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Writer's pictureRialto Theatre

What to expect at this year’s 24th Cyprus Choreography Platform

Choreography Platform has been instrumental in fostering the growth and advancement of contemporary dance in the country.


Drawing upon the talents of dozens of choreographers, hundreds of dancers, and other creative contributors, the Platform has introduced the public to hundreds of new works of contemporary choreography, providing Cypriot creators with the opportunity to showcase their work and talent.


The eleven choreographers, selected by the Selection Committee to participate in this year’s Cyprus Choreography Platforml, together with their collaboratiors, are in the final stages of preparations for premiering their latest works and therefore share them with the audiences that will attend. 


The Cyprus Choreography Platform is an annual choreographic event of the Deputy Ministry of Culture, organized by the Department of Contemporary Culture and the Rialto Theatre.

The performances we will have the opportunity to experience this year at the 24th edition are the following:


White. Noise.

Panayiotis Tofi | 20'


Concept & choreography: Panayiotis Tofi

Performance: Damianos Aggelos Efstathiou

Music composition: Andreas EconomidesCostume design: Rea Olympiou

Lighting design: Panagiotis Manousis 


It’s here. Nothing. Silence. It’s rare. I believe in them. Little things. Listen. No context. Empty. Flesh. A body. Shattered. A stage. There. Look. Transparent. An object. A stage. It appears. Separately. Nobody. A murmur.  Listen. It disappears. It floats. It vanishes. This moment. It’s rare. When it _ escapes its destiny.


Panayiotis Tofi’s choreographic research embraces topics of concealment, dispossession and decentralisation, while he focuses on the beauty and exhaustion of the uninhabited human body and the uncanny presence of the unfamiliar. His works are recognised by subtle minimalism, the use of poetic text, elements of romanticism, as well as intense physicality. Initially a trained visual designer, Panayiotis graduated from Trinity Laban with a First Class Bachelor of Contemporary Dance and a Diploma in Dance Studies. He is a highly appreciated theatre movement designer and director who received the “Creator of the Year” award from Cyprus Theatre Organisation in 2018 for his artistic versatility, imaginativeness, and boldness towards experimentation. Based on his choreographic research and movement vocabulary, he has led movement and composition workshops in Stockholm, Naples, Athens, Ermoupolis, Limassol, and Nicosia.


NO IM NOT

Panos Malactos | 30'


Choreographer: Panos Malactos 

Music credits: Aenaa - Die Arkitekt; The Swan - Camille Saint-Saëns; Dystopia - Wax Wings, Die Arkitekt; NO IM NOT - Music and production by TEO.x3 , Lyrics by Ody Icon 

Costume designer: Orestis Lazouras

Lighting designer: Vasilis Petinaris

Dancers: Styliana Apostolou, Natalia Vasiliki Vagena, Melina Sofocleous

Assistant: Magda Argyridou


NO IM NOT serves as a continuation and response to the themes explored in Are You Okay?, Panos’ latest group work. This performance delves deeper into the ongoing struggles of mental health, emphasising the impact of abuse and power dynamics within the dance world. It highlights the intersection of internal turmoil with the external pressures of a toxic work environment, challenging the façade of wellness often presented in the industry. The piece confronts the complexities of anxiety and panic attacks, while also examining how dancers navigate the systemic issues of abuse, manipulation, and unrealistic expectations in their professional lives. By showcasing the duality of their experiences, the performance seeks to unravel the dissonance between the societal pressure to appear “okay”, and the reality of their struggles.


Panos Malactos has been working with Peeping Tom in Belgium since 2020. At the age of 17, he moved to London to study musical theatre with a scholarship (Dance & Drama Award) at the Bird College. He then continued his training at the Rambert School, where he obtained a BA in Ballet and Contemporary Dance. He worked with Festspielhaus St. Pölten, Austria (Ohad Naharin/Shahar Binyamini), Liliana Barros (DE), Fresco Dance Company, KENZO Paris, Compagnie Tabea Martin (CH),  Andre Uerba (DE), Jason Mabana Dance (UK), Emma Evelein Dance (NL), X-it Dance Theatre (CY/GR), Milena Ugren Koulas (CY), Asomates Dynamis Dance Company (CY), and collaborated multiple times with Greek director Elias Adam as a performer and choreographer. His choreographic works travelled to New Zealand and all over Europe.


