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Showing posts from May, 2025

Conversations in ten questions 88: Konstantinos Rigos

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Waiting for Golden Age (Stavros Niarchos Hall - Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, Athens - 17 May 2025)  © Mehmet Kerem Özel The latest work by Greek choreographer and visual artist Konstantinos Rigos, Golden Age , which premiered on 12 April 2025 at the National Theatre of Serbia in Novi Sad as a co-production of the Greek National Opera (GNO) Ballet and the Belgrade Dance Festival, was presented to Athens audience for five performances between 9 and 17 May at the Stavros Niarchos Hall, the main stage of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre used by the GNO. Golden Age , which played to sold-out houses, received full marks from the audience and an enthusiastic standing ovation. In Golden Age , Rigos looks back on his life experience and what he has accumulated in his 35-year artistic career as a dancer, choreographer, founder of the independent dance company OKTANA, movement designer for theatre shows, theatre/opera director, stage designer, visual artist, ar...

A cornerstone of the dance heritage, Krisztina de Châtel's Typhoon is reuniting with the audience through the Introdans production

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Waiting for  Typhoon  (Theatre Rotterdam - 23 April 2025) © Mehmet Kerem Özel Introdans   The seeds of Introdans, which takes its name from the acronym for 'Introduction to Dance', were planted in 1971 with Studio L.P., a private ballet workshop founded by choreographer Ton Wiggers and theatre director Hans Focking in Arnhem, in the east of the Netherlands. By 1979, Introdans had developed into a dance company that received project-based grants from the municipality, the regional government and the Dutch state. Today, Introdans, which has grown to become one of the three largest dance companies in the Netherlands with more than twenty dancers, is supported by many sponsors and donors, as well as the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the regional governments of Gelderland and Overijssel, and the Municipality of Arnhem. In addition, Princess Margriet of the Kingdom of the Netherlands has been the patron of Introdans since 2003. In addition to performing in ...

The unique theatrical world of Mario Banushi

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Waiting for Goodbye Lindita  (Eleni Papadaki Stage - Rex Theatre, Athens - 20 April 2024, 18:00) © Mehmet Kerem Özel Waiting for MAMI   (Onassis Stegi, Athens - 16 March 2025, 14:00) © Mehmet Kerem Özel Born in 1998 in Tirana, Albania, residing in Greece since 2004 and graduated from the Athens Conservatory Theatre School of Acting, director Mario Banushi is currently the youngest rising star in Europe, and even the world, in the performing arts.  Following the end of the pandemic period, in 2022, he garnered significant attention with his inaugural work, entitled Ragada (Stretch Marks). This was followed by Goodbye Lindita , staged in 2023 upon an invitation from the National Theatre of Greece, which played to sold-out crowds in Athens for a period of three years, while also touring the world. Invited to the Amsterdam Brandhaarden Festival in February 2024, the Madrid Festival de Otoño, Dresden and Munich in the fall, and the prestigious Adelaide Festival in Australia in...