Mandy Demetriou

Mandy Demetriou has worked extensively as a choreographer and movement director. Some of her television credits include House of Eliot, Message for Posterity, Out of the Dolls House, Goodnight Sweetheart, Poldark and Plotlands. She has also worked for the Royal Shakespeare Theatre’s education project, a Shakespearean masque at Queens College Cambridge and for stage on The Madras House (Lyric Hammersmith), Woman Who Cooked Her Husband (Nottingham Playhouse), Pepys (Good Company).

Operas include La Traviata, Don Giovanni, The Wastelands and The WheelA Midsummer Night's DreamThe Gentle GiantIl Re Pastore and Italianisches Liederbuch (Linbury Studio Theatre), Snegurochka (Wexford Festival Opera), The Marriage of Figaro (ENO), La Fille du RegimentIl Trovatore, La Bohème (Opera Holland Park), La Rondine and Albert Herring (BYO), Cherevichki and Osud (Garsington Opera), Maria de Buenos Aires (Buxton Festival), Hansel and Gretel (Opera North) and Berlin to Broadway (Copenhagen). She currently coaches movement at the National Opera Studio, Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music, and is doing an Historical and Social Dance course for St. Mary’s University of Minnesota, as well as movement direction for Osud for Garsington Opera, Bastien und Bastienne for Classical Opera in Germany, and is about to embark on choreographing The Gondoliers.

Her work with singers came about after a serious injury ended her performing career but led her to understand and investigate how and what makes the body work. A fascination with non-verbal communication, love of music and performing, and an understanding of the body all seem to place her well for helping singers to use their bodies to support their voices.

Mandy Demetriou has been fortunate enough to have had as mentors both Sheila Barlow and Anna Sweeny who have encouraged her to take their inspiration and find her own style of work. Richard Van Allan, John Copley, Geraldine Stephenson, Jean Hart and Lisa Ullman have all had a strong influence on her work. This gives her a unique pedigree when it comes to working with young singers and dancers. Her work has also been informed by the techniques of Classical Ballet, Jazz Dance – Matt Mattox style, Laban Technique, Alexander Technique, Pilates, Ballroom Dance, Flamenco. Feldenkrais technique, yoga and many other styles of dance and movement based techniques. Her work in movement for singers is however, a specialist area in which she has been particularly interested as it requires a deep understanding of the voice, the singer and what they need to enable them to sing and also show emotions and thoughts in their movement. She is movement coach to the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme and the National Opera STudio and has worked on numerous productions for the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme, including the 2010 Summer Performance​.