KINDERGARTEN

Performance, Banglades 2016–2017, Athens, Produced by Amalgama.

“We teach people to remember, we never teach them to grow up.” – Oscar Wilde
The woman facing an existential crisis in “At the Edge of the Spring Board” began to explore the deep waters of childhood. The immaturities of the era of bailouts, referenda, and punitive behaviors started to resemble the behaviors of the child-adult, the wounded child who can only in turn wound the next generation or their closest ones. Drawing inspiration from the choreographer’s own childhood, alongside Freud and his insightful theories on child development and narcissism, Alice Miller’s work on repressed childhood traumas that produce immature, problematic behaviors in adults, and Christopher Lasch’s observation that narcissistic disorders have arguably become the primary affliction of recent decades, the new piece “Kindergarten” began to take shape. The narrative is a blend of reality and fiction, composed of autobiography, socio-political reality, and imagination. In a space that mentally transforms into various internal settings (bar, interview studio, home, conference room, kindergarten, dance studio, and more), a woman regresses and relives childhood alongside other child-adults, oscillating between fantasy and reality, between the blurred image of herself and others, play and seriousness, her hypertrophic Ego and her autistic relationship with the Egos of others. Her Superego is merely another manifestation of childhood narcissism. The work includes interactive scenes with the audience, who are given instructions to follow during the performance. Concept / Choreography / Direction / Scenography: Maria Gorgia, Performers: Sania Strimbakou, Timos Zehas, Myrto Delimichali, Maria Gorgia, Quotations: Oscar Wilde, Texts: Maria Gorgia, Assistant Choreographer: Myrto Delimichali, Sound Design: Maria Gorgia, Photography: Angeliki Svoronou, Giannis Misouridis, Press & Communications: Aris Asproulis.