Dance reigns supreme
Dance is a definite highlight this summer with the biggest events taking place in the capital’s Gazi district and at the Herod Atticus Theater as well as down south in Kalamata. Josef Nadj and Dominique Mercy, guests of the Athens Festival, will present «Petit psaume du matin» on June 3 and 4 at Pireos 260. At the Herod Atticus on June 20 and 21, ballet star Sylvie Guillem will be joined by top choreographer Russell Maliphant in «Push,» while at the Athens Concert Hall on June 7 and 8, Sasha Waltz will come from Berlin to present «Korper.» Back at Pireos, La Compagnie Magie Marin will stage «Umwelt» on June 11 and 12, up-and-coming French choreographer Rachid Ouramande will present «Les morts pudiques» (July 2 and 3) and Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal in «Cafe Muller» (July 9-11). The dance festival organized by the City of Athens at Technopolis from July 1-14 is also full of surprises, starting with the Phoenix Dance Theater, a top British dance troupe. Richard Siegal and the Bakery group and Israel’s Niv Sheinfeld are other headline acts. From the local scene, we will see Yiannis Mandafounis’s troupe with Katerina Skiada and Brussels-raised Toula Limnaios. The festival will end with the Ballet di Grand Theatre de Geneve (July 13 and 14) performing the work of Japan’s Saburo Teshigawara, Belgian-Colombian Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, France’s Michel Kelemenis and Greece’s Antonis Foniadakis. The action later moves down to Kalamata for the city’s annual international dance festival (July 14-23). The program ranges from the neoclassical idiom of France’s Angelin Preljocaj to the inventive «Kind of Heroes» by Austria’s Chris Haring and the show «Two Playful Pink» by up-and-coming Israeli choreographer Yasmeen Godder. Another highlight is the co-production «Maza-Dama,» created by Venezuela’s David Zambrano with Greece’s Ermis Malkotsis from the Sinequanon dance company.
