ANOIKIS

Melissa is a contemporary dancer born in the United States where she began her dance training at age seven.  She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Dance Performance from the University of South Florida in Tampa, USA.  She has recently completed her Masters of Research in Choreography and Performance from Roehampton University in London.  She is beginning her PhD at Coventry University in 2023. 

She is dedicated to choreographic research and performing new works that constantly seek to confuse the traditional boundaries that exist between dance and other art practices. Towards this objective, she has collaborated with many visual artists, musicians and performers including: Aleksander Gabrys, Andrew Leslie Hooker, Toshimaru Nakamura, Stefano Pilia, John Duncan, Rachel Sweeney, Guillermo Luis Horta Betancourt, Joan Laage, and Sayoko Onishi and has performed new pieces throughout Europe and America.

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She founded Anoikis in 2002 in Tampa, Florida and relocated in 2005 to Italy.  Alongside her inspirational husband and artistic partner Andrew Leslie Hooker, they have reshaped the objective and direction of the company, and since 2015 have been based in North Wales, UK.

In addition, she has held international workshops with both professional and non-professional dancers concerning contact improvisation and somatic practices.  She currently lectures in the dance program at Liverpool Hope University.

She has been funded by the Arts Council of Wales on a projects concerning butoh, contemporary dance and electroacoustic composition.