Closing night of the Festival music and dance by the sea!
The Timeless Body – Transformations in Time, Space, and Matter
Butoh workshop with live music
The body is an open field, a natural landscape that bears the changes of seasons, the weight of events, and the vibrations of time. It is a substance that never lies, a matter in constant transformation, persisting in its existence through its borrowed nature. In this workshop, the body is approached not as something owned but as an eternally unborn possibility that shifts according to the moment, the role, or the story.
Through Butoh techniques, we explore the concept of time: how the past and future converge into the “here and now,” how the body becomes a vessel of the “elsewhere and otherwhen,” transcending age and stereotypes. We will work with undulating breath, the dialogue between flesh and bones, and rhythms that defy the extremes of the minimal and the maximal, the tragic and the comic.
Our goal is to free the body from its limits and create a timeless space of expression where age and distinctions dissolve, leaving room for transformation, beauty, and trust. Through organic warm-ups, dynamic stances, improvisation exercises, and Butoh techniques, the workshop culminates in a collective performance, a mirror of the timeless essence of existence.
OPEN PRESENTATION
We invite you to the open presentation of the workshop “The Timeless Body – Transformations in Time, Space, and Matter” by Vicky Filippa and Alex Mitros on Sunday 20/07 at 17:30 at Akropoditi Dance and Performing Arts Centre.
(Free entrance)
Level: All
Ages: 17+
Photo credit:
Vicky Filippa, a dancer, choreographer, and teacher of Japanese contemporary Butoh, pioneers radical practices and aesthetics of the genre in Greece while collaborating with international artists. Her vision focuses on developing a new vocabulary of movement and stagecraft under the title Quantum Body. Since 2008, she has been systematically teaching, directing, and choreographing, with her works presented in Greece and abroad. In 2015, she founded Quantum Body Athens Butoh Dance Group, now one of the largest Butoh communities worldwide, with a professional division of 20 dancers. The group operates independently, supported by its members and audience.
Alongside her artistic pursuits, Vicky holds a degree in Mathematics from the University of Crete and a master’s in Bioinformatics. She has worked as a researcher at the Academy of Athens and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the Medical School of Athens. In December 2021, she published her first poetry book, “The Girl in the Wooden Dress.”
Alex Mitros is a composer, performer, and music producer. Initially earning a scholarship to the School of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens, he soon turned his focus entirely to music, which has been his passion since childhood. Starting his career as a performer, Alex has been working as a music producer and composer in theater since 2022. His work explores diverse musical genres, leading to bold and unconventional compositions and performances.
He has collaborated with directors including: Federico Romani (Seeking the Lost Paradise, 2025) Atsushi Takenuchi (Frequency in Motion, 2025) Vicky Filippa (En-Grave-INK, Venice 2024; dARTs, Amsterdam 2024 and December 2024) Tasos Bekiaris (Saragine, Arroyo Theater, 2022) Angela Brouskou (Eumenides, Elefsina 2023 European Capital of Culture; Medea Material, BIOS, 2024).
Since 2020, Alex has also been pursuing a Psychology degree with a scholarship at Deree – The American College of Greece.
Closing night of the Festival, dedicated to Rock n’ Roll, music and dance by the sea!
Music selections: Terry
Open Jam – Improvisation in movement and sound led by Niki Stergiou.
We invite you to an improv jam – an open space for practice, exploration and experimentation – to move and converse through dance and music.
The jam is open to everyone, musicians and dancers, regardless of movement experience, to create a musical-kinetic improvisation together, with free participation.
