A dance trilogy from the diaspora
Andromache Dimitriadou-Lindhal, dancer and choreographer and a graduate of the State School of Dance, left Greece 10 years ago. She initially moved to Paris, where she established the Asomates Dynameis (Bodiless Powers) dance troupe, but has been based in Stockholm for the last two years. The dancer-choreographer is currently in Athens, performing her most recent work Makrini Hora – Trilogy (Distant Land – Trilogy). The last time Dimitriadou-Lindhal was in Greece, she performed part of this work at the Athens Concert Hall, as part of the Megaron’s Dance – Greek Choreographers of the Diaspora series. Dimitriadou-Lindhal talked to Kathimerini a few days before coming to Athens. What is the distant land? The choreography was based on a poem by the Swedish poet Gunar Ekelof, a great lover of Greece. It was called Distant Land and is divided into three parts. The first part, In Heaven, is a very tender, inward-looking piece, in which sea noises mingle with the sound of breathing, transporting us into a state of innocence where the body is in complete harmony with its existence. In the second piece, Distant Land, the leading character is a traveler, and it depicts his memories, the places and images from his life. Finally, the third part, Chimera, is about passion and love, which remains far beyond our reach. What brings all three together is the journey through time, memories and desires, as well as details of the body’s geography. It is the search for a lost paradise, a homeland which does not exist. In the end, Distant Land is an expression of my own experience and nostalgia. This is the first time that I’ve put myself in the traveler’s place. The performance is based not only on movement, but also in the use of video art and live music. How did you manage to unite all these different elements? Memories bring images, images bring music, music brings movement, and so on. The one leads to the other, and in combination, they form a poetic landscape. In the final part, for instance, I worked on a video dominated by red and black – which represents the inner female body. Also, the role of the traveler is interpreted by Semmi Stahlhammer, a violin soloist of the Stockholm Opera. He plays Bach’s Chaconne, one of my favorites, a piece of music my father used to play when I was a child. As for the work itself, this time it has more to do with specific choreography rather than improvisation. How does the troupe survive in Sweden? Do you ever think of coming back? Things are far more organized in Sweden, though we do operate with limited funds, a la Don Quixote. The Ministry of Culture pulled the plug on the funding last year, as we did not complete the trilogy by the set date. So, in fact, we are suspended somewhere between Greece and Sweden and that does not help. As for coming back, I have never stopped thinking about it. How do you explain the fact that so many young people made a pilgrimage to Abbey Road in memory of George Harrison?
