Mama 2 U

Performance, Beton 7, Athens, 10–23 December 2009, Production Amalgama.

The work of the Amalgama Dance Company investigates and draws inspiration from theories of the social construction of Gender and its performative realization. Its main axis of influence is the analyses of Judith Butler, in which the concept of Gender is theorized as a performative enactment—that is, as a social drama that crystallizes over time through the performative reiteration of bodily practices. The dramaturgy of the work unfolds through a composition of movement-based actions (both dance-oriented and drawn from everyday life) and spoken text, highlighting the problematic nature and the inability of biological Sex to exist autonomously—either as a concept or, to a certain extent, as an enacted result. Four dancers and a dominant female figure—the actress Irini Igglesi—develop bodily practices through which their social and biological genders are defined, redefined, and ultimately subverted. Concept / Choreography: Maria Gorgia, Music Curation: Stavros Apostolatos, Dramaturgy: Maria Gorgia, Lighting Design: Lefteris Pavlopoulos, Set & Costumes: Asi Dimitrolopoulou, photography: Angeliki Svoronou.