CULTURE

Sacred monsters of dance, Guillem and Khan, in first Thessaloniki appearance

Sylvie Guillem and Akram Khan, two formidable dancers, will be in Thessaloniki on October 31 and November 1 at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall with their critically acclaimed production, «Sacred Monsters,» which forms a bridge between East and West in a choreography jointly created by both artists. The production has been presented in Greece previously, last June at the Herod Atticus Theater. «I am a classical dancer and have been trained as a classical dancer, but I can’t say that I believe in this, that my ‘religion’ is just one style, one technique, one tradition. What I can say is that the ‘space’ in which I dance, following whichever technique, is, to me, a sacred space. The stage is a monster… my sacred monster,» says Guillem. An original idea by the 33-year-old choreographer from Bangladesh allowed Guillem to participate in an explosive intercourse with Khan in a piece that led her «as far away as possible from the world of the ballerina.» What does this duo have in store for audiences in Thessaloniki? «Our shared and personal experiences from classical dance,» says Khan. «’Sacred Monsters’ is a meditation on the journey from the classical to the contemporary world,» adds the choreographer and dancer, explaining this original fusion of two very different worlds. «The manner in which we achieve this cannot be described because it comes about completely organically. Like the differences and contrasts between the two. The body has the ability to absorb change, to transcend from one world into the other. That is when the body begins to find ways to combine the contrasts. The body is like a brain,» says Khan. Thessaloniki Concert Hall, 25th Martiou & Paralia, tel 2310.895.800.

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