EPISODES

Maria Gerasimou | Diversity Dance Company | 15'


Choreographer: Maria Gerasimou

Dancers: Izabella Anastasiou, Chris Mills

Idea & production: Maria Gerasimou, Polina Panagiotou, Diversity Dance Company

Set: Rafaella Christoforou

Costumes: Magda Ruggeri

Lighting design: Aleksandar Jotovic

Project supporters - Rehearsal Studio: City Stage Center, Dance Frosso Hadjigeorgiou, Nea Kinisi, Dance School Maria Messis

Project supporters - Kinesiology / Human Movement Specialist: The Stoned Ape Therapy by Rafael Eleftheriou 


EPISODES is the second part of a trilogy, which deals with and processes the history of

my roots. It is identified with memories of a true story. It reveals episodes of the predatory side of human nature and the primitive thrill of pain, acceptance, salvation, and freedom. 


EPISODES, produced by Diversity Dance Company, led by founder and artistic director Maria Gerasimou, is one of her most personal works to date. In collaboration with co-founder Polina Panagiotou, they express that “this work is a piece about everything we have to burn, speaking of bodies that are broken, but they find a light through their darkness by the echo of rhythm and the freedom that music gives to their soul.”


“Having roots is perhaps the most important and most unrecognised need of the human soul.” 

Simone Veil, 1909-1943, French philosopher


Maria Gerasimou was born in Cyprus in 1996. She began her dance training at Dance Frosso Hadjigeorgiou. Maria was part of the Dance Cyprus Junior Company. She participated at YAGP finals and received scholarships for The Ailey School and Bolshoi Ballet. In 2013, she was selected at the YAGP semi-finals amongst the top 12 dancers. She also participated in the Pancyprian Ballet Competition, winning the 1st place (Junior category) in 2010, and the 1st place (Senior category) in 2013. Maria received full scholarships for Chateau-roux, The CapeSchool, and Alonzo King LINES Ballet. In 2014, she began her studies at The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater School after receiving a full scholarship. Maria has performed for well-known choreographers such as Dwight Rhoden, Desmond Richardson, Jae Man Joo, Carmen Rozenstraten, Earl Mosley, Judine Sommerville, Davide Bombana, Fotis Nicolaou, et al. She joined the Complexions Contemporary Ballet Dance Company in 2016 as a soloist artist.


SIDE EFFECTS 

Konstantina Skalionta | 30'


Choreography & performance: Konstantina Skalionta

Dramaturgy: Rodia Vomvolou

Sound design: Panos Bartzis

Artistic collaborator: Eleana Alexandrou

Visual material: Artemis Evlogimenou

Lighting design: Aleksandar Jotovic

“It is the irony of being a woman: at once hyper-visible when it comes to being treated as the subservient sex class and invisible when it counts – when it comes to being counted.” 

Caroline Criado Perez, Invisible Women


In this work, the choreographer explores the “side effects” of being a woman, which are passed on from woman to woman, generation to generation, with all the things she may inherit. By imposing her body to a demonstration of “disappearances” that she has practiced, endured, and enjoyed from time to time, the performer claims the Italian stage as a place and the performance situation as a frame, in which she can restore her visibility, in a patriarchal society that constantly displaces, shrinks, silences and, finally, vanishes the female experience. 


Konstantina Skalionta is a dance artist living and working in Limassol since 2020. She studied in London at the Central School of Ballet (BA (Hons) in Professional Dance and Performance, 2011) and the London Contemporary Dance School (Master of Arts in Contemporary Dance, 2018). For the past five years, her choreographic research and practice have explored the themes of female identity and of the body as landscape and visa versa, in dialogue with the dramaturg and PhD researcher Rodia Vomvolou. Her performances have been presented as independent productions or as part of platforms, festivals, and exhibitions in Cyprus, Italy and the UK, during the past decade. Since 2021, she has been a member of the administrative board of Nea Kinisi of Dance Groups, Dancers and Choreographers of Cyprus, which she currently serves as its president. 



