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On a cool but sunny late May Saturday, I walk through the crowded and chaotic streets of Boğazkesen into a small courtyard that widens as I move in a funnel shape. This is çakSTÜDYO, the studio of Çıplak Ayaklar Kumpanyası in Çukurcuma. This space and the courtyard in front of it, which the troupe converted from an old car repair shop in 2007, is like an oasis with its benches and plants. I find a shady spot and sit down. Billie Holiday's song ‘ I'll be seeing you ’ is coming out of the open door of the studio, and the softly sung numbers ‘ One, two, three, one two, three... ’. Soon I realise that the workshop is over with the sound of applause. A woman with bushy and dishevelled hair sticks her head out and we greet each other. She is the person I am about to interview: Malou Airaudo.  The students who participated in the workshop leave one by one. Malou also goes out, and finding the courtyard noisy, we go back into the studio. Mihran [Tomasyan] takes us to the studio of phot...

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...

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 ...

© Mehmet Kerem Özel GöteborgsOperans Danskompani (Gothenburg Opera Dance Company), which celebrates its 30th anniversary in the current 2024-25 season, has evolved over the past 10 years from a classical ballet company to a company that performs exclusively contemporary dance pieces. The company's general strategy is not to have a resident choreographer, but also not to have a choreographer as artistic director. Instead, the artistic directors commission pieces from choreographers of their own choosing, and this strategy ensures that the company's repertoire is full of world premieres. Very rarely does a piece created for another company become part of the repertoire. Katrin Hall, the company's artistic director since 2016, follows in the footsteps of her predecessor, Adolphe Binder, and continues to bring the company a repertoire of original pieces by today's most sought-after choreographers, as well as young choreographers just emerging on the international dance scen...

© Pinelopi Gerasimou  Greece has had, and continues to have, important creators in the field of contemporary dance over the last 20 years. Dimitris Papaioannou, who became known with his work in a squad in Athens in the second half of the 80s, peaked with his extraordinary creation for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, and has continued to mesmerise audiences with his subsequent pieces. In addition to Papaioannou, Ioannis Mandafounis, who studied dance and has been choreographing since 2004, has been at the head of the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company, which was founded by William Forysthe, since last season; Euripides Laskaridis, whose work we had the chance to see in Istanbul two years ago, has been travelling the world from Chile to Finland, from the Far East to London with his pieces in which he blends the grotesque and pop with his unique style and in which the use of sound and material stands out; Dancer and choreographer Andonis Foniadakis n...

J ulien Faveau, BBL Boléro  ©  Clarissa Lapolla Bari One of the most important choreographers of the 20th century, Maurice Béjart's company Béjart Ballet Lausanne returns to Istanbul 37 years after its first visit in 1988 and 18 years after its last visit in 2007. This time in Istanbul, the company will perform Béjart's 1996 piece Ballet for Life ( Le Presbytère n'a rien perdu de son charme, ni le jardin de son éclat , originally in French), which uses songs by the legendary rock band Queen, compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and costumes by Gianni Versace.  In this piece, Béjart has translated his love for Queen into the language of dance, inspired by their songs.  "A ballet about youth and hope, as hopeless and optimistic as they are. In spite of everything, I believe that 'the show must go on', as Queen would say ."  On the occasion of Béjart Ballet Lausanne's tour of Istanbul, we interviewed Julien Favreau, who was appointed artistic director ...

The 6th Istanbul Fringe Festival's international guest choreographer, dancer and founder of Compagnie Entity, French-American Thibaut Eiferman completed his classical training at the American Ballet Theatre School in New York and danced with Ballet BC (Vancouver, Canada), Ate9 Dance Company (Los Angeles, USA) and Batsheva Dance Company (Tel Aviv, Israel). Currently dancing in Christian François Ben Aïm Company's Facéties and Oona Doherty/OD Works' Navy Blue , Eiferman created her first choreography HHH in 2018. The short version of HHH won first prize at the Jerusalem Machol Shalem International Choreography Competition in 2018 and the Critics' Prize at the Hannover Choreography Competition in 2019, and was selected for the 2020 edition of the Danse Élargie competition for young choreographers organised by the Paris Theatre de la Ville. HHH (Hand, Heart, Head) , the long version of which we had the opportunity to see at this year's Istanbul Fringe Festival, is de...

We interviewed with Katsumi Sakakura, the creator of the show The Life of HOKUSAI, which will be the guest of the 6th Istanbul Fringe Festival, which will be held between 13-21 September 2024 this year. It will be staged at ENKA Auditorium on 17 September 2024 in collaboration with ENKA Arts and Istanbul Fringe Festival 2024 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Turkey. The show's creator, Katsumi Sakakura (1963), himself a composer, director, choreographer and actor, is, as you might expect, a multi-talented artist. Sakakura, who started karate at the age of five and boxing at university, has created a performance art called Geibu, based on the unique "movement, rhythm and spirituality" of the traditional Japanese martial art Budo. He also created Street Nunchaku by combining Nunchaku, a defensive art he learnt alongside karate, with the hip hop dance moves he began performing in his twenties. He then dev...