danzon_eng

© 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...

What is the essence of performance in your opinion? The performance proposes an existential preposition of trying to find closure in trauma memories using artistic interventions. An attempt at a ritual ‘Going back to forget’. Do you believe in the transformative power of art? How?   Yes. I believe that a theatrical space has the power to move mountains and touch the viewers in that space. But it also has the power to shift thoughts on a micro level, to charge the experience in the moment with something unfathomable. When you are working on a piece, what sources inspire you? Do dreams play a role in your works?   Dreams haven't played any roles in my works and inspirations so far. My works are grounded in long research into a particular subject matter, an issue, working with a certain community of people and their skill sets. As a performance maker who is interested in notions of documentary theatre and social practice, inspiration, ideas and forms emerge from the people I work...