: “Children Discovering the Art of Dance Explore the Meanings of Life”
This lecture explores how dance education, even without formal training, reveals, shapes, and deepens a child’s personality. The presentation will last 30 minutes, followed by a discussion and Q&A session. In collaboration with cellist Michael Heupel, the discussion will conclude with an interactive segment where participants will be invited to express themselves through movement—allowing emotions and questions that cannot be articulated in words to be conveyed through music and dance.
The human body, this primal artistic tool, remains to this day the center of immediate existential fulfillment. Dance is, above all, about relationships—it connects, unites, and holds together. It is the relationship between movement and music, between time and space, between you and me.
Nena Papageorgiou-Mouratoglou is a certified dance pedagogue from the University of Music, Theatre, and Dance in Hanover, Germany. She also holds a Master’s degree as a soloist and professional dance educator specializing in Classical and Contemporary Repertoire. She studied theatre with Karolos Koun (1966–1968) at the Art Theatre School as a distinguished talent while still in high school. She completed advanced piano studies at the “Orfeio” Conservatory.
She attended training in the U.S. at the Martha Graham School, Alvin Ailey, and Merce Cunningham, as well as in Europe with renowned instructors such as Rosella Hightower (Cannes), Alan Howard (Berlin), Hans van Manen (Amsterdam), and Anna Northcote (London). She has performed in major opera houses in Germany (Frankfurt, Berlin, Kassel, Bonn, Hanover) and at Tanztheater Wuppertal, collaborating with Pina Bausch in leading roles in both classical and contemporary repertoires, as well as a solo performer.
Her original choreographies have been presented across Europe and Japan. She has led seminars alongside distinguished dancers such as Susanne Linke, Carlotta Ikeda, and Miguel Lopez in Europe, Japan, and China. She was a founding member of the multimedia group “BOURY” (1978), funded by the Ministries of Education and Culture of Lower Saxony, Germany. From 1983 to 1986, she founded Greece’s first dance theatre company, “Chorotheatro Bouri,” supported by the Greek Ministry of Culture.
Since 1986, she has run a private dance school in Athens, producing an extensive repertoire of choreographies showcased in Greece, Germany, and China, often in collaboration with orchestras and musical ensembles. She served as a professor at Hanover University’s Department of Opera and Theatre Dance and taught at the Greek State School of Dance for 21 years, where she introduced the course “Improvisation, Composition, and Elements of Choreography.” She continues to teach in international seminars and collaborates with the International Ballet Choreography Competition in Hanover as an active member.
Michael Heupel is one of the most distinguished Greek musicians of the new generation. His dynamic performances and innovative approach to music have led him to some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls, including the Elbphilharmonie and Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, the Athens Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall in New York, Cuvilliés Theater in Munich, the Shanghai Concert Hall in China, and the Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall in San Francisco.
Alongside his successful career as a soloist, Heupel is dedicated to an in-depth understanding of the cello. His research on the history of the instrument has received widespread recognition, earning him invitations to speak at prestigious academic conferences such as the “Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Musikforschung.”
Driven by his desire to expand the boundaries of artistic expression in performance, he has created pioneering concert experiences through collaborations with dancers, actors, theatre directors, visual artists, and writers.
His studies with renowned professor Tilmann Wick in Hanover and world-famous cellist Arto Noras in Hamburg, along with numerous masterclasses with esteemed musicians such as David Geringas, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Julius Berger, Jens Peter Maintz, Anatoli Krastev, and the Ensemble Modern, have shaped his artistic identity and led to distinctions in national and international competitions.
He has been a scholarship recipient of the Onassis Foundation, the Alfred Toepfer Foundation, and the University of Music and Theatre in Hamburg.
His debut album, *Afierossis*, featuring solo cello works from the 20th and 21st centuries, was released by ARS Produktion to rave reviews. The album was selected by the Violoncello Foundation USA as one of the five best cello recordings of 2017. In 2021, in collaboration with pianist Mario Häring and the record label Genuin Classics, he released his second album, *Continuum*, showcasing works influenced by the Baroque era.
He plays a cello made by David Tecchler in Rome in 1723.
For information and registrations email to: [email protected]
30 July
10:00 – 13:30
Nena Papageorgiou- Mouratoglou & Michael Heupel | Perception and Expression Elements: A Dialogue on Music and Dance Education
