Capital set for a dance festival with international headliners, local talent
Amanda Miller, on her first visit to Greece, the subversive Kinkaleri group, Emio Greco, local choreographers Constantinos Rigos and Antonis Foniadakis as well as avant-garde artist Javier de Frutos will star in Athens’s Third International Dance Festival, organized by the Municipality of Athens’s Cultural Organization (under the artistic direction of Margo Perdiki-Archontaki) at the Technopolis arts complex in Gazi, starting today. American choreographer and founder of the Pretty Ugly Dance Co Amanda Miller will open the festival today, with three choreographies united in one performance: «Pretty Ugly,» «Four for Nothing» and «Paralipomena.» Miller’s style is based on ballet forms which are constantly reconstructed and renewed. In search of new possibilities, she creates bridges between different eras and styles, discovering primary forms of movement. Cretan inspiration On Monday, July 4, Antonis Foniadakis (and the Apotosoma group), who is by now well known to Greek audiences, pays tribute to Greece with the production «Use.» With «Use,» first staged at the Lyon Dance Biennale in 2004, Foniadakis returned to the ritual qualities of the dances of his homeland, the island of Crete. Foniadakis worked with some of the greatest 20th century choreographers while living in France. Among the eight dancers in the Apotosoma troupe, which will stage the production, are two very talented young Greek dancers, Markella Manoliadi and Costas Tsioukas. For two unique nights, on July 6 and 7, Italian choreographer Emio Greco will present his award-winning choreography «Double Points: One & Two» (winner of the Time Out Live Award in 2004 and Herald Angel Award in 2001). The «Double Points» series is the result of a research project, during which dancers have to face external stimuli or choose a particular topic which they then develop. Constantinos Rigos’s two part «Igor’s Room» (which consists of «The Wedding» and «The Rite of Spring») is to be staged on July 9 and 10, while on July 12, the Kinkaleri group will perform the interesting production «Serie b,» a collaboration between two DJ musicians, Discogirotto (Jimmy Prof & Skuamo) and two dancers. The festival will end on July 14 and 15, with Javier de Frutos’s choreography «But the Virgin was More Available.» The joint production, supported by the British Council, the Bi-Arts program and the Suzanne Dellal Center, which features eight highly skilled dancers from Israel, will bring this avant-garde choreographer with multicultural influences to Greece. The Technopolis arts complex is situated at 100 Pireos Street, Gazi. For information, call 210.346.1589.
