We built a school for the people who got turned away.

DanceAcademy began as a single barre, four students, and one promise. Eleven years later, three studios, eleven faculty, and 480 students per term still operate by the same rule: nobody is turned away because they started late.

Our story

In 2014 Eleni Vassiliou and Konstantinos Petridis took over a disused textile workshop on Agias Sofias 22. Eleni had spent eight seasons in the corps de ballet at the Greek National Opera; Konstantinos had come home after ten years touring Latin ensembles across Europe. They had met at a community jam in Plateia Mavili and found they shared the same frustration — classical schools that turned away late starters, and Latin clubs that intimidated quiet learners.

The second floor opened in 2017, and with it contemporary under Andreas Markou. The first annual show ran at Theatro Olympia in 2019 to a sold-out house. In 2022 the youth contemporary ensemble took silver at the Hellenic Dance Competition in Thessaloniki.

In 2024 the school became the third RAD Registered Teaching Centre in Attica. Today three sprung-floor studios run from ten in the morning until ten at night, and the Wednesday tango class has a nineteen-year-old and a seventy-four-year-old in the same round.

Dancers at the barre in the main studio

What we hold to

Welcome first

Every new student gets a tour, a tea, and a teacher’s name to ask for. No audition for adults, ever.

Twelve and no more

Class sizes are capped at twelve so every dancer gets a hands-on correction, every class.

Bodies vary, technique adapts

Modifications, props, and pacing meet the dancer where they are. We have students rehabbing from surgery and students preparing for conservatory.

Open the door

One full scholarship per term, no questions about means, awarded by lottery.

Eleven years, in order

  1. 2014One barre on Agias Sofias, four students.
  2. 2017Second studio added; contemporary launched with Andreas Markou.
  3. 2019First annual show at Theatro Olympia.
  4. 2022Silver medal, Hellenic Dance Competition, Thessaloniki.
  5. 2024RAD Registered Teaching Centre certification.
  6. 2025480 students per term; third studio opened.