Ioannis Mandafounis was born in Athens in 1981. He studied dance at the National Dance School in Athens and at the Paris Conservatoire. Before he became a freelance choreographer, he was a member of the Ballet Ensemble at the Opera in Gothenburg and the Dutch Dance Theatre II. In 2005 he became a member of The Forsythe Company, where he still occasionally performs as a guest dancer. Together with Fabrice Mazliah and some other dancers from The Forsythe Company, he appeared in the group choreography HUE during BOUGE B at deSingel in 2009.
Ioannis Mandafounis, Fabrice Mazliah and May Zarhy met as members of The Forsythe Company. In 2009 they decided to work together and establish a collective way of working together. Their projects are gathered together under the collective name of 'mamaza'.
October 2011.