The Greek National Opera Ballet is travelling to Egypt for two unique performances at the Cairo Opera House

The Greek National Opera Ballet is travelling to Egypt to present two unique performances at the Cairo Opera House. On 6 June 2024 they will perform Dance With My Own Shadow with music by Manos Hadjidakis and choreography by Konstantinos Rigos. On 7 June 2024 they will present the modern dance diptych titled Return of the Summer, featuring music by Giorgos Koumendakis and Hector Berlioz, and choreographed by Ioannis Mandafounis and Konstantinos Rigos. The tour is made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org] to enhance the Greek National Opera’s artistic outreach.

On 6 June, the Greek National Opera Ballet will present Dance With My Own Shadow at the Cairo Opera House, an exceptionally successful production that was first presented in the Stavros Niarchos Hall in 2019. The performance includes three iconic pieces of the great Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis, choreographed by the GNO Ballet Director, Konstantinos Rigos.

The C.N.S. Cycle is a work for a baritone and piano, set to poetry by the composer himself. It was written for the death of his young Spanish friend Etienne Röhrich Moritz (1952). It symbolises the north, the abstract landscape of a “deserted beach”, death’s wasteland.

Captain Michalis is Hadjidakis’ music for the theatrical adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis novel of the same title (1966). It symbolises the south, with the Mediterranean, dry landscape, the wind that romantically caresses people’s bodies, and the unrealistically oversized Kazantzakis-man figure.

The Accursed Serpent is a ballet suite with two pianos. Hadjidakis composed it for the Hellenic Choreodrama (1949). It symbolises the east, a land of shadows and fairy tales, where the old and the new coexist devouring one another.

“What is Dance With My Own Shadow? A dance with myself. An onstage confession of all those things I’ve lived through and will forever carry with me,” notes Konstantinos Rigos.

On 7 June, the Greek National Opera Ballet will present the modern dance diptych Return of the Summer in Cairo. This performance includes two strikingly energetic and dynamic choreographies: Point of No Return and Les Nuits d’été.

In Point of No Return, the internationally acclaimed dancer and choreographer Ioannis Mandafounis composes a modern piece out of dance elements deeply rooted in the tradition of classical ballet. In tune with the music of Giorgos Koumendakis, the GNO Ballet dancers focus on the transparency and authenticity of their moves via the arsenal of classical ballet steps. Although the group’s physical performance reveals an extremely classical choreographic approach, one can still recognise the individuality of the performers as well as a particularly modern treatment of the presence and interpretation of movement. These obvious elements signal the choreographer’s unique style across all of his new works.

In Les Nuits d’été Konstantinos Rigos choreographs Hector Berlioz’s song cycle of the same title, which is one of the composer’s most popular works. The leading French composer wrote these six songs for voice and piano, setting poetry by Théophile Gautier. His goal was to musically portray love in its most idealised form through delicate melodies. Based on the song cycle of the same title, Konstantinos Rigos creates together with the GNO Ballet a work about love, loneliness, the quest, the journey. Gestures and shapes create a kaleidoscope of our individual inner summer. “Les Nuits d’été is a work that makes us reminisce of all those nights we love, fall in love, dream, live… It talks about the fluidity of relationships and how everything can evolve under the moonlight. With references to Romanticism and the classical dance technique, the work’s dancers dive into the black waters of the sea and the black colour of senses and delusions,” notes Konstantinos Rigos.

Ballet of the Greek National Opera
Tour to the Cairo Opera House – 6 & 7 June 2024

Dance With My Own Shadow
6 June 2024 | Starts at: 20.30
Music: Manos Hadjidakis
Choreography, direction: Konstantinos Rigos
Costumes: Deux Hommes
Lighting: Christos Tziogkas
Video: Vassilis Kehayas
Artistic curator: George Hadjidakis
With the Principal Dancers, Soloists, Demi-Soloists and the Corps de ballet of the GNO

Return of the Summer
Modern dance diptych
7 June 2024 | Starts at: 20.30

Point of No Return
Choreography, costume supervision: Ioannis Mandafounis
Music: Giorgos Koumendakis
Lighting: Christos Tziogkas
With the Principal Dancers, Soloists, Demi-Soloists and the Corps de ballet of the GNO

Les Nuits d’été
Choreography, set: Konstantinos Rigos
Music: Hector Berlioz
Lyrics: Théophile Gautier
Costumes: Deux Hommes
Lighting: Christos Tziogkas
With the Principal Dancers, Soloists, Demi-Soloists and the Corps de ballet of the GNO 

Tickets go on sale on: https://tazkarti.com/#/e/659

• The proceeds from the performance on the 6th of June 2024 will be donated to the hospital founded by Greek Action Africa in the city of Beni Suef, Egypt.

Lead Donor of the GNO & Production donor

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation