VIRGINIA POLI
Dancer | Performer | Teacher
I am originally from Guardistallo (PI), a medieval village in Tuscany, Italy.
I started dancing at the age of 6 and studied ballet and contemporary dance with Paolo granello, Emilio Calcagno, Lucia Gabellieri and Roberta Furlan.
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In 2014, I moved to London where I graduated from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in 2018 gaining a First Class Honour Degree in BA contemporary dance.
Within my training, I performed works by Rahel Vonmoos, Yael Flexer, Alison Curtis-Jonson and Lizzie Kew Ross.
In season 2018-2019, I was a member of Transitions Dance Company touring internationally works by Karole Armitage, Marina Collard and Hetain Patel.
​Throughout my training, I attended various Gaga intensives in Italy, London and Amsterdam. In 2017, I undertook an internship with Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv and Johannes Wieland in Kassel, Germany.
As a freelance performer, I have worked across a diverse range of platforms, including stage productions, television series, site-specific works, galleries, outdoor spaces, and music videos. My collaborations span an array of celebrated artists, choreographers, and directors such as Barrie Kosky & Johannes Stepanek (Royal Opera House), Laura Kenyon (Womanewer), Jade Tekhil (FR), Milo Osborn (UK), Michalis Theophanous and Georgia Tegou (UK), Juice Shuting and Jason Tang (UK), Bim Malcomson & Alma Tischlerwood, Teddy Powel for Jagara’s music video, Laura Engholm (Engholm Danseteater), Tommy Cattin (EREM DANCE), and Maxine Doyle, among others.
I have also collaborated with the London fashion brand EMINANDPAUL, performing in the video editorial for their Spring 2022 collection (www.eminandpaul.com). Most recently, in March 2025, I was part of the cast of The Ride of the Valkyries, directed by Barrie Kosky, performing at the Royal Opera House.
I am the co-founder of VI.SA. Dance Project, a contemporary dance collective created together with Italian dance artist Sara Maurizi.
In 2022, our collective was awarded the Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP) grant by Arts Council England, supporting the development of our choreographic research and artistic vision.
Our debut piece, "(R)esistentia", created and performed by the two of us, premiered at the Umbria Danza Festival in July 2022, marking the beginning of our shared exploration into movement, identity, and resilience. (see VI.SA. DANCE PROJECT).
Since then, VI.SA. Dance Project has continued to grow through cross-disciplinary collaborations — in September 2025, we worked with photographer Milo Osborn for Bell Visionaries, and in August 2023, we collaborated as performers and movement directors for JAGARA, directed by Teddy Powell.
Alongside our creative projects, we lead professional classes, community workshops, and open-level sessions across London and Italy, sharing our practice and fostering connections through movement and collective expression.
Since 2021, I have been working as a dance teacher with a range of companies and organisations, including Greenwich Dance, Age UK, Trip Space, The Place, Wee Movers, Masters of Ballet Academy, and Zest Education, among others.
In May 2025, I led dance workshops and morning classes for MA students at Trinity Laban, and I look forward to returning in December to teach BA students.
My teaching practice spans professional training, community engagement, and well-being through dance, reflecting my belief in movement as both an expressive and transformative act.
I currently teach the Adults Group at Wee Movers in Leyton, who performed at Sadler’s East in September 2025. The group has been exploring dance theatre workshops inspired by my current research on the cycle of life and death, blending physical storytelling with emotional depth.
Most recently, I facilitated a dance theatre workshop in Italy, which will continue with a second session in December, further developing and sharing my evolving artistic practice.
As a creator, I have choreographed "The Five Components", a dance piece developed with professional and non-professional dancers and I am currently developing a new solo work that explores the life and death cycle in the everyday life. The research delves into the universal human experience of constant transformation and flux. Just as nothing remains static, we all navigate the repeated cycles of formation, continuance, dissolution and renewal.
I have been supported by London Performance Studios, undertaking a residency in January 2025, the "Free Space programme" by Studio Wayne McGregor and The Lodge Space in London.
Full dossier of the work attached below.
