Ludwigshafen – naturally. Greek choreographer Patricia Apergi creates a dark portrayal of her generation in her new work. Ludwigshafen’s audience had the pleasure of watching the premiere of ‘Cementary’ in Germany.
It came face to face with a movement vocabulary that is as unique as it is impressive, a vocabulary that places Patricia Apergi as one of the most thrilling new choreographers of the Millennial generation.
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Patricia Apergi takes a clear sociopolitical stand, when she places the misery of her generation in the hands of its participants, instead of blaming the conditions in an economically suffering nation. However it’s not the what, but the how, which is wildly impressive in her statement. This is what political dance theatre looks like today.

“Using strong and expressive movement, the dancers attempt to liberate themselves from the oppressive lack of a future. Even the sensual musical accompaniment of strings and piano by Vasili Mantzoukis, possibly reminisces of a faded memory, one that gets deformed and restructured with the electronic sounds.
Melancholy can become so beautiful!

Impressive visuals of the passage of time
It is often necessary to experience great pain in order to produce great art. The validity of this truth was witnessed and more importantly felt during the opening of the Ludwigshafen international festival ‘Nach Athen!’ on Wednesday. Greek choreographer Patricia Apergi was able to create an important artistic document about the current state of living that countless people in that country have been experiencing since the start of this economic crisis.
What is critical is that Apergi’s work can be applied metaphorically for similar situations around the world. Poverty and wreckage, the lack of faith in the future and in hope, and the experience of being forced to develop crazy strategies for survival; all these elements are characteristic of the nation that received the sun, the sea and the mythology as gifts from the gods. ‘
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This work earns its status for its footwork and the management of the dancers within the space. The dancers rely on the basic values of classical ballet working in the first or third position. Sometimes they stand in pairs, sometimes alone, and other times they organize in Pas de Trois or Pas de Quatre. The form of classical ballet is recalled in a near-sensationalist way, and then gets restructured so that it becomes somewhat of proclamation of their inability to dance anymore. The leg barely leaves the ground during an arabesque. The body gets carried around like an exhausted puppet. Amidst all this we also witness the clean image of happiness. Their common laughter – even if it’s bizarre. Memories of the joyful games they used to play. A community. The violin joins the electric guitar and electro beats and together they create a song of protest for those not yet dead.’

Patricia Apergi, director of the company since 2006, is the author of this poetic and intricate work that places the action in an imaginary city of the future, which has survived the crises but where the voices of the survivors arise under the cement. The first images shake the heart of the viewer. The coexistence and struggle of these beings will reveal the most primitive feelings: fear, pleasure, generosity and truth.
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The choreographic vocabulary devised by Apergi, combines the daily gesture with the fluent choreographic phrase, achieving an expressive dance with a strong emotional charge. The bodies of the dancers are of astonishing ductility, they twist like rep- tiles or they snuggle innocently.

It is a reflexion and a critique of the modern era. A purer and lasting contemporary dance!