DIMITRIS PAPAIOANNOU (GR)

Based on the metaphor of a man in a position of research, the performance turns into a sensory and primitive epic. “The key issue is to dig and bury, and then expose”, the author reveals. Here one discusses identity, the past, legacy and innerness. By exposing the minor tragedies and the great nonsenses of modern life, and by gathering well-known, ambiguous characters from the circus world (the clown, the acrobat), the work of the Greek choreographer is simultaneously melancholic and amusing, and it touches several theatrical conventions with the audience with the greatest simplicity. Between lightness and tragedy, within a visual world paying homage to some of Europe’s greatest painters (Botticelli, Raphael, El Greco, Rembrandt, Magritte, Kounellis), Dimitris Papaioannou asks us to “empty our lives”, and give everything we can before leaving this world. Such a quest for grace and beauty is neither relaxing nor contemplative. It aims at a full and seeming simplicity, which is far from being easily attainable. Its purpose is to shed light on the sacred quality of what’s common and daily. 

Dimitris Papaioannou had training in fine arts and came to create through drawing. After being recognised as an illustrator and painter, he started working in performing arts as choreographer, performer, and set and lighting designer. His first work was around the group Edafos Dance Theatre, with which he worked for 17 years, until 2002. His creation of the opening ceremony of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games brought him international recognition. Since 1986, his work has been the result of researching experimental dance, and a combination of physical theatre, movement and performance, questioning the creation, identity and heritage of Western cultural memory. His last productions, “Primal Matter” (2012) and“Still Life”(2014), are representative of the personal quest of a man exposing his fears, and questioning his habitat and his destiny.