Solar – En Dynamei Ensemble
Greece
The performance will be followed by an open discussion with the audience.
A meditation on the things that keep us on our feet, addressing the sublime feeling that the “real” movement of different bodies can convey in a state of transcendence.
“Solar” is air, it’s the here-and-now (in other words, the future), it’s a feast, the earthly touches that are nothing but accidental. “Solar” is joyful; a sun that can light up everything; something you’re doing for the first time.
“Solar” opens up a space for the collective and individual quest for common ground, fostering coexistence and the acceptance of the other, the different, the uncanny, and the incomprehensible. It is a collaborative, hands-on “study” of how acceptance affects our lives, relationships, and happiness – and vice versa.
Drawing material from the thirty members of the En Dynamei Ensemble, we create a score of movement. Building on the specificity of each participant and their diverse perceptions, we create a performance dedicated to existence, an awakening of the deepest life drive.
What is it that allows us to seek, claim, or offer in life?
Each existence has the need to interact, create relationships, move, or connect through a continuous rhythmic process. The world is organized as a complex nervous system with undivided qualities and textures. Every part of this nervous system stretches out toward more life. The world is in constant flux. The world is being created as we speak.
Credits
On Stage:
Stefanos Lentzis, Panos Mantziris, Michalis Dolopoulos, Alekos Hatsios
Artistic Direction: Eleni Dimopoulou
Concept: Vitoria Kotsalou
Texts Creation / Writing: En Dynamei Ensemble
Choreography: Vitoria Kotsalou
Music: Anargyros Deniozos
Set Design: Richard Anthony
Lighting Design: Nysos Vassilopoulos
Text Editing: Vitoria Kotsalou, Sofia Bletsou, Eleni Dimopoulou
Assistant Choreographer: Aris Papadopoulos
Sound Design / Audio Editing: Tanya Jones
With the voices of :
Maria Dachlythra, Eleni Dimopoulos, Margarita Kainada, Theano Konta, Nikos Kyparissis, Dimitris Lyras, Thanos Nanasis, Panos Matziris, Giorgos-Zisis Bilionis, Theano Papavasileiou, Haris Serdari
Production: Onassis Stegi
Duration: 50 min.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/840379796/1f2534edd2
Το έργο παρουσιάστηκε στο πλαίσιο Μ power festival του ιδρύματος Ωνάση το 2023.
En Dynamei Ensemble
En Dynamei Ensemble is a theater group comprised of young artists with and without disabilities, operating since 2008 as a non-profit entity led by artistic director Eleni Dimopoulou. The purpose of the group is to support and facilitate its members to join society as equals, using art as a means of integration. Using the research of new methods of communication as their main tool, the group organizes and presents fully developed artistic proposals in the fields of visual and media arts, theater, dance, and music. En Dynamei Ensemble maintains a collaboration with renowned art professionals and leading institutions in Greece and abroad. The group’s performances have received rave reviews from audiences and critics alike, claiming a spot next to the most groundbreaking works of the Greek artistic production.
https://endynamei-ensemble.gr/
Vitoria Kotsalou
Vitoria Kotsalou is a psychologist, and a self-trained dancer, performer and choreographer based in Athens. Her eclectic training, not bound by one tradition, and constant research on many different disciplines carve out new fields of engagement for dance mediation. As a choreographer and artist, she perceives dance as a way of being, a means of thinking and interacting with the world, and as a tool of connection to the intelligence that governs nature. Vitoria is one of the founding members of the non-profit organization R.I.C.E. and the RSOD Dance School on the island of Hydra. She is a close collaborator of choreographer Michael Klien and a member of En Dynamei Ensemble since 2014. As a choreographer she has composed the works Day out of Time (2017), Mount (2019), Rite of Spring – A Map (2021), Solar (with the En Dynamei Ensemble – 2023), and Bare (2023). As a dancer she has made important collaborations with Androniki Marathaki, Mariella Nestora and Agni Papadeli Rossetou. She teaches dance to children, adults and mixed ability groups, and also choreographs theatre performances. Vitoria approaches dance as a phenomenon that is directly connected to every aspect of society. Her devotion to the possibility of dance as a force for change extends to thinking through movement and coming into contact with an intelligence that exists in (and connects) all living organisms. Drawing inspiration from the study of different artistic practices, philosophical approaches and collaborations, her thinking extends to social choreography through which she simultaneously observes the world and designs works that convey the possibility of changing or expanding our perception.