A Body of Infinite Voices

Alexandra Waierstall | 25'


Choreographer: Alexandra Waierstall

Performer: Elena Agathokleous

Music: Volker Bertelmann, Alexandra Waierstall

Lights: Alexandra Waierstall


A work with and for performer Elena Agathokleous. Following their successful collaboration for Heart Moment, which was presented in Germany in September, the two return with this new solo project. The choreographer will guide and create a temporary space for Elena Agathokleous to find her own emergence, incorporating the memory of many with whom she has moved. Her body and presence will become the surface where sound and silence, movement and stillness will prompt us to contemplate the adventurous movement of stillness, the sound of sound, and to approach the experience of time through the reorganisation of her body as space, as a moving archive.


Alexandra Waierstall is a Düsseldorf-based Cypriot choreographer, practicing for over 15 years internationally. Her conceptually and physically detailed investigations are expressed through choreographies, installations, and film works crafting sounds, texts, images, and the moving body. She approaches choreography as a vehicle for developing new skills and knowledge for living together, connecting bodies, life forms, and environments: an act of empowerment, a way to reinvent our world anew. She has presented her works at Dia Art Foundation in Beacon, New York, Musée du Louvre – FIAC, Sadler’s Wells, Dansenshus Oslo, Mousonturm, Crossing Festival Beijing, Fringe Festival Shanghai, International Festival Seoul, Dansenshus Stockholm, amongst others.



The Lullaby of Horses

Styliana Apostolou | 15'


Concept & choreography: Styliana Apostolou

Performers: Styliana Apostolou & Chris Mills

Music: Giorgos Sisamos

Lighting design: Panagiotis Manousis

Set design: Styliana Apostolou

Props on stage: Apostolos Panteli


Structured around shifting dualities—love and hate, victim and attacker, self and other—the choreography reveals how domestic life often becomes a microcosm of larger societal patterns. The piece also addresses the internal conflict that arises when we ignore our primal, animalistic nature.  The characters, through their struggle, search for a connection to something both primal and divine, yearning for authenticity and meaning beyond the manufactured behaviours society imposes. As the façade of the relationship fractures, the audience is left to question: when does love turn into despise? How does the symbiosis of a relationship become dangerous? The choreography suggests that duality alone cannot explain the totality of human experience, as the characters, lost in the tension between their animal instincts and societal expectations, reveal the dangerous consequences of denying our deeper nature. In its raw portrayal of primal conflict, and the quest for transcendence, this duet invites viewers to reflect on the fragile balance between love, control, and the search for both the primal and the divine in our human experience.


Styliana Apostolou, a Cyprus-based creator and performer, began training in the arts at a young age and later studied at Codarts University in Rotterdam. Starting her career in the Netherlands, she created solo pieces and collaborated with musicians, fine artists, and other creatives. Her performances have appeared in galleries, theaters, and site-specific spaces. In 2020, she joined the Venice Biennale College under Marie Chouinard’s direction. Apostolou has worked for artists including Alexis Vassiliou, Federica Dauri, Panos Malaktos, Xavier Le Roi, and others. Recently, she co-created Vacationists in the Absurd with Polena Kolia Petersen, and her latest piece, TGR (2024), received funding from Cyprus’s Deputy Ministry of Culture.


O2

Ivi Hadjivassiliou | 27'


Choreographer & performer: Ivi Hadjivassiliou 

Dramaturgy: Lea Maleni

Performers: Giannis Economides, Anna Nicolaou, Alexandros M. Kyriazis

Costume & set design: Sophia Mavromichalis

Music composition: Savvas Chrysostomou

Rock climbing Instructor: Andreas Theofanous


O2

Inhale.

Exhale.

Time. Time. Time.

Space. 

I. You. We. 

Life. 

Journey. 

Right. 

Freedom. 


Cardiogram. 

Breathe. Kiss. You. 


Suspension.

Vacuum. 

Zero. 

Chaos. 

Suffocation. 

Absence. 

Unfreedom. 


Inhale. Exhale. 

Breathe. 

Again. 

Is there still oxygen for everyone?


