“A praise for Greece?
How many ‘Opa!’ do we need to whisper until we get up?
How much should we dope ourselves until we feel nationally proud?
How much history should we read until we smile?
After how many generations does the blood (holy and sacred) turn into water?
Does the dance of the post Athenians end in clubbing Trance or in the Cretan maleviziotis?
Are we interested in the past so that we can live the present?
Whose children are we?”
Choreography: Patricia Apergi
Music composition: Dimosthenis Grivas
Set-Costumes: Konstantinos Zamanis
Lighting Design: Nikos Vlasopoulos
Dramaturgy: Georgina Kakoudaki
Assistant choreographer: Dimitra Mitropoulou
Photography: Tasos Vrettos
Design of promotional Material: Kallina Kyratsouli
Performers-Creative Contributors: Elias Chatzigeorgiou, Nontas Damopoulos, Chara Kotsali, Maro Marmarinou, Dimokritos Sifakis.
Aerites Dance Company presents its production d.opa, which holds our Greek ‘national dancing’ identity as its central theme.
As we deal with contemporary dance, we want to run back to our dance traditions, so as to enrich our kinetic vocabulary and search why street dance may remind us of the Cretan pentozalis and what that means for us.
Does our kinetic language obey to a genetic code influenced by our history? Is there a dance DNA? And if so, where and in which ways is it translated?
Besides, the performance aims to examine what is left from the past, what is mixed with the present reality, how the complex Greek-European identity is created, how is our daily life outlined, how all these functions as vivid memory carriers, and finally, can all this be physically danced?
The company and d.OPA! (dopamines of post-Athenians), were chosen by the General Administration for New Generations to represent Greece at the 14th Biennale of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean (City of Skopje 3th-12th September 2009). d.OPA went on to come in 1st position, judged by a panel of industry professionals inclusive of creative directors from important international festivals, in order to take part in the 8th Platform for Contemporary Dance at the prestigious Megaro Moussikis in Athens, June 2010. Finally, in October 2010, Aerites Dance Company was chosen to be in the ten finalist companies for Aerowaves festival in London and will go on to tour in various international festivals.
3/2013 : Festival Les Hivernales, Avignon, France
9/2011: Ted X Academy, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece
9/2011: Demetria Festival, Society for Macedonian Studies, Thessaloniki,Greece
9/2011: Aleksander Moisiu Theatre, Albania Dance Meeting, Dyrrachium, Albania
7/2011: Full moon festival, Pyhasalmi, Finland
7/2011: Kalamata International Dance Festival, Greece
3/2011: Cankarjev Dom, Aerowaves Spring Forward, Ljubljana, Slovenia
3/2011: Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt, Germany
2/2011: Arc for Dance Festival, Dipylon Theater, Athens, Greece
1/2011: Resolutions! Festival, The Place, London, UK
11/2010: Citiy to City Cabaret, Zagreb Dance Center, Kroatia
7/2010: 8th International Dance Festival, Gazi, Athens, Greece
6/2010: 4th Dance Platform, Athens Concert Hall, Athens, Greece
11/2009: Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, Athens, Greece
9/2009: 14th Biennale of young artists of Europe and the Mediterranean, Opera of Skopje, Skopje, Macedonia.
Aerites Dance Company is funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
TIME OUT - Lyndsey Winship
“A strong programme tonight, starting with Aerites Dance Company from Greece, who take on the theme of a national dancing identity. From Dionysian debauchery to urban b-boys, the dancers’ bodies betray ticks and memories of movement from the past, but d.opa (dopamines of postAthenians) is refreshingly rooted in the now. We get a picture of funloving, thrill-seeking, good times – with a sinister edge. While a gang gyrate on the dancefloor, a spotlight is thrown on a man with a noose around his neck, and you can’t help but think about the country’s recent crisis. The dancers are great, with loose-limbed precision, edgy energy and punchy accents. A Greek audience might pick up on more nuances around the theme, but we can all see this is an assured, original piece of work.”
DANCE & CULTURE - Lucinda Al-Zoghbi, University of Surrey
“Darting across the stage in brief entrances and exits, Aerites Dance Company catapults its Aerowaves piece d.opa! into the stratosphere. Dancers parade a white flag around the stage and roll about in money, evoking powerful images of national identity. At times this piece is hilarious while at other moments it is shocking. A Greek national tune is sombrely sung a capella before morphing into the kind of disco-pop kitsch that evokes Eurovision. With a brush of a broom, however, the kitsch is swept away. A spilt stage scene provides two very different narratives as sexual desire leads to manipulation, and is juxtaposed with the morbidity of a man stood on a chair with a noose around his neck. An unnecessary excess of costume changes but an impressive performance nevertheless.”