Greece
KoYaMan is a musical group consisting of oud (Kostas Tsarouchis), Percussion set (Yannis Rizopoulos), Kanun (Manolis Christodoulou). The influences of the group are from the traditional music of Greece and the wider region of the eastern Mediterranean. But what characterizes the personality of the band is the use of electric and electronic instruments (pedals, loops, samples and electronic sounds from pads) that create a psychedelic patchwork that sometimes refers to rock and sometimes to electronic (drum n base, darkwave, dub) soundscapes. Also, characteristic are the bold arrangements in, sometimes, strict musical forms, which are supported in such a way that they create a pleasant impression on the listener. The comfort and humour in the band’s on-stage appearances along with all the above form the final personality of the band and create the ‘persona’ of KoYaMan. In the one year that the band exists, they have already performed in big stages and festivals among Greece and Istanbul. They have also released a mockumentary (https://youtu.be/p3Q0ROdG96w?si=Vwm-et7fn2aEJ84T) which outlines the band and are in the process of recording their first album.
https://www.youtube.com/@koyamanband
Closing night of the Festival, dedicated to the celebration of the 10th anniversary of Akropoditi DanceFest 2023.
Will include:
Film-tribute to the 9th Festival, enriched with interviews from the participants and contributors by Vangelis Jannis.
Dance – a way to exist
33 people of dance, talk to us about dance.
Audiovisual Material from previous festivals.
The evening will end with a party with plenty of music and dancing.
Music selections SERATONIA
Tour Offer
HISTORICAL TOUR OF THE ERMOUPOLIS TEXTILE MUSEUM
Located in a narrow street in the old industrial zone of Ermoupolis is hidden one between the 68 factories that the capital of the Cyclades had during its glorious industrial past.
It’s the “Zisimatos Bros” textile factory, remained as it was on the day it stopped its production; a unique sample of the industrial heritage of Syros.
The “Hermoupolis Heritage” is proud to help the restoration and the real resurrection of this fantastic place.
The old factory, after several years of hard works, has been restored, and actually is offered to the visitor for a short imaginary travel through the time. Passing through the old main entrance door, we can “discover” the traces of the workers life, all the commercial activities in the factory which developed, produced and manufactured material, and finally learn about the miracle of the textile industry that flourished in Ermoupolis in the end of 19th century and in the begging of the 20th century.
The learning, through reflection on doing, begins with a strange way: we enter to the factory with a lantern in hand as they did the workers, many years ago every morning in order to start their working day. The guide welcomes the visitors wearing the typical worker uniform and he makes an introduction to the past based on oral and written memories of 40 employees, till 1986, the date that the factory ceased its operation.
Then, the visitors they wear also the typical worker uniform, they fill in the work card, as the workers did in the past, and they taste the traditional workers packed lunch brought from home. During the tour, the senses are activated through the sound, as the old diesel engine in the paint shop starts to operate, they are listened to the sewing machines gasping, and they even smell everywhere the “scent” of time passed by seeing the threads “frozen” in the looms!
All the above contribute to approaching by a pleasant way history and culture through an entertaining process that ends up gathering all the “visitors-workers” around a wooden table where they taste the packed lunch made by traditional local products.
Starting time: 19:30
Duration of the tour: 60′
Book a tour: https://www.ticketservices.gr/event/hermoupolis-heritage/
USA
“To The Left of Center” celebrates our quirks. In a series of four sections the dance explores individuality along with community playfulness and support. It is a witty display of experimentation within time and space. We are reminded not to take ourselves to seriously but to make it fun along the way.
Credits:
Choreographers: Cathy Allen, Lexee Howes and Keely Drace
Music: Sophie Cheeseman, Max Richter (Vivaldi), Sebastien Roux (Quatuor: III. Presto), Climbing Poe Tree (Breath Box), Ola Szmidt (Road Less Traveled)
Dancers: Sophie Camp, Keely Drace, Kristina Hakobyan, Lexee Howes, Mayra Munos, Niyah Pratt, Teddy Richard, Nadia Roberts
Duration: 15 min.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/D-HAtUrRWBQ
Greece
Ο καινούργιος δίσκος των los tre με τίτλο “Free spirit” μόλις κυκλοφόρησε.
