Stomp dances, beating its pots and pans, up in northern Greece
If you think a broom is just a broom and a garbage can is, well, just a garbage can, the dance/music act Stomp is coming back to Greece this week to prove you wrong. After hugely successful shows at the Herod Atticus Theater in 2000 and the Petra Theater in 2003, the quirky, explosive troupe is traveling north this time, presenting five shows running from tonight to Friday at Thessaloniki’s Dasos Theater. Everything goes for Stomp, who create infectious beats and rhythms from the most unlikely objects: zippo lighters, kitchen sinks, boots, plumbing pipes and almost everything that can be struck, shaken, rolled or dragged. Dressed in industrial-chic, the dancers, actors and musicians that compose Stomp are almost all graduates of some of the world’s most renowned schools, and their top-notch training is obvious not just in their sheer energy and stamina, but in their executions of challenging numbers that require excellent synchronization, a lot of muscle power and clever footwork, lest a metal garbage come crashing down as it is thrown from one dancer to another. Most importantly though, Stomp is a lot of fun, capable even of getting the usually composed audience of the Herod Atticus on their feet, dancing, clapping, shouting and whistling in a frenzied accompaniment to the rhythms being beaten out on stage.
