Festival ends with a bang
Athens’s 4th International Dance Festival, organized by the City of Athens at the Technopolis Arts Complex, ends tonight with performances by a distinguished European dance company. The Ballet du Grand Theatre de Geneve, which also performed yesterday, will stage four works by avant-garde choreographers Saburo Teshigawara, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Michel Kelemenis and Antonis Foniadakis. The Ballet du Grand Theatre de Geneve has a long history. In the early 20th century the greatest ballet companies were invited to perform at this new theater stage, which was headed first by Janine Charrat, then by Serge Golovine, Patricia Neary, Peter van Dyck, Oscar Araiz, Gradimir Pankov, Francois Passard and Giorgio Mancini. From the start the organization wanted to explore stylistic variety in 20th century dance and that is why it collaborated with artists like George Balanchine, Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jiri Kylian and others. In 2003, general director Jean-Marie Blanchard appointed Philippe Cohen as artistic director. The Technopolis performance begins with Saburo Teshigawara’s «Para-dice,» which falls under the great Japanese choreographer’s definition of art: «Dance is a sculpture in the air, in space and in time. I dance to eliminate time and to also create time.» Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s «La Pluit» follows. The half-Colombian, half-Belgian choreographer has created works for companies including the Scapino Ballet, the Dutch National Ballet and the Royal Ballet of Flanders. The choreography by France’s Michel Kelemenis is titled «Kiki la Rose.» It is a melancholy solo inspired by two Berlioz songs, which breaks down the dancer’s movements. At the very end, Antonis Foniadakis will present «Selon Desir,» based on Bach’s St Matthew Passion and St John Passion. Ticket information: Athens Cultural Organization, at 50 Academias, tel 210.361.2921.
