Dance / The 11th Dance Festival is coming to Stegi

Days of dance, music and adrenaline are coming with this year’s Stegi Contemporary Dance Festival returning for its 11th year, from 23 February to 3 March, bringing the audience together with choreographers, performers, composers and musicians who will provide an impressive parallel program in the company of renowned international names.

The main program of this year’s ODD (Onassis Dance Days) contains five unique dance performances by five outstanding artists: Christiana Kosiari, Panos Malaktos, Xenia Konchylaki, Ioanna Paraskevopoulou and Miet Warlop. The Festival introduces to the Greek audience the visual artist Miet Warlop from Belgium who presents “One Song” (February 24 and 25), a dance performance that is both a live concert and a sports marathon where fifteen musicians perform the roles of athletes in a choreographed concert , they play the same song, each time differently but with undiminished passion, until the repetition gives it a transcendent feel. Also, this year’s event reintroduces to us the most up-and-coming Greek choreographer, Ioanna Paraskevopoulou, who in turn presents us with two of her sound-kinetic works: the award-winning “MOS” and her new project entitled “All of My Love” referred to in classic Led Zeppelin song, in which the two performers on stage revive and recreate movie scenes and moving images.

The notable premieres

Three more new plays are premiering from February 23rd to 25th. First the “Slamming” by Xenia Konchylakis, with George Poulios in the music, in which the anarchic movement of the concert crowd turns into a dance. X. Konchylaki’s choreographic trio looks for the emotional nuances in the aggressive crowd, reconstructing the ritual that is hidden behind the apparently collective rage. There is also “We all need therapy” by Panos Malaktos in collaboration with Die Arkitekt, where a panic attack becomes the occasion to create a confessional group therapy environment in electronic rave sounds. The choreographer blurs the lines between electronic dance, artistic performance, theatrical performance and experiential confession, actively engaging the audience to share their own story. And finally there is the “Runway» by Christiana Kosiari with Jan Van Angelopoulos on sound design, where a female body runs under relentless pounding on a treadmill. A woman obsessively indulges in cross-country running, a practice of health as well as torture, as the treadmill is used as a tool of well-being as well as an existential prison.

There will also be a valuable masterclass with Damien Jalet for the wider artistic community (choreographers, dancers, performers, dramatists, etc.) on February 23 at Galaxy Studio. The multi-experienced Jalet will talk about choreography and its relationship with music through videos and materials from his personal archive. The masterclass will also include kinesiology, with participants participating in research and practice.