MicroDances / Athens

 

As part of the European project An Ideal City

 

Athens • 9 and 10 October 2021

Acropolis Museum | National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMST)

Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) | Greek National Opera

 

Brussels • 9-11 December 2021 | Reggio Emilia • July 2022

The Greek National Opera Ballet presents MicroDances at three emblematic venues in Athens on 9 and 10 October. A five-hour wandering through dance along the axis of Syggrou Avenue, from the Acropolis Museum at Makrygianni to the National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMST) at Fix and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) at Delta Falirou.

MicroDances is held as part of the project An Ideal City, which aims to research and explore the possibilities of dance as a public art that is rooted in the urban web of three cities: Athens, Reggio Emilia and Brussels. The project An Ideal City was launched in October 2020 and will be completed in July 2022. It is the fruit of the collaboration of three European dance organisations, Fondazione Nazionale della Danza / Aterballetto (Reggio Emilia, Italy), Les Halles de Schaerbeek (Brussels, Belgium), and the Greek National Opera Ballet and it is co-funded by the EU programme Creative Europe, which aims at supporting Europe’s cultural and creative industry. The GNO Ballet programme is made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org] to the Greek National Opera.

MicroDances consists of short dance performances, from 6 to 10 minutes long, designed for one or three dancers and for small spaces. They were commissioned from artists from very different backgrounds and with very varied influences, who were called upon to create a rich and diverse choreographic environment. In the first phase of the programme works by eight Greek and thirteen foreign choreographers will be developed in an organic relationship with select museum/cultural venues in three cities. In the second phase they will be rearticulated according to each different city’s public space and the special way it converses with bodies and history.

On 9 and 10 October audience members will have the possibility to follow a five-hour route with 21 stops that will be divided into the four institutions hosting the works: the halls of the Acropolis Museum, the National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMST), the parking, Stavros Niarchos Park and Lighthouse of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC), as well as the Foyer, the backstage of the Stavros Niarchos Hall, and the rehearsal rooms of the Greek National Opera.

The route will start every day from the Acropolis Museum at 11.00, 12.00 and 13.00, it will continue to the EMST and will conclude at around 16.00, 17.00 and 18.00 respectively, at SNFCC and GNO’s venues. Audience members will be transported from one venue to the other by a minibus leased by the GNO.

The relationship between spectacle and spectator is thus redefined dynamically and according to the specificities of each venue, the elements of each choreography and the succession of all the parts of the overall wandering experience – a narration that runs through the city, the stories, and the different bodies it is made of.

Due to the special nature of the performances and the COVID-19-related restrictions, only limited places will be available for the public. Ticket reservations will be made at ticketservices.gr from Tuesday 5/10/2021 on a first come, first served basis. Ticket information for the Acropolis Museum is available at: https://theacropolismuseum.gr/organosi-episkepsis#eisitiria. Ticket information for EMST: EMST: https://www.emst.gr/visit. Audience members who will attend MicroDances must present a valid certificate of vaccination against or recovery from COVID-19. Mask wearing is necessary throughout the route and presentations.

An Ideal City aims at bringing out the public art of dance in three European urban landscapes with a strong historical and symbolic character, Athens, Reggio Emilia and Brussels. More specifically, with this project the three organisations aim to:

• experiment through an alternative presentation and enjoyment of dance performances in urban spaces with very different atmospheres
• explore the body’s possibilities to narrate the multiple urban and social transformations
• create performances that can be transformed according to different locations, perspectives and cultural contexts, as well as through the process of being “translated” by different participants, viewers and interlocuters.

An Ideal City is curated by Gigi Cristoforetti (Fondazione Nazionale della Danza / Aterballetto), Christophe Galent (Les Halles de Schaerbeek), Konstantinos Rigos (Greek National Opera Ballet).

The project’s scientific committee consists of three curators, who take part in the overall evolutionary design, its interdisciplinary dimensions and the multiple urban applications and structural changes of its two phases of implementation: Costanza Meli in Reggio Emilia for Fondazione Nazionale della Danza / Aterballetto, Pauline de La Boulaye in Brussels for Les Halles de Schaerbeek and Nadja Argyropoulou in Athens for the Greek National Opera Ballet.

 

 

VENUES AND WORKS*

A – Acropolis Museum, Dionysiou Areopagitou St.

