Dancers descend on Technopolis
Activity in the local dance circuit, a usually disregarded field in Greece, appears to be intensifying, which does offer future promise for the sector. Besides the upcoming 10th Kalamata International Dance Festival, the country’s most established dance event, the Municipality of Athens is set to present its first International Dance Festival between July 12 and 27 at Technopolis in the Gazi district. The festival comes as an expanded version of last year’s Modern Dance Week, which featured local performers only. The Technopolis venue, to be specially adapted for the upcoming occasion, will host some of the most exciting and innovative performers in modern dance. Acts include Henrietta Horn, artistic director of the Pina Bausch troupe, Belgian artist Wim Vandekeybus, founder of the Ultima Vez dance troupe, as well as the distinguished Danish choreographer-dancer Kitt Johnson, who will deliver a scintillating solo performance titled «The Mirror.» Greek participants at the festival will include the State Theater of Northern Greece, with a performance of Constantinos Rigos’s «Winter Traveler,» Lia Meletopoulou’s Small Dance Theater, as well as Michalis Nalbantis with a new production titled «Wistful if…» The festival’s agenda will also include an evening focused on three Greek choreographers; Natasha Zouka and two younger colleagues, Marina Mavrogeni and Ioanna Parali. Besides the performances, seminars on modern dance will be offered on the festival’s sidelines for professionals and students attending advanced schools. Five instructors – Kitt Johnson, Katja Wachter, Henrietta Horn, Michalis Nalbantis and Linda Kapetanea – will conduct the seminars between July 12 and 23 at the Dance Cultural Center (76 Pireos, tel 210.347.4645). The festival opens on July 12 with Kitt Johnson’s «The Mirror.» It will be followed by Austria’s Gervasi Dance Company and its «Fuga-ce» production, as well as local artist Yiannis Bagourdis’s «Airesis,» both on July 14. Two days later, the German choreographer Katja Wachter’s Selfish Shellfish Dance Company will present «Still Too Soon, Already Too Late.» The evening will also include Michalis Nalbantis’s «Wistful if…» Also on the festival’s agenda are «Winter Traveler» by Constantinos Rigos on July 18, followed on July 20 by a focus on three Greek choreographers and their works: «I Like Men» by Marina Mavrogeni’s Akin troupe, «Human Landscape» by Ioanna Parali’s Landscape troupe and «Songs of the Earth» by Natasha Zouka’s Chorotheatro troupe. On July 22 and 23, Belgian artist Wim Vandekeybus presents his controversial take on all the states of love, «Blush,» which was also successfully performed at Sadler’s Wells last February. The festival ends with two shows on July 25 and 26 of the double-bill performance «Solo/Auftaucher» by Henrietta Horn’s Folkwang Tanzstudio. Performances begin at 9.30 p.m. on all days.
