Annamaria Gyoestu Epifanìa is a professional classical dancer and dance therapist.

Graduated from the National Academy of Dance in Rome, she has been is a solo dancer at: ATERBALLETTO, Arena di Verona, Carla Fracci Ballet Company, La Fenice Theatre of Venice, Biennale Venice, Teatro Comunale di Bologna and others.

She had theatrical experiences at: Actor's Studio in Paris, Theatre University of Caracas, La Sapienza University of Rome.

Among the directors and choreographers with whom she studied and worked : Rudolf Nureyev, Aurelio Milloss, Amedeo Amodio, Vittorio Biagi, Jean Cébron, Pier'Alli, Lindsay Kemp, Maria Fux, Kazuo Ōno .

In 1983 she founded the Teatro del Disgelo (Theatre of the Thaw) Dance Theater Company  of which she has been director and choreographer , producing shows appreciated by critics and audiences . At the same time she began an intensive artistic didactic activity both  formative and social.

In 1988 she founded the Tara Bianca (White Tara) Center in Rome  (now Anshin Zen Center) supported by Guglielmo Doryu Cappelli, her partner in art and life. She integrated her studies with: martial arts, psychomotor therapies and techniques, Tai Chi Chuan, Qi Gong, Karate, Feldenkrais Method, Mézières, Natural Nutrition, and other holistic disciplines .

She currently teaches Creative Dance - Dance Therapy , Tai Chi - Qi Gong, holds individual sessions of Listening Therapy and conducts workshops and seminars on Zen and Dance.

Buddhist practitioner since 1984, she has been ordained Zen Nun in 1999 in the Japanese Soto Zen tradition.
She is in training with Shohaku Okumura Roshi and  leads the Anshin Zen Centre's Practice both in Palermo and Ragusa and, with Guglielmo Doryu Cappeli, the activities and the Practice of the Anshin Zen Centre of Rome.

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