CULTURE

Dance festival still on, but dogged by financial woes

The International Day of Dance will be celebrated with a party tonight, marking the unofficial opening of the 5th Dance Festival in Athens, organized by the Association of Greek Choreographers, which will run from tomorrow to June 22. At the recent press conference, dancers and choreographers talked about the future of dance in Greece and made suggestions for this year’s festival. «Things just get harder,» said Haris Mandafounis, who is presenting a show with choreographer Lila Zafeiropoulou, currently the artistic director of the Eldor dance company. «If things don’t change, we will go back 30 years to when only those who had money were able to dance… Maybe collaborations are the only solution until things improve and there is a better minister of culture,» he added. «Fourteen companies canceled their shows at the last minute,» said Petros Gallias, president of the association. «Funding from the Ministry of Culture is not only delayed, but the committee hasn’t even convened yet. Some companies have even fallen apart,» he said. «The good thing is that people know they can see dance in May and June.» Participating groups include Katerina Andriopoulou’s X-Art, Daniel Lommel’s Aenaon Dance Theater, Paraskevas Terezakis’s Kinesis, Ioanna Parali’s Landscape and Silvia Maki’s Synergeio Technon, among others.

Subscribe to our Newsletters

Enter your information below to receive our weekly newsletters with the latest insights, opinion pieces and current events straight to your inbox.

By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.