Irini Kourouvani, born in Greece, is a dancer, a graduate of the Department of Political Science at the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, and a champion in track and field, weightlifting, and sailing, with significant distinctions. She was born with a rare lower limb disability called arthrogryposis, and in 1992, she was awarded by the Academy of Athens for her optimistic approach to life despite the challenges of her disability. As a dancer, she has collaborated with groups and choreographers such as VSArts Hellas, Lathos Kinisi, Quasistellar, Ermira Goro, Lia Haraki, Sophie Bulbulyan, Venetsiana Kalabaliki, and Manolis Saridakis, among others. Nowadays, she collaborates with the inclusive dance group Ison in Greece, the La Verita dance company in Belgium, and the Compagnie DK-BEL in France. As an improvisation teacher, she has taught in schools, festivals, and dance academies in Greece and abroad, including the Kalamata Dance Festival and the Akropoditi Dance Festival, while from 2014 to 2017, she taught in the dance workshop programs Unlimited Access and iDance of the Onassis Foundation. Since 2015, she has collaborated with the International Olympic Truce Centre within the framework of the school program “Respecting Diversity”. She is collaborating with the Kalamata Dance Festival for the fourth consecutive year.

Venetsiana Kalampaliki works in the performing arts field as a dancer and choreographer. She is a graduate of the Greek National School of Dance (2016), the School of Economics and Political Sciences, University of Athens (2018) and has a Master’s Degree in Visual Arts from the Athens School of Fine Arts (2022). Her works have been presented at the Holland Dance Festival, 27th Kalamata Dance Festival, Oriente Occidente Dance Festival, Skånes Dansteater, Nicosia International Festival, Onassis Stegi (ONC7 & ONC8), Kampnagel and Haupsache Frei Festival. She has been awarded the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Artist Fellowship by ARTWORKS in 2022 and received the DanceWEB scholarship in 2023. 

Irini Kourouvani and Venetsiana Kalampaliki have been working together since 2018, following the creation of Siobhan Hayes’ work Cherry-Picked in Malmö, Sweden, which was presented at Skanes Danceteater and at Onassis Stegi as part of the iDance #2 Inclusive Dance Convention. They then collaborated on the pieces Re-call and Re-call (reloaded), produced by Onassis Stegi within the framework of the European Program Europe Beyond Access, which were presented in international festivals in 2020-22 and are still on tour. Since 2021 they have been teaching contemporary dance workshops for people with and without disabilities together.