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Andrew Greenwood and Eirini Kreza: Dancing for the lives of others
The ballet maestro and ballerina were fated to cross paths
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Ballet masters: Andrew Greenwood (right) and Eirini Kreza are pictured in a dance studio in Jakarta. The dancers were in the capital at the invitation of Dutch cultural center Erasmus Huis to train dancers from the EKI Dance Company and to offer a day of free classes to the public.(JP/Awo) (right) and Eirini Kreza are pictured in a dance studio in Jakarta. The dancers were in the capital at the invitation of Dutch cultural center Erasmus Huis to train dancers from the EKI Dance Company and to offer a day of free classes to the public.(JP/Awo)
The ballet maestro and ballerina were fated to cross paths.
An Englishman with nearly five decades of experience and a Greek dancer with qualifications in philosophy and choreography have combined their expertise and passion to uproot the core of dancing and use it to touch the lives of others.
Andrew Greenwood started learning ballet at the tender age of 8 and studied at the Royal Ballet School and Central School of Ballet. He later joined ballet companies and performed in many parts of the world.
He has performed at London Festival Ballet under director John Field and Peter Schaufuss, German's Dusseldorf Stadttheater under director Hienz Spoerli, Koln Opera House under director Jochen Ulirich, as well as the National Ballet of Brazil Rio de Janeiro do Theatro Municipal under director Richard Cragun.
As a citizen of the world, Greenwood, 53, currently lives in, the Netherlands, and has also been either resident ballet master or guest at the National Ballet Portugal, Stuttgart Ballet, Hanover Stadttheater and Theater am Gartnerplatz of Munchen in Germany, Finnish National Ballet in Finland and National Ballet Serbia Belgrade in Serbia.
Joining the Serbian ballet company was the biggest turning point of his life as a dancer.
Greenwood was performing in Vienna in 1998 when he learned about the NATO military operation in Yugoslavia to dispose then leader Milosevic for the atrocities he had perpetrated against the Serbs.
He also found out that the national ballet company there was trying to continue to work.
'I found that very fascinating. I went to Belgrade to work for the company during the war because I was naïve and ignorant.
'I didn't know anything about war. I wanted to go merely to support ballet,' he said in an interview during his three weeks visit to Jakarta.
He saw people coming to the theater to watch a free show at 4 p.m. and go home knowing that aerial strikes would start at 10 p.m.
'When you're an artist you're so focused on one thing you don't see the forest through the trees. Before that time I didn't realize the importance of theater, that culture is an important aspect of the lives of war-stricken people.
'And I found the power of ballet,' he said.
Married couple Greenwood and Eirini Kreza were recently in Jakarta on the invitation of Dutch cultural center Erasmus Huis to train dancers of the EKI Dance Company and open one-day free classes for public. It is the second time they have visited.
Groups of ballet dancers from the beginner to advanced levels came on Monday to learn from the masters, some even came from other provinces in buses.
'One of the ladies in the class wears a hijab. I asked her to take a picture with me while teaching. I want my friends in Europe to know that I'm safe in the largest predominantly Muslim country in the world.
'I understand and respect her religion, she understands me and together we make art. That's important. That's what culture does,' he said.
Another big turning point in his life took place in 2012 when a fellow dancer was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at 37.
'So I helped him by giving him some movement to enhance his quality of life,' said Greenwood.
The dancer with Parkinson's, Marc Vlemmix, later established Dance for Health with Greenwood and Kreza and collaborated with experts in psychology and physiotherapy to help people with Parkinson's and children with autism to stimulate the brain to regain control of the body.
Ballet masters: Andrew Greenwood (right) and Eirini Kreza are pictured in a dance studio in Jakarta. The dancers were in the capital at the invitation of Dutch cultural center Erasmus Huis to train dancers from the EKI Dance Company and to offer a day of free classes to the public.(JP/Awo)
'Dance as a culture is a very wonderful tool because it's physical, cognitive for the brain and social.
'It's not rocket science but it touches human needs,' said Greenwood.
Kreza, who has been nominated as the artist of Kavalla in Greece in 2008, has been a prize winner in several dance competitions, namely the Greek National Dance Competition in 2004 and the Hellas International Competition in 2006. Kreza, a dancer with a classical and modern repertoire, has worked at the Grazer Operahouse in Austria, Ajkun Ballet Company in New York, Dance House Station Zuid in the Netherlands, as well as other companies in Germany and her homeland Greece. She currently teaches ballet for the Circus Academy Fontys and is a movement/choreography coach for young artists.
Focusing on dance education, psychology and the learning processes involved in dance, Kreza, as Greenwood puts it, is the brain of Dance for Health.
'It's our mission to change people's lives with movement,' she said, adding that the collaborative work creates a system where professionals with different areas of expertise can function together.
With two boys aged 5 and 2, the Greenwood couple have a strict policy of not talking about work while at home.
'We're not partners on stage although we dance together occasionally,' said Kreza.
'Most of the time Andrew is the ballet master and I'm the dancer.'
Looking at ballet in Indonesia, both of them agreed that the country was an interesting breeding ground for creativity especially because it was only relatively recent that it became connected to the ballet world.
'Ballet changes with time and Indonesia has room for the changes,' said Greenwood.
'The financial global watershed has changed art. You have to think out of the box, how to be entrepreneurial.
'With the rising cardiac issues, autism and Parkinson's disease you can incorporate preventative and curative measures into education programs on movement and music,' Greenwood said.
'Extend your expertise outside, which is beneficial to everybody.
'It's not going to change the world, it's not going to stop all these horrible things in the world, but it's going to do something in a good way.'
