Transverse Orientation

Dimitris Papaioannou

The new work by Dimitris Papaioannou is ready to be seen by audiences – the moment shuttered performance venues are able to reopen.

Photo: Julian Mommert

Six minutes and forty-three seconds from the new universe created by Dimitris Papaioannou for his new international co-production titled Transverse Orientation. Four hundred and three seconds of indescribable beauty from a Greek artist whose every work gives rise to a world you want to visit. Watch them here.

Transverse Orientation, the new work by this internationally recognized Greek choreographer of genius, orientates us towards a new source of light, providing us with a beacon to keep our balance and not lose our way. As noted in the six-minute trailer now online, transverse orientation means “keeping a fixed angle on a distant source of light for orientation. A proprioceptive response displayed by moths” The video closes with a phrase by the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi: “Judge a moth by the beauty of the candle.”

“My works do not pre-exist. They come out of nowhere” says Dimitris Papaioannou. “My works evolve during rehearsal, they are not composed beforehand. I prepare material only to kickstart the process – and most of the time, I throw it out. I’ ve resolved to not know what the outcome will be ahead of time, to trust in the process. In the end, if I am lucky, the work reveals itself, and I try to understand it, to perfect it. I reserve the right to change it all at the last moment. That’s why it is difficult for me to talk to you about something before it has actually come to completion.”

Over 70,000 people, in 36 countries and 4 continents, saw The Great Tamer, the first international co-production by renowned Greek director/choreographer, Dimitris Papaioannou. For the international tour of his new work, scheduled to launch at Stegi in May 2020, more than 500 hundred performers and dancers from all over the world auditioned in the spring of 2019. The chosen ones started rehearsing with Dimitris Papaioannou in January 2020 and were forced suddenly to stop in March 2020 by the lockdown.

The premiere of Onassis Stegi’s second international co-production with Dimitris Papaioannou was rescheduled for December that same year, on its Main Stage, but the shuttering of all performance venues made this date unfeasible. Dimitris Papaioannou is now ready and waiting to raise the curtain on his new work. And we’re all waiting with him.

Credits

Conceived, Visualized & Directed by Dimitris Papaioannou

With Damiano Ottavio Bigi, Šuka Horn, Jan Möllmer, Breanna O’Mara, Tina Papanikolaou, Łukasz Przytarski, Christos Strinopoulos, Michalis Theophanous

Music: Antonio Vivaldi

Set Design: Tina Tzoka & Loukas Bakas

Sound Composition & Design: Coti K.

Costume Design: Aggelos Mendis

Collaborative Lighting Designer: Stephanos Droussiotis

Music Supervisor: Stephanos Droussiotis

Sculptures, Special Constructions & Props: Nectarios Dionysatos

Mechanical Inventions: Dimitris Korres

Creative - Executive Producer & Assistant Director: Tina Papanikolaou

Assistant Directors & Rehearsal Directors: Pavlina Andriopoulou & Drossos Skotis

Assistant to the Set Designers: Tzela Christopoulou

Assistant to the Sound Composer: Martha Kapazoglou

Assistant to the Costume Designer: Aella Tsilikopoulou

Special Constructions - Props Assistant: Eva Tsambasi

Photography & Cinematography: Julian Mommert

Technical Director: Manolis Vitsaxakis

Assistant to the Technical Director: Marios Karaolis

Stage Manager, Sound Engineer & Props Constructions: David Blouin

Props Master: Tzela Christopoulou

Lighting Programmer: Stephanos Droussiotis

Costumes Construction: Litsa Moumouri, Efi Karantasiou, Islam Kazi

Stage Technicians: Kostas Kakoulidis, Evgenios Anastopoulos, Panos Koutsoumanis

Lighting Constructions: Miltos Athanasiou

Silicone Baby made by Joanna Bobrzynska-Gomes

Props Team: Natalia Fragkathoula, Marilena Kalaitzantonaki, Timothy Laskaratos, Anastasis Meletis, Antonis Vassilakis

Executive Production 2WORKS in collaboration with POLYPLANITY Productions

Executive Production Associate: Vicky Strataki

Executive Production Assistant: Kali Kavvatha

Props Production Manager: Pavlina Andriopoulou

International Relations & Communications Manager: Julian Mommert

A production of ONASSIS STEGI

To be first performed at ONASSIS STEGI (2021)

Co-Produced by Festival d’ Avignon (Avignon), Biennale de la danse de Lyon 2020 (Lyon), Dance Umbrella / Sadler's Wells Theatre (London), Fondazione Campania dei Festival - Napoli Teatro Festival Italia (Naples), Grec Festival de Barcelona (Barcelona), Holland Festival (Amsterdam), Luminato (Toronto) / TO Live (Toronto), New Vision Arts Festival (Hong Kong), Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen (Recklinghausen), Saitama Arts Theatre / ROHM Theatre Kyoto (Kyoto), Stanford Live / Stanford University (Stanford), Teatro Municipal do Porto (Porto),Théâtre de la Ville - Paris / Théâtre du Châtelet (Paris), UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance (Los Angeles)With the support of Festival Aperto (Reggio Emilia), Festival de Otoño de la Comunidad de Madrid, (Madrid), HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts (Dresden), National Arts Centre (Ottawa), New Baltic Dance Festival (Vilnius), ONE DANCE WEEK Festival (Plovdiv), P.P. Culture Enterprises Ltd (Tel Aviv), TANEC PRAHA International Dance Festival (Praha), Teatro della Pergola – Firenze (Florence), Torinodanza Festival / Teatro Stabile di Torino - Teatro Nazionale (Torino)

Funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports

Dimitris Papaioannou’s work is supported by MEGARON – THE ATHENS CONCERT HALL

Age guidance: 18+

Read More

https://www.onassis.org/whats-on/dimitris-papaioannou

Watch the trailer

https://vimeo.com/500021788