Local dance scene heating up
Right after the Fourth Dance Festival, Athens will be readying for even more dance shows, as the Athens Municipality ventures into its Third International Dance Festival. The festival, which is to be held at the Technopolis arts complex from July 1 to 15, will feature a variety of international artists, such as American choreographer Amanda Miller, Italy’s Emio Greco, the Kinkaleri group and Venezuela-born avant-garde choreographer Javier De Frutos. On the Greek front, participants include Antonis Foniadakis and Constantinos Rigos (with the State Theater of Northern Greece). The festival will kick off on July 1 with Amanda Miller, founder of the Pretty Ugly Dance Co, who will perform for the first time in Greece. Miller, whose work is influenced by other forms of art such as literature, will present a choreography in three parts: «Pretty Ugly,» «Four for Nothing» and «Paralipomena.» Miller has worked with the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Frankfurt Ballet (invited by William Forsythe), among others. On July 4, Antonis Foniadakis and the Apotosoma dance group (of which he is artistic director) will present «Use,» which is inspired by the traditional dances of the Greek dancer and choreographer’s homeland, Crete. Eight dancers will perform to a combination of traditional sounds from Stelios Markopoulos’s Cretan lyre and Julien Tarride’s electronic tunes. Emio Greco and PC (Pieter C. Scholten) will present «Double Points: One & Two» on July 6 and 7, a production that received the 2001 Herald Angel Award in Edinburgh and the 2004 Time Out Live Award. In the show, consisting of short choreographies, the two dancers try to master coordination. Greco, whose choreographies stand out for their humor and energy, has worked with unconventional artists Jan Fabre and Saburo Teshigawara. After a successful tour abroad (Singapore, France and Israel), the State Theater of Northern Greece is back in Athens to perform the double piece «Igor’s Room,» choreographed by Constantinos Rigos, on July 9 and 10. The production, recently staged in Thessaloniki, consists of two choreographies on Igor Stravinsky’s «The Wedding» and «The Rite of Spring.» After the show there will be a screening of video directed by Rigos and featuring the dancers’ first improvised steps from the rehearsals of «The Rite of Spring.» Innovative group Kinkaleri will present an unusual show, «SERIE b,» on July 12. The performance is a collaboration between two DJ musicians, Discogirotto (Jimmy Prof & Skuamo) and two dancers. The two DJs improvise on stage, alternating between R&B, rock, hip-hop, funk and electro-dance, creating different musical sounds and atmospheres along with the two dancers. Avant-garde choreographer Javier De Frutos, a recipient of the 1996 Bagnolet Prix d’Auteur Award, will end the festival with the performance «But the Virgin was More Available» on July 15. The production is a joint collaboration between the British Council, the Bi-Arts program and the Suzanne Dellal Center. The Third International Dance Festival will also include seminars on modern dance by Amanda Miller (July 2 and 3), Emio Greco and Pieter C. Scholten (July 4 and 5), Antonis Foniadakis (6 and 7), Constantinos Rigos (11 and 12) and Cristina Rizzo and the Kinkaleri Dance Co (13 and 14). Applications to participate in the seminars must be submitted by June 10; you may call 210.346.1589 and 210.347.3696 daily, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tickets for the shows will be available as of June 15. The Technopolis arts complex is situated at 100 Pireos, Gazi, tel 210.346.7322.