Ivi Hadjivassiliou graduated from the Athens State School of Dance. Since 2016, she has choreographed and directed the works Atrapos in progress, Atrapos, Sarlo, Uneed2, Sileny Posun, Blurred and VooDoo BeRrieS. As a movement director, she collaborated on the works Biomagic and Sharks: Misunderstood Creatures, The Complete Bible in One Hour (Antilogos Theatre), and Love Story (THOC), directed by Eleni Anastasiou, as well as Company 4x4 (Persona) and The Steadfast Tin Soldier (THOC Production), directed by Lea Maleni. Since 2013, she has worked with Anton Lashky (Slovakia) and Penny Diamantopoulou as an assistant choreographer, performing at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus and in New York as a member of the Hellenic Dance Company. She has also collaborated with and danced in works by Fotis Nikolaou, Amfidromo Chorotheatro, Asomates Dynameis, ARtitude, Milena Ugren Koulas, and Lambros Lambrou.



Reading the Performance and Performing the Book 

Lia Haraki | 30'


Concept & dramaturgy: Lia Haraki

Performance: Erica Charalambous & Lia Ηaraki

Also on stage: Yiangos Hadjiyiannis

Text editing: Erica Charalambous

Book graphics: Despina Kannaourou

Lights: Alexander Jotovic

Video and technical management: Yiangos Hadjiyiannis 

Production: PELMA


Over the last two years, we have been creating a book about the works that Lia and her team of collaborators presented from 2003 to 2023. The idea of the book is to speak about how the bodies featured in it experience an ephemeral art form that ends immediately after its presentation. That would be the voices and views of the performers, academics, collaborators, audience members, and journalists. Our performance is an interactive game with the audience in relation to the book, so as to see if its content can be recycled and become another performance work. Our bodies will be responding, remembering, reacting, and sharing like a living archive.


Lia Haraki is a performer, practitioner, and interdisciplinary artist working across performance, choreography, devised theatre, song, and what she calls repetitive poetry. Lia’s performances have been presented in festivals internationally and were twice shortlisted at the Aerowaves EU network. Her practices are taught at Impuls Τanz festival in Vienna, amongst other places. In 2014, she presented her solo Tune In at the Venice Biennale (special mention for the Cyprus and Lithuanian Pavilion). Her project The Performance Shop Concept was selected as one of 25 best dance practices by the EDN. She was part of the initiating team for creating the dance programme of the University of Nicosia in 2007, and was the initiator of Dance House Lemesos.



Loop

Maria Kasapi | 18'


Choreographer: Maria Kasapi

Performers: Μichalis Tziampos, Andreas Charalambous, Pavlos Papadopoulos

Mentor: Andria Michaelidou

Video production: Nick Dino

Music producer & sound engineer: Andreas Konstantinou

Prop maker: Dionisis Voniatis

Special thanks: Endless breaking studio, Urban Oasis Studio, Outplay Dance Studio, Christos Kasapis 


The loop…

The human loop…

The loop of everyday life…

The everyday loop of human life…

This loop drives people into a repetitive toxic kinesiology within their routines and prevents the fulfilment of their life cycle. This cycle symbolises birth, growth, maturing, death, and the rebirth that the human being is experiencing, while the loop represents the patterns, the repeated activities, and habits of people. This loop appears at all life stages, from the early childhood until adulthood. Through this, comes the illusion of a journey back to the past and, conversely, to the future.


Maria Κasapi is a choreographer based in Nicosia. She studied Dance (BA) at the University of Nicosia, and has collaborated with choreographers such as Lia Haraki, Ariana Economou, Alexis Vassiliou, and Kiki Economou. As a choreographer and performer, she participated at numerous festivals such as No Body, Interspace, Kypria, Summer Festival (2021 & 2022), Visibility, at the 19th, 20th and 21st Cyprus Choreography Platform, Dance Waves, and as an artist-in-residence at Moving the New - Dance House Lemesos, Performance Lab-Open Up (NiMAC), Dancers (Alive) residency - Dance House Nicosia. In 2022, she created the sideBside production team that organises the Juxtapose Performance Festival in Cyprus (2022-24). Maria has attended classes by established choreographers in Greece, Barcelona, Arizona, and Jamaica.



Don’t You Just Love Melting? 

