Clear Midnight

Choreographer’s note

What do we understand as ritual, and what is its dynamic within a diverse community of people? What is the role of violence in such a community coming together, and how is this violence assimilated through rituals?

These questions motivate the choreography that examines the ways in which we coexist in a society, through conventions that are created and performed in common by its members. The continuous reformations of this community, and its transitions from the individual to the group and vice versa shape the dancer’s relations in space and explore the notions of initiation, ceremony, and transcendence.

As a starting point, the choreographer looks back at the time of the greatest dance epidemic in Strasbourg in 1518, relating it to today’s pandemic conditions. The aim is to speak of an ecstatic body that expresses itself in a perpetual cyclical movement, in a vortex (of choreomania), that is constantly reshaped and reconfigured collectively.

The performance takes its title from Walt Whitman's poem "Clear Midnight", and like poetry, it finds itself in-between the real and the imaginary.

Credits

Concept Vangelis Artemis, Yiannis Isidorou, Maria Koliopoulou

Choreography Maria Koliopoulou

Visual installation Vangelis Artemis, Yiannis Isidorou

Dramaturgy consultant Betina Panagiotara

Vocal coaching - Vocal dramaturgy Anna Pagalou

Assistant to the choreographer Evgenia Sigalou

Sound and visual design Yiannis Isidorou

Lighting design Thomas Oikonomakos

Costume design Marios Rammos

Artistic collaboration Mariza Vinieratou

Set construction Thodoris Artemis

Performers Katerina Avramopoulou, Anna Apergi, Konstantina Barkouli, Lia Chamilothori, Vivi Christodoulopoulou, Katerina Gevetzi, Loukiani Papadaki, Dimitra Papathanasiou, Smaragda Vagia

Production manager Cultόpια

Funded by the Ministry of Culture & Sports 

Co-production Athens Epidaurus Festival

Supported by Onassis Cultural Centre

The work premiered 7th June 2021 at the Athens Epidaurus Festival