Program Black Box

19.07 | 19:00 | 48’

Kalamata Dance Megaron / Black Box

VASSO GIANNAKOPOULOU

FLUTTER

About the performance

A human alone, in his personal space. His whole world is merely a chair; solid, stiff, uncomfortable. In a relentless friction with time, or else with nothingness, he finds himself squeezed in a conflict with the self. Time and time again it’s impossible for him to settle into this loneliness, into the agony of existence.In the absence of the gaze of others, a brand new space opens up, one that hosts his utmost desires, however strange. Using every medium possible, he slips into a dance of adaptation, a game of metamorphosis; being ridiculous liberates him. An imperceptible passage from realism to a fluid personal universe, a timeless dimension where everything is allowed. An escape attempt that could easily turn into a nightmare, but our protagonist is not aware of the danger. In this moment, he is a bird venturing a leap.

A surrealistic solo dance performance that investigates the depths of human existence. As if looking through a peephole, the audience witnesses the creation of an intermediate space, where the private becomes public, where a human being faces the world and, more importantly, his own self.

An ode to reserving one’s right to uncertainty.

  • Concept | Choreography: Vasso Giannakopoulou
  • Performance: Nondas Damopoulos
  • Dramaturgy: Simos Patieridis
  • Music | Live Electronics: Chrysanthos Christodoulou
  • Lighting Design: Tassos Paleoroutas
  • Art Direction | Costume: Kenny MacLellan
  • Chair Construction: Petros Sirigos
  • Photography: Christina Georgiadou, Alekos & Christos Bourelias
  • Video | Trailer: Alekos & Christos Bourelias
  • Graphic Design: Yiannis Baritakis
  • Communication: Maria Konstantopoulou
  • Production: Shared Productions
  • With the financial support of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, 2020-2021.

 

Vasso Giannakopoulou is a Greek choreοgrapher and dance artist who divides her time between Athens and Syros. She studied dance at the Professional School of D. Grigoriadou, at the Greek National School of Dance and at the Performing Arts Centre, from which she graduated. Constantly inspired by motion, she has dedicated herself to the research of the human body, which is what led her to her subsequent studies on the Feldenkrais method. Since 1990, her career has been enriched through her participation in international productions and her work as a teacher of modern dance. Her début as a choreographer, 2003’s Night Mirror was presented at the International Dance Festivals of Athens and Kalamata. With light designer Tassos Palaioroutas, she co-founded the Dalika Dance Theatre Company in 2004. Her works Digono, Tatters, Nowhere, Noble Escape, Maria Goes to the River, 36 Pythonos St., and Flutter have been presented internationally with the support of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture. She collaborated with D. Papaioannou and formed part of his choreographic team in the opening and closing ceremonies of the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, as well as the opening ceremony of the first European Games in Baku /Azerbaijan in 2015. She is a founding member of the Dance Association of Greece, a company of Greek choreographers with whom she has presented multiple pieces at the Athens & Epidaurus Festival, at the Kalamata International Dance Festival, and in theatres and venues throughout Greece. Αs a certified Feldenkrais practitioner and instructor, she regularly teaches classes on the subject in both Athens and Syros, while also presenting workshops in Greece and abroad.