ABOUT | U(R)TOPIAS ACADEMY OF CHOREOGRAPHY

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ABOUT | U(R)TOPIAS ACADEMY OF CHOREOGRAPHY -

/ THE IDEA

The lack of possibilities for the academic training of choreographers in Greece, the need for artists to spend more time in research and the desire to create and experiment freely without necessarily arriving at results, was the trigger to create a type of an Academy that would inspire and provide knowledge and creative experience on this art form.

With this in mind, the main goal of U(R)TOPIAS Academy of Choreography is the collaboration with young professional choreographers interested in cultivating their skills in the field of composition and choreography. Each choreographer is invited to create their own personal utopia, their own no-place and present it as a choreographic work. The aim is to showcase the emblematic sites of Eleusis through the site-based works of the choreographers, creating a new map of the city of Eleusis.

/ ABOUT THE ACADEMY

U(R)TOPIAS Academy of Choreography is an initiative of Patricia Apergi and Aerites Dance Company. It started in December 2021, in the context of Moving Europe programme of 2023 Eleusis European Capital of Culture and completed its first cycle in July 2023. The second cycle of the Academy started in December 2023 and is implemented under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan Greece 2.0, with funding from the European Union - NextGenerationEu.

The program of the Academy is structured in cycles of two years each. In the first year, the emerging choreographers, selected after an open call, develop a work in progress in dialogue with the city of Elefsina, which they present to the public in the form of open sharing.

In the second year, six of the choreographers of the first year are selected, who, developing their work and their connection with the city, present it in a promenade in the public space of Elefsina, completing the cycle of the program in a festive way.

Throughout the two-year programme and in parallel with the development of their work, the participating artists attend creative seminars with invited mentors from Greece and abroad, while they are offered a 10-day residency in Elefsina, thus giving them the opportunity for thorough and meaningful research.

/ THE THEME OF U(R)TOPIAS AS THE COMMON “PLACE” OF THE PROJECT

The Academy’s name is inspired by the word “Utopia,” which is defined as the ideal place to live. The term was coined from ancient Greek, where “οὐ” stands for “not” and “τόπος” stands for place. Joined, the two words compose “utopia,” i.e., the place that doesn’t exist. The Academy of Choreography is here to redefine this place, with the main goal of establishing today’s utopia, through the knowledge of the past.

Utopia transforms to U(R)TOPIAS, self-defining its existence through the Anglo-Saxon prefix “ur,” which means ancient, primitive, original and lending this name to the entire project. As a new manifesto, U(R)TOPIAS is presented in Eleusis, a city with a rich history and heritage, introducing the art of choreography to the public.

/ ABOUT ELEUSIS

Elefsina is considered one of the most important sanctuaries of the ancient world. The Eleusinian Mysteries were mystical ceremonies held every year in September, in honor of Demeter, the goddess of agriculture and her daughter Persephone, which lasted for over 2000 years. The myth of Persephone served for the ancient world as a metaphor for the changing of the seasons, transition and rebirth. During the Mysteries, man becomes one with nature, experiencing its greatest mystery, the mystery of life and death.

In modern times, Elefsina is becoming the predominant industrial centre of Greece. The anthropogeography of the city is the result of the concentration of industry in the area. The refugees of the Disaster of Asia Minor in 1922 were the first major mixture with the native population and radically changed the demographic structure and mentality of the inhabitants. This would be followed by internal immigrants from all parts of Greece, giving the city its multicultural character.

The labor movements since the beginning of the 20th century have made the city a reference point for labor demands in Greece. Environmental problems and the efforts of the inhabitants to protect the environment are particularly intense in the same period. Elefsina is identified with the working class, with the working man as a vector of development and culture.

Just as in modern times the city is shaped by immigrants/workers, so in ancient times the city worshipped an immigrant goddess. Demeter arrives in Eleusis when she experiences the loss of her daughter and seeks ways to heal herself. She becomes a servant in the king's palace. It is perhaps because of this relationship with the immigrant and the servant/employee that the Eleusinian Mysteries were the only ceremony in antiquity open to all people, regardless of origin, gender or social class.

Elefsina is a city of immigrants and refugees. From the agricultural to the post-industrial revolution, it tells 4000 years of history of man moving from the search for a better tomorrow and creating it with his own hands.