The People

Andria Spyrou is a multidisciplinary performing artist and creative director working in flow arts, fire spinning and dance, and now exploring mime and mask theatre. Founder of Metamorphê and a leading member of Quantum Circus, she creates mythopoetic work that brings imaginary worlds to life and turns spaces into living stories.

Melissanthi Zanga is a poet and performance artist from Cyprus and Greece, known for ritualistic performances that grieve the loss of nature while reaching towards a better future. Her writing draws on philosophy, anthropology and psychoanalysis. Winner of the Cyprus National Slam Championship 2022, she placed in the top five at the European championships and represented Cyprus at the world championships in Brazil.

Natalia Panagiotou is a theatre director, performer and member of Yasemin Collective, which takes art beyond traditional venues across Cyprus. She co-created #kazanτί (2020), a tragicomic piece on Cypriot identity, and in 2025 directed Aphrodite(s), a theatre and dance work on female experience and memory.

Annie Sofocleous is a performer, clown and cultural creator, and a founding member of Yasemin Collective and Quantum Circus. Trained in social theatre, social circus and conflict transformation, she designs inclusive workshops and assists with the Association for Historical Dialogue and Research’s historical walks for young people.

Doğa Uluğlar is a professional dancer and movement artist based in Nicosia. After completing a BA and MA in Dance in the UK, she performs, teaches, choreographs and facilitates creative work across contemporary and commercial dance styles, moving easily between artistic, community and educational settings.

Gabriella Thoma is a juggler, cultural anthropologist and geographer from Larnaca. She learned to juggle in Barcelona’s circus community, and her research on street and performative arts has taken her to Mexico and Chile. Back in Cyprus, she founded Juggling Cyprus and is part of Street Society and Quantum Circus.

Born in Cyprus, Ianthi Sparsis is a frame drummer, performer and circle facilitator whose practice bridges rhythm, ritual and embodied performance. Co-founder of MA•GAIA Circle of Women Frame Drummers, she has explored frame drumming since 2004, leading workshops, ceremonies and site-specific performances inspired by ancient ritual, feminine lineages and the mythological heritage of Cyprus.

Ioanna Xyda is a Cyprus-based aerialist working mainly with aerial silks and aerial hoop. Her practice explores movement, freedom of expression and the poetry of flight, which she shares through her creative project Unfolding Wings, dedicated to aerial flow. She is also an active part of Cyprus’s circus community, taking part in gatherings that bring people together through circus arts.

Melina Chasikou is a Cypriot aerial artist, instructor and the first hair hanging artist in Cyprus. With over ten years of experience and a background in classical ballet, contemporary dance and hip-hop, she specialises in hair hanging and aerial silks. An award-winning aerial athlete and international competition judge, she founded Aerial Neverland Performing Arts and is a member of Quantum Circus.

Özkan Uygur is a self-taught juggler and flow artist who began with juggling balls and has since expanded into a range of flow props and circus disciplines. Amongst other projects, he has performed with Quantum Circus in Edge of Balance and led juggling workshops at festivals and for young people at the Caritas refugee centre in Cyprus.

Selsu Solman is a performer, actor and movement artist based in Cyprus. Trained in theatre at Coventry University and in contemporary dance in Berlin and Kassel, she draws on breathwork, somatics and improvisation to explore the creative and healing intelligence of the body, creating space for performers and participants to find their own physical language.

Seren Buğa Önem is an aerial hoop artist and performer with four years of training and performance experience. Combining strength, flexibility, movement and visual storytelling, she has performed on stages in Portugal and Cyprus and currently teaches gymnastics and aerial hoop at The Gymnastics Club in northern Nicosia.