choreographic performance for 5 dancers

CHOREOGRAPHER’S NOTE

J. Nigro Sansonese, in his research on the relationship between mythology and human biology, has expressed the theory that the name of Sisyphus is sound-maded and reflects the continuous, long-lasting, sound (Siss ​​/ Phuss) produced by the nose during the inhalation and exhalation. His theory refers to the techniques of the Proto-Indo-European people for breath control, and the repeated inhalation-exhalation cycle is described internally in the myth as the upward movement of Sisyphus and his rock. The title of my work is a structural element of the creation of the performance, and the circularity of breathing is used both choreographically and acoustically, allegorically signifying man’s struggle in Sisyphus. The choreographic language I would say emphasizes the interiority of the dancers and approaching the eternal confrontation of the individual with his own darkness, cultivates a continuous process of revealing the heroic body. The original music of Giorgos Kouvaras, a continuous magma of sound material, wishes to impact the physical essence of the audience. The waved pulse of music not only maintains an apparent momentum, it also seems to want to search deeply in an organic meeting point with the audience. The recorded vocals and yodels that «slide» from time to time in the electro-acoustic synthesis, act as language excavators, as the amazed voices of earth which rise in the silence of the world. Unconscious and mysterious calls that create a sound-space in layers, a place of man’s conciliation with himself, a space of existence’s «speaking». The enigmatic presence of the performer Angelos Skourtis, acts as a dance and choreographic counterpoint and gives to the piece a parallel view and a kaleidoscopic perspective. A body that comes and goes like a ghost, as a transparent presence, a body that appears as an instantaneous shine just before it disappears again. He watches his self-transcription and acts as if he has lived in another person. With the performer’s presence, the individual denies himself because he «sinks» in an unfamiliar nature. Thus, a supernatural reality emerges thanks to him, he feels as if he were a god, he walks in a state of ecstasy, surpassing his own self, like those Gods who he saw walking in his dreams.

ABSTRACT

A myth from the future

The SISS / PHUSS: while you carry time our bodies hold history is not related with the representation of the myth of Sisyphus, it is though a work which is inspired by this mythical form, examining the paradox that is created by the contradiction that exists between the desire of man and the absurd silence of cosmos. In a non placed scenic space, five bodies with sculptural costumes, designed by the visual artist Adonis Volanakis, like waves of an archaic momentum, reveal a world of their fiction. These post-mythological bodies experience in its fullness their unique existence, creating their own world, a neo-structure in terms of constant self-institution, an urban planning of the future. Under the sounds of the electroacoustic music composition of Giorgos Kouvaras, the nanometric circuit of movement that characterizes the choreography progressively leads from the organic energy of the body to the formation of the gesture and submits a hypnotic work with an uninterrupted «aller-retour» kinesiology. There, there is no abandonment. There is no end. There is always a new start. A new beginning, and at the same time a return. The rock is always rolling…

CREDITS

Production: Synthesis 748 Coproduction – Support: Hellenic Ministry of Culture, John F. Costopoulos Foundation, CND-National Dance Centre of France in Paris Concept, Choreography: Spyros Kouvaras Expanded Scenography, Costumes: Adonis Volanakis Music Composition: George Kouvaras Artistic Collaboration: Korina Kotsiri Dancers: Alexandra Rogovska, Margarita Trikka, Angelos Papadopoulos, Angelos Skourtis, Spyros Kouvaras Assistant Choreographer, Dramaturgy: Stella Dimitrakopoulou Lighting Design: Thomas Economacos Visual Material: Yiorgos Bakalis Costumes Making: Dafne Tsakota Communication Manager: Maria Tsolaki