An award-winning contemporary dance photographer & artist, based in London.

Eleni Leoussi was born in Athens in 1946. She took drawing and sculpture classes with Panos Sarafianos and Thanassis Apartis at the Athens School of Fine Arts - ASFA (1964-1967), and also studied graphic design at Doxiadis School, Athens. She went on to study typographic design at the London College of Printing (1968-1969) and then Photography at Harrow College of Technology and Art, London (1969-1972).

Leoussi is established as one of the best known and most original photographers of contemporary dance and since 1972 has been recording some of the world's most innovative performers and companies in dance, from Emilyn Claid to Lynn Seymour and from Ballet Bejart to DV8 Physical Theatre. Leoussi herself undertook the printing of her many black and white photographs including exhibition prints. Larger-scale works were reproduced by the renowned photographic printer, Michael Spry.

Leoussi’s style is distinguished for a quality of various contrasts such as grainy definition, imperceptible motion, and luminous shadows. Her approach to photographing dance has been described as extending the bounds of how we conceive both dance and photography. Her ability to capture the fluidity and metamorphosis of dance has led to her being sought out by many leading performers and performance companies as the photographer ideally suited to present their work. Cecil Beaton, when compiling his 1975 book The Magic Image, also insisted on including Leoussi's work. The Hellenic Foundation in London awarded Leoussi as most promising Greek artist working in the UK in 1992.

Leoussi’s work has been widely exhibited and a comprehensive retrospective of her work, Rehearsal: Photographs of Dance, was published in 1998 by Dewi Lewis and introduced by Amanda Hopkinson, writer and broadcaster specializing in photography. Her book My Greece, a personal photographic journey through her country of birth, was published in 2004 by Patakis Publishers. In recent years, she has focussed on producing highly intricate mosaic artworks alongside paper collages using photomontage and découpage techniques

Photo credit: Eva Vassiliou

Performance & Exhibition Posters

Exhibition Highlights

Modern Dance, The Photographic Gallery, Southampton University (1975)
Dance Photographs, Riverside Studios, London 1981
Eleni Leoussi, Kreonidis Gallery, Athens (1992)
Dance Photographs, Six Chapel Row Gallery, Bath (1996);
Images of Dance and Performance, Guildhall Arts Centre, Gloucester (1997)
Dance Photographs, Hellenic Centre, London (1998)
Dance Photographs, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds (1998)
‘Revelations: Photographs of Male and Female Nudes’ an exhibition curated by Eleni Leoussi (1994)
- Fleeting Gestures, Photographers Gallery, London (1980)
- Gathering Light, Camerawork/Chisenhale, London (1987)
- Contemporary Women Photographers, Association of Photographers Gallery, London (1992)
- Mixed Exhibition of Painting, Sculpture and Photography, John Jones Gallery, London (1993)
- Revelations: Photographs of Male and Female Nude, John Jones Gallery, London (1994)
- Illusion, Association of Photographers Gallery, London (1996)
- Family Matters, Association of Photographers Gallery, London (1997)
- Dance in a Cold Climate, Northgate Arts Centre, Ipswich (1997)
- Secret Garden, Association of Photographers Gallery, London (1999)
- The Gallery Collection, Focus Gallery, London (1999)
- The 3rd Annual Exhibition: Collection of Dance and Performance Photography, Luke & A Gallery, London (2002)
- Charity Fundraising Exhibition: Heartworks, Six Chapel Row Gallery, Bath (2003)
- Silent Dialogues: Multimedia Portraits Throughout Time, ACG Art Gallery, The American College of Greece, Athens (2008)
- Walthamstow Village Window Gallery, London
  - Summer Show (2017)
  - Strong Silent Type (2017)
  - Summer Show (2018)
  - Gallery in Bloom (2018)
- Tigers in the Park: Walthamstow Artist & Writers, Winns Gallery Lloyd Park, London (2024)
- Florence Trust Auction
- Covent Garden Auction
- Hastings
- Lipa

Press & Publications

Bibliography

Rehearsal: Photographs of Dance

Introduction by Amanda Hopkinson
Dewi Lewis Publishing, 1999
For more than 25 years Eleni Leoussi recorded some of the most innovatory dancers, dance companies and opera companies in the world, from Siobhan Davies and Lloyd Newson to Michael Clarke. This book brings together the images that she has collected over the years.
Copies of Rehearsal are available, please get in touch if you are interested in buying a copy.
My Greece

Foreword by Patrice Chaplin
Patakis Publishers, 2004
In 2003, Eleni embarked on a very personal project, travelling throughout Greece’s interior mainland and remote islands to photograph the people and places of her home country. The resulting collection of colour photographs is brought together in this book.
(No longer in print copies not available)

Further Bibliography

Dance in Dialogue: Falling through Space & Life by Emilyn Claid, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021
Jonathan Cape, 2013
Acts of Passion: Sexuality, Gender and Performance by Mia Rapi and Maya Chowdhry, Hartington Park Press, 1998
Making an Entrance: Theory & Practice for Disabled & Non-Disabled Dancers by Adam Benjamin, Routledge Publishing 2002
Paroles de Corps: La chorégraphie au XXe siècle by Thierry Vila, Éditions du Chêne, 1998
Make Space, Society of British Theatre Designers, Theatre Design Umbrella Publications, 1994
Marketing to Disabled Audiences, Arts Council of Great Britain, 1993
Striding Out: Aspects of Contemporary & New Dance in Britain by Stephanie Jordan, Dance Books Ltd, 1992
Out of Line: The Story of British New Dance by Judith Mackrell, Dance Books Ltd 1992
Surprise and Reflective Abstraction by Gella Varnava Skoura, Papazissi Publishers. 1988
Greenham Women Everywhere: Dreams, Ideas & Actions by Alice Cook & Gwyn Kirk, Pluto Press, 1983
Yes? No! Maybe..Seductive Ambiguity in Dance by Emilyn Claid, Routledge 1981
Dance Now: A Closer Look at the Art Movement by Jan Murray, Penguin 1979
The Genius of Photography from 1839 to the Present Day, Little Brown & Co. 1975

Getting in touch.

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