sarma

Three Greek choreographers who live and work abroad, presented commissioned works, at the Athens Concert Hall, in a triple bill titled: Greek Choreographers of the Diaspora. Paras Terezakis (Canada), presented his forty minutes long “In the Blink of an Eye”, Mahi Dimitriadi-Lindahl (Sweden) showed her “Distant Land”, and Antonis Foniadakis a dancer with the Ballet of the Opera of Lyon (France) presented “In Memoriam Superbia”.Paras Terezakis’ “In the Blink of an Eye”, was inspired by both the myth of Daedalus, and a poem by the revivalist Greek poet Angelos Sikelianos on the same subject. “In the blink of an Eye” started off with a video projection. The aim was to introduce the viewer to the idea of flying, by showing images of spaces as someone who flies sees them. Impressing at first, it went on for very long and the effect wore out after a while. Then four dancers appeared moving their arms slowly, which was another allusion to flying; it therefore became apparent that it was Daedalus’ son Icarus, that Mr. Terezakis was –trully- after. The choreographer put a considerable effort upon extracting and abstracting his material (the “flying” motif) in order to create a “free play” of balance, fall, trust and momentum. In spite of a few enjoyable moments, the outcome was utterly naïve and boring with restricted movement vocabulary. Worst elements of the work, were the bad reciting of the poem, which in turn made movement very literal, and the costumes: black see-through trousers and sleeveless blouses, in the style of the clothes of the ancient Cretes! His dancers were technically weak to the point of disappointment.

Mahi Demetriadi-Lindahl’s duet “Distant Land”, inspired by the poem Opus Incertum by Gunnar Ekelof, had, at least, good timing. Her work, without strong emotional overtones, drew a lot upon Mats Ek’s style. “Distant Land” referred to the multi-faceted relationship of an expatriate to his/her native land: nostalgia, memories, returning and departing. In Distant Land video-projection was used, showing slightly blurred faces of people opening and closing their eyes slowly. Remarkable performance by Anne-Sappho Polychronopoulou.

Antonis Foniadakis in his “In Memoriam Superbia”, showed his preoccupation with the hazards of the eco-system, focusing particularly on the birds. His piece, was an exuberant, melodramatic “extravaganza” with poetry recited live, lots of stuffed (!) birds on stage, naked dancers and lots of panting and heart-beats heard out loud with the help from a microphone put against the chest of the dancers. The performers, actual or ex-members of the Ballet of the Lyon Opera, were remarkably good. Ecology sensitive “In Memoriam Superbia”, colourful as it was, exceeded its time.