Melina Sophocleous | 15'


Choreographer & performer: Melina Sofocleous

Music: Kalaqs 

Set design: Rebecca Taki 

Lighting design: Vasilis Petinaris 


When we pause to reflect on our place in time and space, 

there are countless examples of how we, as humans, 

have developed / changed / continue to change, 

the various ways of building our space for 

rest  / protection / pleasure.

We can also see numerous examples of how these choices have 

shaped / changed 

and many times, 

deformed / destroyed 

The environment we find ourselves in.

Observing and reflecting on certain patterns of 

development / change / re-shaping, 

which are accustomed to be interpreted symbolically as signs of progress,

we are, in fact, relatively self-sabotaging choices.

 

With the intention to share this reflection with an audience, 

the performance explores the complexities of the connection between 

a human + synthetic material + sound,

Within a controlled environment, zooming into a microcosmos of 

building / shaping /  resting / destroying 

and 

unavoidably / forcibly 

stepping back and reflecting.


Melina Sophocleous is half Cypriot and half Welsh/American, born and raised in Cyprus. She graduated from Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance in 2017, and has since gone on to work with choreographers and companies in the UK, Italy, Denmark, Greece, and Cyprus. From 2018-2020, she took part in La Biennale Di Venezia’s annual festival, performing works by Marie Chouinard, Daina Ashbee, Adriano Bolognino, Sofia Nappi, Rima Pipoyan, and presented her own work Rhythm and Blues, as part of the festival’s young choreographers platform. Melina also presented her works Voice Mail (2019) and Cross Pollination (2020) as part of the Cyprus Choreography Platform. From 2019-2021, she performed in Francesca Foscarini’s Punk Kill Me Please and, in 2021, she joined Phoenix Dance Theater (UK) as a full-time company member. In 2023, Melina worked in Onassis Stegi’s production House of Trouble, with Patricia Apergis’ Aerites Dance Company (GR), in Song Train Twins with Toussaint To Move Company (UK), in Are You Ok? by Panos Malactos (CY). Her latest work, Vounaros, premiered at the Open House Festival in Cyprus.


ORGASM

Harry Koushos | 30'


Director, performer: Harry Koushos 

Dramaturg: Eleni Moleski 

Text: Harry Koushos 

Text revision: Odysseas I. Constantinou 

Scenography, costumes: Harry Koushos, Marilena Kalaintzantonaki 

Sound design: Teo Pouzbouris 

Music: Ecati 

VFX: Iasonas Meintanis 

Graphic design: Panos Klouvas 

Photos: Mairy Leonardou 


In a daring performance filled with moments of heartbreaking vulnerability and light-hearted humour, Harry Koushos literally and figuratively sets fire to archetypal symbols and invites us to join in an orgiastic climax. By scanning the QR code, you can answer questions anonymously and contribute to the stage effect of the show.


Really, when was the last time you died?


Harry Koushos (born 1988) is a graduate of Niki Kontaxaki Professional Dance School. From 2011 to 2022, he worked as a dancer for Alexandra Waierstall in Germany. In 2013, his work received support from the Module Dance and Aerowaves European networks as an emerging choreographer. Subsequently, his work was also supported by the Cultural Services, Stegi Onassis, ARC for Dance, THOC, the Greek National Opera, and others. He has choreographed music videos, concerts, TV shows, commercials, and musicals. Additionally, he directed a medium-length film and various music video clips. In theatre, he has collaborated with directors as a choreographer and performer alike. He has taught dance at universities, academies, and professional dance schools. Since 2023, he has been collaborating with psychotherapist Mariana Vassilaki on character analysis seminars through movement.


In collaboration with Dance House Lemesos 

Media Sponsors:  Fileleftheros Newspaper, Cybc, Κanali 6

Supported by Limassol Municipality, Lemesos Newspaper, Lemesos Blog, Limassol Today, Vestnik Kipra, Russian Radio Cyprus, Lenta Cyprus and Limassol Tourism Board. 


F/B, IG & Vimeo Cyprus Choreography Platform

Free entrance for choreographers & dancers (Seat reservation is required)

Tickets: € 8 (€ 13 – 3-day pass)

Information / Reservation: 77 77 77 45 E-ticket: www.rialto.com.cy


The festival is co-organised by the Department of Contemporary Culture of the Deputy Ministry of Culture, and the Rialto Theatre.



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