Lenio Kaklea is a dancer, choreographer, director and artist born in Athens and based in Paris.
She studied at the National Conservatory of Contemporary Dance in Athens, where she trained in classical ballet as well as American modern techniques and repertories such as Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham and Jose Limon. In 2005, she was awarded the Pratsika Foundation Prize and moved to France, where she studied at the CNDC in Angers, under the direction of Emmanuelle Huynh, and collaborated with prominent figures of the European dance scene such as Alexandra Bachzetsis, Boris Charmatz, Claudia Triozzi, François Chaignaud and Cecilia Bengolea. In 2011, she completed the SPEAP programme, an experimentation in arts and politics master directed by French philosopher, Bruno Latour, at Sciences Po in Paris.
Since 2009, Lenio Kaklea’s artistic practice uses a wide range of media including choreography, text and video and is informed by feminism and postcolonial critique. In her work, she explores the production of subjectivity and reveals the intimate spaces in which we construct our identity.
Her work has been presented by institutions and festivals throughout Europe and the United States, such as the Centre Pompidou, Sadler’s Wells, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Festival d’Automne, the Serpentine, Bourse de Commerce-Pinault Collection, Palazzo Grassi-Pinault Collection, New York Live Arts, ImPulsTanz – Vienna International Dance Festival, Montpellier Dance Festival, Athens and Epidaurus Festival, the National Greek Opera, and Les presses du réel. Her performances have joined public and private collections such as the MNAM/Musée national d'Art moderne, CNAP-National Centre of Fine Arts and KADIST Foundation.
Along with her personal choreographic work, she is engaged in collaborations with other artists. In 2013, the American choreographer Lucinda Childs created a solo for Kaklea on the music by Ryoji Ikeda. In 2022, she collaborated with the Italian fashion house Bottega Veneta and created a performance at Punta Della Dogana with clothes designed by Matthieu Blazy.
In more recent years, Kaklea’s work has been the subject of important commissions. In 2019, she was awarded the Dance Prize of the Hermès Italia Foundation and the Triennial of Milan and created the autobiographical solo Ballad. In 2021, she choreographed Age of Crime, a piece for nine dancers, on the occasion of the bicentenary of the Greek Revolution at the Athens Epidaurus Festival, as well as Sonatas and Interludes, the emblematic work for prepared piano by John Cage, accompanied on stage by pianist Orlando Bass.
In 2024, she was awarded the 25th Pernod Ricard Award, and created the film An Alphabet for the Camera. The same year, she created Chemical Joy, a stage work for five dancers from BODHI PROJECT Ensemble, a contemporary dance company based in Salzburg and founded by ex-member of the Merce Cunningham Company, Susan Quinn. In 2025, Kaklea choreographed Craft is our language, a new campaign marking the 50th anniversary of Bottega Veneta iconic leather weave, Intrecciato. The campaign, shot by Jack Davison, features artists from the fields of film, music, literature, and sports, such as Julianne Moore, Dario Argento, Troy Kotsur, Tyler The Creator, Zadie Smith, and Lorenzo Musetti.
Artistic direction: Lenio Kaklea
leniokaklea@abd-contents.com
Administration and production: Olivier Poujol
administration@abd-contents.com