Maria Hors

Maria Hors, a choreographer of infinite experience, has inextricably linked her name to the institution of the Olympic Flame. In 1936, at the first Lighting Ceremony, for the Olympic Games in Berlin, she participated as a priestess, although she was a young girl at the time. From 1964 to 2006, she was the official choreographer of the Olympic Flame Lighting Ceremony, constantly enriching the artistic design of the ritual with creative and innovative ideas.

She studied and received a diploma from the professional department of Koula Pratsika School. Abroad, she attended dance courses with the best of the genre, such as Kreuzbergi, Klandek, Vigman, Sokolov, and others. At the same time, she studied archeology at the University of Athens. He organized the Rhythmic and Dance Gymnastics department at the Greek High School where she taught for several years. For many years she was a member of the dance group Pratsika, with which she also performed as a soloist in performances in Greece and abroad. She teaches expressive movement, dance and improvisation at the Drama School of the National Theater and for ten years at the Drama School of the Athens Conservatory As a choreographer, she presented various pure dance pieces in performances in which she danced herself.

For about 30 years she worked as a permanent choreographer at the National Theater. She choreographed many performances in all theatrical forms, as well as about 30 tragedies, Aeschylus – Sophocles – Euripides, tragedies presented in many ancient theaters such as Epidaurus – Dodoni – Philippi, as well as touring abroad and at the National Theater. She choreographed Sophocles’ “Oedipus the Tyrant” and Euripides’ “Medea” at the Vicenza Festival in Italy, in the famous Olympic Theater, with director A. Minotis and set designer Tsarouhis. In Epidaurus, she choreographed “Medea” by Kerubini, always with the same actors. The same opera was staged at La Scala in Milan, where she choreographed with director Minotis, set designer Tsarouhis and the leading actress Maria Callas.

Maria Hors wrote her personal story in the history of the Olympic Flame Institution:

“With the Lighting of the flame a symbol is revived, it is truly a birth. We reach our goal in any weather, in rain, in wind, in unbearable heat. My girls, the priestesses work miracles. Their selection is based on morals, kindness and the deposit of soul and beauty.

For the High priestess, you need something more, the speech. That’s why I choose a theater actress. The age doesn’t matter so much. The only thing that is certain is that she must be beautiful, with a nice physique, a Greek-looking face, good speech, an imposing pace but also seriousness. We must not forget that her image reaches to the ends of the earth.”