 

Knight Rider

• Parthenon Gallery Atrium

Choreography: Yannis Nikolaidis, Sound design: Manolis Manousakis, Costumes: Ioanna Tsami, Dancer: Margarita Kostoglou

Active Motivation

• Parthenon Gallery

Choreography: Elena Kekkou, Music, live performance: Antonis Vlachos, Choreographer’s assistant: Dimitra Vlachou, Dancer: Elena Kekkou

Eppur si muove 01

• Archaic Acropolis Gallery / The Antenor Kore

Choreography: Francesca Lattuada, Music: Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 7, 2nd Movement: Αllegretto, Costumes: Bruno Fatalot, Dancer: Clément Haenen

Forget Me Not

• Archaic Acropolis Gallery / Hekatompedon (East pediment)

Choreography: Konstantinos Rigos, Music: Giorgos Koumendakis, Saxophone: Guido de Flaviis, Choreographer’s assistant: Fotis Diamantopoulos, Dancers: Danilo Zeka / Vangelis Bikos

Near Life Experience (excerpt from a creation of 2003)

• Entrance hall

Choreography: Angelin Preljocaj, Music: Air (Jean-Benoît Dunckel, Nicolas Godin), Dancers: Ivana Mastroviti, Hélias Tur-Dorvault

Β - National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMST), Suggrou Avenue, Fix

 

Pensieri di carta

• Amphitheatre

Choreography, original music: Hélias Tur-Dorvault, Musical arrangements: Alessandro Grisendi, Dancer: Martina Forioso

The Bell Jar

• 4th floor

Choreography, set and costume design: Fernando Melo, Music: Machinefabriek, Thomas Köner, Dancer: Grace Lyell

Inside

• 4th floor

Choreography, set and costume design: Norge Cedeño Raffo, Music: Erik Satie, Dancer: Estelle Bovay

bodies. ever. stitches

• Roof (Terrace)

Choreography: Cecilia Bengolea, Music: Stitches, “Brick in Υo Face”, Choreographer’s assistants: Dimitra Laoudi, Valeria Lanzara, Dancers: Emilia Gaspari, Marita Nikolitsa / Areti Noti

C – Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC), Syggrou Avenue 364

 

Fragments

• Parking lot

Choreography: Persa Stamatopoulou, Music: Apostolis Koutsogiannis, Costume coordination: Yorgos Mesimeris, Choreographer’s assistant: Irina Akrioti-Kolioubakina, Dancers: Stelios Katopodis, Thanassis Solomos

HARPY

• Lighthouse / Bridge

Choreography: Michalis Theophanous, Costume coordination: Yorgos Mesimeris, Choreographer’s assistant: Fotis Diamantopoulos, Dancer: Arieh Bates-Vinueza

Turn the Tide

• Lighthouse / Terrace

Choreography, set and costume design: Roberto Tedesco, Music: BowLand, Dancers: Serena Vinzio, Matteo Fiorani

Blue Tits

• Lighthouse / Terrace

Choreography: Lenio Kaklea, Choreographer’s assistant: Dimitra Laoudi, Dancers: Zoi Schinoplokaki, Yannis Gantsios

 

Butterfly

• Stavros Niarchos Park

Choreography: Yorgos Papadopoulos, Music: Apostolis Koutsogiannis, Costume coordination: Yorgos Mesimeris, Dancer: Yorgos Papadopoulos

Eppur si muove 02

• SNFCC Agora, GNO entrance

Choreography: Francesca Lattuada, Music: Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 7, 2nd Movement: Αllegretto, Costume design: Bruno Fatalot, Dancers: Arianna Ganassi, Antonio Tafuni

D – GREEK NATIONAL OPERA (SNFCC), Syggrou Avenue 364

 

Platform02

• GNO Foyer

Choreography: Ina Lesnakowski, Music: Loscil, Set design: Carlo Cerri, Dancer: Saul Daniele Ardillo

Phantasmagoria

• GNO Foyer

Choreography: Markella Manoliadi, Music: Gabriel Fauré, “Après un rêve”, Singer: Artemis Bogri, Choreographer’s assistant: Dimitra Laoudi, Dancer: Ariadni Filippaki

Carne da eroe 2.0

• GNO Ballet Studio 1

Installation: Roberto Zappalà, Music: Camille Saint-Saëns: “The Dying Swan”, Chinese market noises, Dancer: Giulio Pighini

The Wound / Archive of Western Images

• Stavros Niarchos Hall Backstage

Concept, direction, choreography, set and costume design: Pietro Marullo, Sound designer: Jean-Noël Boissé, Assistant to the set design: Diana Ciufo, Assistant to the dramaturgy: Marianna Cifarelli, Dancer: Arianna Kob

Shelter

• Stavros Niarchos Hall Backstage

Concept: Saul Daniele Ardillo, Simone Giorgi, Choreography: Saul Daniele Ardillo, Music: Pasquale Catalano, Dramaturgy: Simone Giorgi, Installation: Adam_Signature, Dancer: Minouche Van De Ven

 

Afterimage

• Stavros Niarchos Hall Backstage

Choreography, set design: Philippe Kratz, Music: Pablo’s Eye, Video design: Ooopstudio, Dancer: Thomas Van De Ven

Kepler

• Stavros Niarchos Hall Backstage

Choreography: Diego Tortelli, Music: Noise music, Beach house, Set: Diego Tortelli, Alessandro Tortelli, Video design: Alessandro Tortelli, Costumes: Diego Tortelli (in collaboration with Nuvia Valestri), Dancers: Leonardo Farina, Sandra Salietti Aguilera, Jamal Uhlmann

* The venues may change for technical reasons.

In collaboration with the Acropolis Museum, the National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMST) and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC)

Lead Donor of the GNO Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)