What has changed, what are the developments in your work, since the last interview?

 Since the last interview, the path of my artistic work has not had any major deviation. It is a continuation of the artistic research I have been doing on the relationship between movement and word, where there is always a third party which is the object. I focus on the movement-word-object relationship.

In the last two productions, The Lie and The Rider and the Elephant, there is more detail in the way movement and speech interact. This more detailed elaboration already started in the work What are you suffering from? from existence specifically on some poems by Karouzos, where we worked on how each word relates to the body. I am now continuing to work on this micro-scale, on how movement relates to each word instead of a phrase.

The Rider and the Elephant finally premiered at a festival in Milan (after several postponements due to the pandemic), a festival where we presented The Mattress some years ago. In this festival, there is also a competition where the audience votes for the works they like and we made it to the final.

It’s been a difficult period overall. At the performance of The Rider and the Elephant in Athens, on December 21st, the whole group got infected with covid19. Everyone ( ! ) apart from me. I was sitting a little further away, wearing a good mask near a window. Fortunately everyone went through it lightly. And now we had to postpone the premiere of the new production The Lie due to an outbreak of cases again.

 

 

After a decade of successive crises (economic, social, environmental, health) what changes and developments do you notice have occurred in the contemporary dance scene in Greece and what do you think is missing?

I have not yet thought about how the multiple crises have affected dance exclusively, they have affected all the arts. Most certainly many changes occurred in this past decade, such as the resumption of funding from the Ministry of Culture that had previously stopped.

Now that I think about it, I notice that recently there is a trend of presenting choreographic works for very few performances, which I don’t think was there before. Perhaps it is related to the expense of renting a theatre, which is indeed quite big. Often dance productions are running for only 2-3 performances. Perhaps there is not as much  longing for a dance piece to be performed and appreciated by both the performers and the audience?

Other than that, I notice that there is a tension or anxiety in choreographers and dancers. As if one is trying to do as much as possible, to keep ahead of the other in the employment level. This wasn;t there before either. In dance, that always had less money than other fields, and although now it is better supported proportionately, I sense there is a kind of pressure towards the ‘as much as possible’. An anxiety and insecurity about what will happen next; maybe tomorrow I won’t get paid, maybe tomorrow I won’t be alive. I am aware of this tension and the  lack of creative ease. In any case, I don’t feel that I can talk about the Greek dance scene overall. The truth is that I have seen few dance performances, I am only sharing what I perceive through conversations with choreographers and dancers and my own impression.

Most certainly, at the present moment there is no sense of security. I feel that everything is up in the air, despite having two funded productions that are to be presented. We don’t really know enough about this coronavirus and the health care system is not strong. In fact it is getting worse instead of getting better. It seems like a mountain of problems has accumulated from the current health crisis as well as from the previous ones. There is no trust in the state and no one knows what to believe anymore; an issue that my latest work “The Lie” deals with.

As for what is missing, I would say a more meaningful communication between dance makers. Indeed, there are some festivals where we see each other’s work a bit but there are no frameworks for communication. And I don’t mean the Dance Workers Union and its meetings that deal with labor issues. I’m talking about the core of art, the artistic issues. Of course this lack is not only in dance but also in other art fields. Each one does their own thing and goes to other colleagues’ performances a little bit. There is no actual communication or sense of ease. Of really sharing something; I’m referring both how the dance work is communicated and also in how people interact. I think this phenomenon is particularly acute sinde the unprecedented condition of the pandemic that we are experiencing. Besides, after 15 months of doing nothing, suddenly there was an over-engagement, why? Is there suddenly too much demand for dance? Or is it simply because the projects that were postponed coincided with the next ones that were to be created? There has been an overconsumption both on the part of performers engaging in many projects at the same time and also on the part of spectators watching many shows.

 

 

How might we imagine the landscape of dance in the next ten years?

I will answer in two parts. In the first part how I think it will be and the second how I would like it to be.

For the first part, I don’t think that there will be a structurally different situation in dance,  nor in other areas, in the next ten years. Of course, there are the next generations coming up and developing their own lines. But in general – both in Greece and abroad – the directions in which art evolves are directly linked to the structures that support it. There is a sense of independence of the artists which are then selected or not by some institutions. I argue that the state should support the independent artists. This way independent voices are strengthened without having to enter the private sector. The private sector in the arts (and not only there) has an influence on what happens culturally. They choose and promote artistic forms that are in line with their specific personal preferences. As the presence of the private sector increases it begins to have an effect on the public sector too. As the power of the private sector grows, it influences and affects other institutes in the aesthetic preferences it promotes. E.g. The choices made by the Onassis Foundation influence the choices made from  the Athens Festival also. What I describe is already happening in the present moment and I believe it will expand further in the future, both in Greece and abroad. Perhaps Greek artists are even in a better position than others for now, because of the funding from the Ministry of Culture, and thus they still have some independence. Abroad, as far as I know, there are mainly large grants available, awarded mostly to well known dance companies that are already collaborating with private institutions. Possibly in ten years from now what will happen here would be something similar to what is happening now in England- where independent experimental art is barely supported. How can I put it,  art that is not established is not really supported?

For the second part now, in the next ten years I envision that there will be structures or venues that create incentives for dancers, choreographers and artists to communicate and interact. Some kind of structure that doesn’t follow the familiar format of a framework for younger artists having a go at climbing the ladder of success. A venue  focusing on motivating experimentation instead of frameworks that are all about connections or public relations.

I wonder how the need for artistic sharing can be re-awakened in artists. Similarly to the beginning of the 20th century when artists communicated more. When there were artistic hangouts to exchange creative information and socialise. Like Picasso and his friends or the 60s in the visual arts or the beginning of postmodern dance at Judson Church. This unique atmosphere of  many artists together, dancers, set designers, visual artists, all in one place.

There is no such venue that creates incentives for experimentation. What would it be like for artists to appreciate and trust each other, to have a shared concern for their own artform and for what each can contribute to the field of dance. Finally, do people really want to share with each other? Now that I think about it, this lack is not only met in dance or in the arts but in our society at all levels. Most people are intensely into their individual mode. Perhaps things will continue in this individualistic manner unless something happens nationwide or globally that shakes things up and we don’t all remain in this self-contained detachment we are in now.