Meet Kalliopi

Kalliopi "EKHO"

Founder of Inspire Dance Academia

Kalliopi’s dance journey began in Athens, Greece, at nine years old. She eagerly took every class she could, with a special love for hip hop and ballroom. Often the youngest student in advanced classes, she quickly learned how to adapt, developing a professional and mature mindset to keep up. By the age of 12, she started assisting in younger classes, and that’s when everything changed. Helping others opened up a new world for her—she realized how much she loved teaching and how naturally it came to her, especially since she could empathize with the struggles her students faced, having experienced similar challenges herself.

At 15, Kalliopi moved to the United States with her family and found a new dance home at a studio specializing in street dance styles. It was here that her passion for performance flourished, leading to incredible opportunities like dancing for music artists such as Cardi B, Flo Rida, and more, and competing at events like World of Dance and Hip Hop International. When she was 17, she was offered a teaching position at the studio. However, a sudden change in ownership left her without formal training as a teacher. Undeterred, she dove headfirst into the challenge, spending countless hours crafting her own lesson plans and teaching methods, determined to become the best educator she could be. Today, Kalliopi places her efforts in Inspire Dance Academia while still teaching students and training teachers across the US.

Kalliopi taught at several dance studios in the past ten years while continuing her personal studies of various subjects, some of which include:

Early Childhood Development and the Importance of Creative Movement
Health, Wellness, and Training for Young Athletes and Female Dancers
Bioanalysis of the Human Brain and its Effects on Motivation, Mood, and Creativity
Carl Jung’s Archetypal Theory and Personality Types and Traits
The Virtues of Art through the Eyes of Philosophy

Her studies shaped her teaching throughout time and refinement, which inspired the Academia’s launch to share her unique, creative approach with dance educators in hopes of bringing life and passion back into the studio dance world.

While dancing, teaching, and studying, Kalliopi attended several trainings in styles of the street dance/freestyle/battle scene. She also performed, competed, and taught several styles of social and ballroom dance. Some highlights include:

Vogue/Waaking training provided by the Iconic House of Ninja and pioneer Archie Burnett (USA, Japan, Greece)
Litefeet training provided by Litefeet pioneers E Solo and Mr. Youtube (NYC, FL)
Freestyle training provided by Kevin Paradox (FL)
Breaking training provided by European RedBull BC One champion, bboy Onel (Greece)
Salsa and Bachata training provided at various social dance festivals (USA, Greece)
Urban Kizomba training provided by Albir Rojas, Audi MPK, JP & Stephy and other pioneers in the style
Performed, competed, and taught at several Urban Kiz dance festivals across the US (CA, FL, MN, MI, NY, etc.)
Attended and competed in all-style and vogue battles (USA, Greece)
Attended workshops in the styles of Popping, Locking, Krump, House, Hip Hop, Commercial Dance (USA, Greece)
Latin Dancesport Championship – 1st place in solo division, 3rd place in ladies styling group (Greece)
Directed various music videos of American and Greek artists in the styles of latin dance, contemporary, and hip hop (USA, Greece)

With knowledge of an extensive variety of dance styles, as well as subjects that enhance the nature of the artist and athlete, Kalliopi has created an education system that pulls from every source possible to solidify the system.

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