Οι Los Tre μετράνε 11 χρόνια ζωής και μετά από 6 κυκλοφορίες και πάρα πολλές εμφανίσεις ανά την Ελλάδα θεωρούνται πλέον ένα από τα πιο hot ονόματα της instrumental αθηναϊκής σκηνής. Η μουσική τους είναι μια μίξη από ήχους της δυτικής Αφρικής, της λατινικής Αμερικής, της παραδοσιακής μας μουσικής, της funk, τoυ jazz αυτοσχεδιασμού και της ψυχεδέλειας των 70’s. Το live των Los Tre χαρακτηρίζεται από την εκρηκτικότητά του, την ελευθερία του.
Founded in 2012, Los tre, started as a jazz-funk guitar trio, but the direction of their music shifted through the years. Los tre’s music is a combination of music traditions around the globe such as West-African, Cuban, Ethiopian, Arabian and Greek played with electric sound, combined with the psychedelia of the 70’s and the power and freedom of improvisation music.
Angelos Angelides: guitar
Vassilis Papastamopoulos: bass
Leandros Fratnik: drums
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WKK5pic5iE, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl2OLS6qtdE
We invite you to an improv jam – an open space for practice, exploration and experimentation – to move and converse through dance and music.
The jam is open to everyone, regardless of movement experience, and to musicians, to create a musical-kinetic improvisation together.
The open jam will be led by Konstantinos Gerardos.
Turkey
“WE” draws inspiration from Anatolian esoterism on one hand, and from contemporary philosophy on the other hand, questioning the concepts of “unity in multitude”, “empathy”, “universal ethics”.
Who counts as human? Whose lives count as lives? And, finally, what makes for a grievable life? Despite our differences in location and history, my guess is that it is possible to appeal to a “we”, for all of us have some notion of what it is to have lost somebody…Let’s face it.
Judith Butler, Precarious Life
In “we”, three male dancers in the performance space alternately move through series of trio movement forms in close and constant physical contact, dual action dialogues, and moments of individual outbursts of energy. They dig deep into their memories and bodies striving to explore what binds us together. They tirelessly search for unity in multiplicity while re-enacting and re-staging their experiences of communion and conflict, tenderness and violence, strength and vulnerability, and trauma and healing along the way.
* “WE” was produced for the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet – Modern Dance Ensemble Istanbul (MDTist) and is still in the MDTist repertoire. With our endless thanks to them for their support.
Open discussion and Q&A with the contributors and the audience will follow.
Credits
Created with and performed by: Bedirhan Dehmen, Canberk Yıldız, Cem Yıldız, Mihran Tomasyan
Concept and Choreography: Bedirhan Dehmen
Music: Cem Yıldız
Lighting Design: Kerem Çetinel
Costumes: Günsu Sarı
Lights: Melis Karaman
Social Media: Planning Ponte Dijital
Management: Caféturc Music & Arts
Production: Biz Platform
“WE” was presented:
In Turkey:
Istanbul Modern Art Museum, Basilica Cistern (İstanbul), Fulya Sanat Merkezi (Istanbul. As part of Intercultural Dialogue Day, organized by Istanbul State Opera and Ballet, Modern Dance Ensemble), Moda Sahnesi (Istanbul), Bosphorus University, Karşıyaka Opera and Theatre (Izmir), Tiyatro D22 (Istanbul), Saint Bedros Armenian Church in Gaziantep, Antiphellos Antique Theater in Kas, old byzantine monument the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul, Archeology Museum in Sanliurfa.
Abroad:
Maxim Gorki Theater (Berlin. As part of Voicing Resistance Festival), Suzanne Dellal Center (Tel Aviv. As part of Tel Aviv Summer Dance Festival), Les Halles de Schaerbeek (Brussels. As part of Europalia Arts Festival)
Supported by Anna Lindh Foundation
Duration: 50 min.
Τrailer: https://youtu.be/6uGVVTarHSE
Dancer-choreographer-director-acamedician.
Until 2007, member of Boğaziçi Performing Arts Ensemble.
