TO HAVE BEEN SO CLOSE SO MANY TIMES

The Greek National Opera Ballet’s new production, To Have Been So Close So Many Times, creates a multidimensional stage universe where modern dance intersects and viscerally coexists with musical theatre in a never-ending conversation. At its core lies a new work by Giorgos Koumendakis featuring four chamber music pieces based on four poems by Constantine P. Cavafy, set in the style of amanes and performed live, producing a profoundly introspective, contemplative, and constantly evolving soundscape.

Three distinguished choreographers—Patricia Apergi, Ilias Hatzigeorgiou, and Eva Georgitsopoulou, and —explore the material through distinct aesthetic and movement languages. The body is highlighted as a carrier of memory, desire, and loss, with movement oscillating between group coordination and individual variation. The nine dancers perform within a setting marked by constant transition, where time seems to slow down and repeat, taking on an almost ritualistic dimension.

Petros Touloudis’ sculpture installation turns the stage into a moving soundscape. By generating and conveying sound, it serves as a mechanism that transforms the stage into a space where emotions do not scream but rather echo across time, allowing room for imagination. Zacharias Karounis delivers a unique performance, accompanied by Angelina Tkatcheva on the santur, the Oros Ensemble, and the Osmosis Saxophone Quartet. John Papatzanis is in charge of percussion instruction and performs on a wide variety of percussion instruments on stage.

This performance does not follow a straight storyline; instead, it immerses the audience in an emotional experience that feels like an inner rite.