What do you suffer from? From Existence

Performance, Amalgama Space 2018, Athens, Synergeio, Limassol 2018, Supported by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture.

The new work by Maria Gorgia and Amalgama dance company explores the eternal issue of humanity’s refusal to accept Death, the decay of the body, and the essential, “cyclical” relationship between Life and Death. Poetry, and particularly the personality of the significant Greek poet Nikos Karouzos, serves as the choreographer’s main source of inspiration, intertwining and reigniting her own concerns about the body’s impermanence, as well as the unanswered, haunting questions regarding Death and Existence. Excerpts from his interviews (“Interviews of Nikos Karouzos”, Ikaros Editions) and his poetry are used to highlight the essence of a rare individual who did not bend, did not conform to any system, and passed away without the recognition he deserved from the state. The Amalgama space on Menandrou Street evokes scenes reminiscent of a swimming pool. While the sea is a central element in Karouzos’s poetry, here bottled water is used, creating contrasts, symbolism, and resonances with some of the poet’s statements: “I want you a little crazy, to escape those bottled meanings of philosophical dialectics, to escape. Life does not want a cork.” Audience members are again invited to “conspire” with the performers, following their instructions, which in some scenes include participating in the arrival process to this unique theater-temple. The lead performer, the young and dynamic Daphne Stathatou, embodies the “body of Karouzos’s soul”—the youthful, fiery body struggling with “the trap of existence.” Karouzos, seen by the choreographer as a passionate, tormented child, is complemented by two additional Karouzos figures: the soprano Leto Messini, who sings, acts, and moves, and the choreographer herself. Together, they form a dramaturgical whole, a playful interplay of body, voice, operatic singing, and objects. The choice to have women perform the poet’s “male” lines is intentional, reflecting Gorgia’s continued exploration of gender, with female performers delivering the poet’s masculine discourse in several scenes. Selected arias from Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion” are interwoven with Karouzos’s poems, adapted by the choreographer. As in her previous work “The Solitaire Ring of the Tower”, some scenes feature amateur performers, introducing elements of raw realism and blurring the lines between reality and performative representation. Concept / Choreography / Direction: Maria Gorgia, Performers: Daphne Stathatou, soprano Leto Messini, Maria Gorgia, Texts: Excerpts from “Interviews” and poems by Nikos Karouzos, Text Selection & Adaptation of Poetry for Songs and Texts: Maria Gorgia, Dramaturgical Supervision: Miranda Vatikioti, Voice Acting: Angeliki Karystinou, Costumes & Scenographic Supervision: Konstantinos Zamanis, Lighting: Periklis Mathiellis, Music: St. “Matthew Passion” by Johann Sebastian Bach, Additional Participants: Stella Atzemi, Marina Babalí, Iro Tsarna and others, Photography: Angeliki Svoronou, Vangelis Aggelakis, Press & Communications: Aris Asproulis.