MINTATI
Mintati is a new choreographic work by Tzeni Argyriou that premiered at Athens Epidaurus Festival 3rd&4th of July 2024.
In her recent works and research, Tzeni Argyriou has been treating dance as an expression of the human need for contact and as a means of reconnecting with nature and the community –the already-existing one and the one created on spot at each gathering. She is inspired by the legacy of traditional and popular Greek dances as well as contemporary choreographic practices, and she assigns a central role to the relationship between dance and live music.
Photo © Karol Jarek
Can dance express the problems, the questions, and the need of modern humans for sociability today? Dancers and musicians shape the visual landscape, as they create a record of sounds and movements bringing memories of dances from the depths of time but also from the present, and they gradually widen the concentric circles of a collective celebration.
Can we invent new dances to express us and new rituals to unite us? What would such a festivity look like? Could we all ‘lend a hand’ in creating it? The MINTATI project was born in the light of these questions and thoughts, putting at the centre the concepts of community, collectivity, and solidarity.
“In times torn by wars and disasters, at a moment when lack of hope and fear for tomorrow has almost paralyzed us, Tzeni Argyriou seeks a way to connect, a celebration to unite, a dance that will carry both our past and our future into its DNA, a ceremony to mourn and to enable us to be reborn; and, along with her team, they generously share this precious material with the community created each time with the performance’s audience; they listen, they integrate and they reach out; and this is, as far as I know, the deepest political action artists can take in the actual historical moment.”
Christiana Galanopoulou – Art historian, dramaturge
Photos © Karol Jarek
Concept – Choreography Tzeni Argyriou
Collaborating visual artist – Set designer Vassilis Gerodimos
Original music composition, performance, sound editing on stage Giorgos Gargalas, Nikos Tsolis
Lighting design Nysos Vasilopoulos
Costumes Vassilia Rozana
Dramaturgy Christiana Galanopoulou
Performed by Nancy Stamatopoulou, Ermis Malkotsis, Ioanna Paraskevopoulou, Sotiria Koutsopetrou, Despina Sanida-Krezia, Tasos Nikas, Sevasti Zafeira, Luke Macaronas, Vitoria Kotsalou
Assistant to the Choreographer Fotini Stamatelopoulou
Traditional drum Thanassis Makos
Assistant to Set Designer Ioanna Plessa
Traditional Dance Instructor Nikos Panagiotou
Management – Executive Production Delta Pi
Production Athens Epidaurus Festival & AMORPHY
WITH THE SUPPORT OF GREEK MINSTRY OF CULTURE
Tzeni Argyriou and the team would like to wholeheartedly thank all the participants at the research workshops for their contribution to the research and to the performance.
Photo © Nysos Vasilopoulos
https://aefestival.gr/festival_events/midati/?lang=en