Step by step, modern dance is making a mark
Around a decade ago, the somewhat static contemporary dance scene in Greece began to change. Since then, developments in the field have been both steady and impressive. With 50 contemporary dance groups currently active in Greece and with scores of well-trained dancers available, it seems that there is plenty on offer and diversity enough to absorb emerging dancers but also to meet the demands of an audience that is expanding beyond the narrow circle of dance aficionados. Somehow, making a career – although not a financially comfortable living – as a contemporary dancer in Greece today is possible, granted, of course, that dancers do all the work from performing to producing a piece, finding collaborators and coming up with the funding. These are some of the tasks that the dancers in the ProsXima (a word which means pretext in Greek) contemporary dance group have been constantly engaged in since the establishment of their company seven years ago. Olia Ioannou, Maria Koliopoulou, Dimitra Kritikidi and Anna Mimi – the initial founding group to which Stella Zanou was recently added – have come up with new choreographies each year but only received state funding this year (less than half of the existing companies are funded). With the help of some extra private subsidies, they staged «x(Albee),» their latest production, which was choreographed by guest choreographer Richard Siegal, also principal dancer at the Frankfurt Opera Ballet. Networking with international choreographers to help bring new dance ideas to Greece is one of ProsXima’s hallmarks. Its international collaborations include working with the Barriedale Operahouse last year. Experimental and innovative choreography in itself is an objective shared by all of the group’s dancers, an interest that reflects their own training in choreography as well as choreology (the structure of dance seen through theory) at the Laban Center for Movement and Dance in London. (Choreography and choreology were introduced as separate disciplines at the curriculum of the State School of Dance in Greece as late as last year.) It was in London that the dancers met and thought of starting their own company in Greece to channel their creativity not only as performers but also as choreographers. With the exception of Zanou, who also dances with other companies, the dancers are only involved in their own ProsXima projects. Each one of them has produced his or her own choreography, which is performed with the help of guest dancers. ProsXima’s members are also the company’s managers and this capacity, trying to find somewhere to perform each time is one of their most essential, but also hardest tasks. Again the lack of funding means that, like most contemporary dance groups, they cannot rent out a venue on a steady basis. With the closing of the Open Theater and the Ergostasio festivals, both of which provided the opportunity for dance groups to show their work, the difficulty of accommodation has become even more acute. Driven by a devotion to their art and an optimistic view on the development of contemporary dance in Greece, ProsXima’s dancers are nevertheless undaunted by such impediments. They have started their next project, exhibiting a commitment that shows how contemporary art is slowly establishing itself in Greece.
