Efrosini Protopapa is a London-based artist and academic, whose work focuses on experimental and conceptual practices across dance, theatre, dramaturgy and performance. She joined The Place – London Contemporary Dance School in 2022 as Director of Postgraduate Courses and Research from the University of Roehampton where she remains a Senior Honorary Research Fellow and was previously a Reader in Dance and Chair of the Training Group for the Techne AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership programme.

Following undergraduate studies at the State School of Dance, Greece, and the Department of Theatre Studies at the University of Athens, Efrosini undertook an MA in Dance Studies at Laban London, funded by the Onassis Foundation and the State Scholarships Foundation, Greece. She later completed a practice research PhD at the University of Roehampton under the title Possibilising dance: A space for thinking in choreography (2009), and taught at conservatories and universities including the University of Surrey, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and Trinity Laban.

A winner of the Bonnie Bird New Choreography Award and participating artist in the Sadler’s Wells Summer University, Efrosini has presented choreographic work across the UK, Finland, The Netherlands, Germany and Greece. She was commissioned by Siobhan Davies Dance to create a triptych of works under the title Disputatio I, II, III, which was presented at the Barbican Curve and other gallery spaces in the UK with funding from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. Efrosini collaborates with artists as a dramaturg, publishes in journals and arts publications, and often leads workshops and curates research exchange events internationally.

Currently working on:

Dramaturgy for The Last Quartet by choreographer Seke Chimutengwende, a stage piece that imagines a “last work” or a “last attempt” at choreography. To premiere 2026.

Dramaturgy for SUR, a stage piece by choreographer Eva Recacha and composer Alberto Ruiz Soler, exploring the expertise of being a foreigner, the ability to adapt, find entry points into new spaces, and embrace transformation

Critical exchange with choreographer Chris Matthews

Ongoing collaboration with Konstantina Georgelou on the concept and practice of ‘lateral dramaturgy’, a project developed through workshops, talks, publications and choreographic scores

Curation of a Conversation Series with Independent Dance

Supervised PhD projects:

Katy Ryan (current) ‘Internal Noise: choreographing with and from affective stages’, Practice Research PhD, University of the Arts London / London Contemporary Dance School (Co-Supervisor).

Andrea Paz Torres Viedma (2026) ‘Parar un momento: Towards a dance improvisation practice for exploring time otherwise’, Practice Research PhD, University of Roehampton (Director of Studies 2018-2022, External Supervisor 2022-2025).

Paul Paschal Hughes (2025) ‘Faggot Hospitality: A queer ethics of vulnerable encounters through the theatre of Chris Goode’, PhD, University of Roehampton (Director of Studies 2020-2022, External Supervisor 2022-2025).

Lizzie Fort (2025) ‘Rethinking Community Dance as a Practice of Care and Place in Woolwich, Southeast London’, Practice Research PhD, University of Roehampton (Director of Studies 2018-2022, External Supervisor 2022-2025).

Carolyn Roy (2021) ‘The Work of Not Doing: Being-with Texts by Jean-Luc Nancy and Jacques Derrida: Tracing Encounters through Elliptical Practice in Dancing, Reading and Writing’, Practice Research PhD, University of Roehampton (Director of Studies).

Heike Salzer (2020) ‘Wanderlust in screendance: the body in landscapes’, Practice Research PhD, University of Roehampton (Director of Studies).

Panagiota Panagiotara (2018) ‘Dance Chronicles from Athens: Artistic Practices, Structures & Discourses in a Period of Crisis’, PhD, University of Roehampton (Director of Studies).

Stella Dimitrakopoulou (2016) ‘(Ιl)legitimate Performances: Copying, Authorship and the Canon’, Practice Research PhD, Trinity Laban (External Supervisor).

Eun-Hi Kim (2015) ‘The path to oppositional practice from a dancer's perspective,’ Practice Research PhD, University of Surrey (Co-Supervisor).

Examined PhD projects:

Zrinka Uzbinec (2025) ‘Moving Between Cuteness and Violence: A Choreographic Investigation’, Practice Research PhD, Coventry University.

Jonas Schnor (2022) ‘Microdramaturgy. Between Practice and Event: A Performance Philosophy’, Practice Research PhD, University of Surrey.

Vânia Gala (2022) ‘Choreographies of Disappearance: Fugitive Choreographies and Other (non)performances in a Time of Hyper-performativity', Practice Research PhD, Kingston University.

Helen Kindred (2021) ‘Moving meditations: embodying Bartenieff Fundamentals through sensorial awareness of breath, bones, and gravity’, Practice Research PhD, Middlesex University

Emilie Gallier (2021) ‘Reading in performance, Lire en spectacle’, Practice Research PhD, Coventry University.

Semiha Müge Özbay (2019) ‘Moving Together: Affect, Time and The Political in-between Bodies’, PhD , Goldsmiths, University of London.

Rachel Gomme (2019) ‘Being Here Now: Performance, the Present Moment and Everyday Wonder’, Practice Research PhD, Queen Mary, University of London.

Sarah Passfield (2019) ‘Affective Dramaturgies in Dance Theatre: Leaky Encounters and Turbulent Spectating’, PhD , University of Kent.

Mariella Greil-Möbius (2019) ‘Being in contact: encountering a bare body,’ Practice Research PhD, University of Roehampton.

Camilla Eeg-Tverbakk (2016) ‘Theatre – ting: Toward a Materialist Practice of Staging Documents’, Practice Research PhD, University of Roehampton / Norwegian Theatre Academy.

Publications:

Ashwell. C., Sperling, M. and Protopapa, E. (forthcoming 2026) ‘Rehearsing Exits: Dancing (at) the end’, Performance Research, 29/8.

Pascal, P. and Protopapa, E. (2023) ‘The Spider and the Crab: Ways of Being with Practice-as-Research’. Dance Research, 41/2, 181-193. DOI: 10.3366/drs.2023.0402

Georgelou, K., Protopapa, E. and Theodoridou, D (2017) The Practice of Dramaturgy: Working on Actions in Performance, Amsterdam: Valiz.