Dance performances proving a big hit at this year’s Athens Festival
Dance is ranking high on festival-goers’ agendas this summer. Among the Athens Festival’s already sold-out performances is French choreographer Maguy Marin’s “Singspiele,” a solo show to be performed by David Mambouch at the festival’s Pireos 260 venue on June 9 and 10. However, fans of Marin’s work – who is this year making her fifth Athens Festival appearance – can pick up tickets for her latest work, “BiT,” a production which will end its run of performances at the Pireos venue on Thursday. In “BiT,” three men and three women dance to drum beats and electronic sounds in a choreography which is both mournful and full of rage, as well as deeply political.
On June 7 and 8, the Athens Festival hosts the Greek National School of Dance’s Hellenic Dance Company in “Open Frontiers.” The show features works by Akram Khan (“Vertical Road”), Martha Graham (“Panorama”), Pascal Rioult (“Wien”) and Anton Lachky (“No More Fairy Tales”). The production, whose central creative thread is a concern regarding what lies ahead, debuted at the Athens Concert Hall in October last year.
After spending the last 39 years on stage, acclaimed French dancer-choreographer Sylvie Guillem is currently on her final tour with “Life in Progress,” a production featuring choreographies by Mats Ek, William Forsythe, Akram Khan and Russell Maliphant. Featuring the celebrated ballerina, the show will be staged for the second and final time at the Herod Atticus Theater on Thursday.
Another dance highlight this summer is Greek-born choreographer Andonis Foniadakis’s Athens Festival debut. The international artist is set to perform solo show “Priority” on July 27-29 at the Pireos 260 venue. More appearances by Greek artists include Lenio Kaklea, a young, Paris-based choreographer who will present “Margin Release” at Pireos 260 on June 25 and 26, Ioanna Portolou with dancers Cecile Mikroutsikou and Yiannis Nikolaidis in “Forest & Taboo” at Pireos 260 on June 29 and 30, and Greek National School of Dance graduates Angeliki Trombouki and Agni Papadeli-Rossetou in “blank2” and “Blossom” at Pireos 260 on July 7 and 8.
Marking her second appearance at the Athens Festival, French choreographer Catherine Diverres this year presents “Penthesilees,” a work exploring female identity through the story of the Amazon queen, at the Pireos 260 venue on June 13 and 14. Portugal’s Tania Carvalho presents “Weaving Chaos” in her first appearance at the Athens Festival on June 27 and 28 (Pireos 260). The work examines the idea of a never-ending journey through Carvalho’s own take on the Odyssey.
Meanwhile, a group of 20 Vietnamese performers, including acrobats, jugglers, martial artists, street dancers and musicians, present “A O Lang Pho,” a production examining how Vietnamese society moved from rural life to the noise and violence of urban existence. Performances take place on June 30 and July 1 and 2 at the Pireos 260 venue.
For more information on events, go to www.greekfestival.gr.