Danced, choreographed, and/or directed in: Monday in the Sun (2008), Human Writes (2008, The Forsythe Company), Oneness (2010), Off Course (2010, Meg Stuart & Damaged Goods), WE (2014), The Eternal Spring (2015), Fullmoon (2015), Mecnun ve Leyla (2017), The Ballerina (2018), Marathon (2018), Bahr (2021), Aridu (2021).
Bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Sociology, Boğaziçi University.
PhD degree in Dramaturgy, Istanbul University.
Associate professor at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Contemporary Dance Department.
Teaches at Koç University as guest lecturer.
Founded Biz Platform in 2021, a platform for co-production/co-labor.
Acknowledged as a “Modern Time Troubadour”, Cem Yildiz graduated from the Istanbul Technical University State Conservatory. Having a prolific career with solo works, series/film soundtracks and collaboration with the international hit Acid Arab, Cem Yıldız has performed in world-famous electronic music festivals and stages in Turkey and Europe, like Montreux Jazz Festival and Sonar Barcelona.
In “WE”, Cem Yildiz, the renowned musician who distinctly re-interprets the Anatolian aşık (troubadour) tradition by introducing psychedelic and acid folk elements, joins and guides the djem (alevi-bektashi ritual) with his electro-acoustic musical universe.
Japan
This is an experiment to apply ancient Japanese theatre methods in search of radical contemporary performing art. Tearing off unnecessary decorations, it reveals the raw, naked, and rich reality of life with the presence of the sound and body with an extremely simplified setting, one violin and one body.
The musician does not rely on the melody but rather primordial energy of the sound itself, subtle variations of each texture of the sounds and the vitality of each stroke of the violin which create abstract and tactile sounds that vibrate the space and penetrate into the skin of the dancer and the audience.
The dancer does not rely on the storyline nor numerous flowing body lines of movements, but rather the presence of the body itself. The movement is extremely subtle as if each cell and nerve are dancing instead of muscles.
The perception of time and space is deconstructed. The movement of the dancer is the continuity of the discontinuous moments. As a result, it transforms our daily sense of space as well.
And ultimately the silence behind the sound, stillness behind the movement is going to be revealed, inviting audiences to the primordial ground from which all sounds and movements emerge.
Credits
Dance: Motoya Kondo
Music: Hoshiko Yamane
The performance has been shown in Köln, TenriJapanisch-Deutsche Kulturwerkstatt, in September 2022
Duration: 40 min.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/edQzBURN9g4
Born in Nagoya, Japan, choreographer, dancer, and co-founder of Motimaru Dance Company. From 2005 he had been studying butoh with Yoshito Ohno, son of Kazuo Ohno and worked as his assistant. After 2010 he has started field work researches of local and traditional dances in Japan, India, Nepal, Spain, and Bali, studied Balinese dance with AgunAnom Putra, I Made Djimat, and Ida Bagus Oka Wirjana. Since 2008, he has been immersed in the practice and study of Eastern contemplative traditions, particularly following the Tibetan traditions, and bridging between contemporary art practices and the age old wisdom.
He has been performing and teaching in: Venezia Biennale 2010, 9th International Choreography Competition “No Ballet”, International Dance Festival Lucky Trimmer 2016, Hildesheim University, Leipzig University, Academy of Media Arts Cologne, etc., Europe, Asia, Australia in over 35 cities.
Japanese classically trained violinist and composer. Being highly evaluated by the legend Edgar Froese, she joined as a member of Tangerine Dream since 2011. She started classical training at 4 years old, graduated from Aich Prefecture University of Art and Music with the Master of Fine Art for the violin, and after, graduated for Diploma in the violin in University of Music and Theater in Rostock in Germany.
She has been working on her solo projects as well as with others in many different fields such as Jane Birkin, Library Tapes, Masayoshi Fujita, Picture Palace Music, etc. As a composer, she is working with Decca Publishing. Her album was released from 1631 Recordings.
