“W REST L ING” by Anastasia Valsamaki

30.09.21

ROES Theater

With undiminished interest in the conceptual content of body states, the choreographer and SNF ARTWORKS Fellow Anastasia Valsamaki presents her new work focusing on the different ways to conceive wrestling. ‘From combat sports to the competitiveness between two or more opposing forces’

Although there are several ways of perceiving ‘wrestling’ in terms of movement, the interest is located in the way the performed actions are classified. If with wrestling we usually refer to the escalating conflict and consequently the discharging of an action, the choreographer Anastasia Valsamaki urges us to see the transition from intensity to repression and its reversal in a ‘struggle’ that does not divide winners from losers. The reference to wrestling, therefore, is a way of investigating the movement beyond the corporeality of the wrestlers and the theatricality of the event; by possibly combining the ‘studiousness’ of the choreographic score with its fun and exaggeration.

In this peculiar struggle, five dancers – as a group but also as a quirky ensemble – try to bring together a priori contrasting elements: the initiating explosiveness with the awkwardness of a pause, the refueling of the physical frenzy with the suspension of relaxation, the completion of a pattern that constantly re-articulates by changing its composition. Ultimately, if the goal is to remain ‘in the game’ by constantly inventing new rules, then the fight comes as a promise to renew what keeps us still in the game, even if, momentarily, every evident goal seems to have failed.

Anastasia Valsamaki
Graduated with honours from the Greek National School of Dance​, Anastasia Valsamaki made her debut as a choreographer with “Sync” in June 2016 and she was selected by the Aerowaves network as one of the 20 most promising emerging choreographers in Europe for 2017. The same year, ​she ​attended the Choreography Postgraduate Program (I.C.E) at the SEAD Dance Academy in Austria and presented “Sync” at the Athens & Epidaurus Festival. In 2020 she presented her latest work “DisJoint” within the Onassis New Choreographers Festival 7. For 2020-2021 she received the ARTWORKS award and participated in the 3rd SNF Artist Fellowship Program while selected as an Aerowaves Twenty21 Artist with her work “Body Monolog​ue​”. She continues to be an active dancer and choreographer, while at the same time teaching dance. Get to know her work: https://anastasiavalsamaki.com/

W REST LING
Premiere at ROES Theater
30 September 1, 2, 3 October 2021
Tickets (8€-12€): https://www.viva.gr/tickets/dance/w-rest-l-ing/
Concept & Choreography Anastasia Valsamaki
Music & Sound Composition Jeph Vanger
Dancers Gavriela Antonopoulou, Nefeli Asteriou,
Nikos Grigoriadis, Sotiria Koutsopetrou, Thanos Ragousis
Dramaturgy Anastasio Koukoutas
Lighting Apostolos Strantzalis
Styling Nefeli Asteriou
Production Manager Eleni Valsamaki
Producer MINDTHELOOP
Photographers Emmanouela Pechynaki, Marieta Rou
With the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and Sports.
Entrants to the theater must have a vaccination certificate or disease certificate or a negative COVID test (72 hours for pcr test – 48 hours for rapid test).

 

* Anastasia Valsamaki, Nefeli Asteriou and Jeph Vanger are SNF ARTWORKS Fellows