Open, dynamic conversational meetings between creators and the public, where choreographers reveal the complex ‘raw material’ of their choreographic work, the influences and considerations that shape it.
Young creators once again enjoy the opportunity to present their work and their particular kinetic language, and gain valuable field experience, getting into contact with a wide international audience.
In an original collaboration with the Greek National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST), the festival ventures by means of site-specific works into exploring the fluid boundaries between dance and performance, the state of creating and the state of viewing, space and time.
The nucleus of the festival features nine performances of new works of contemporary dance, five of which are presented in their world premiere in Athens. These works cover a broad expressive spectrum, focusing predominantly on women artists’ way of thinking and working.
The convention of the stage is called into question with a loop of dance happenings unfolding on the verge between indoors and outdoors, scheduled and random, annotation and disruption, right before the start of each one of the aforementioned nucleus performances.
The festival is venturing amidst the restless urban landscape, which, during the years of the crisis, gave birth to novel community formations and saw the restructuring of the Greek culture’s non-regulatory features of extroversion.
The pedagogy of movement has consistently been a key concern of the festival. Aiming to enhance the knowledge, among both professional and amateur dancers, about developments in dance techniques, the elements composing the language of dance, its conceptual and representational idioms, the festival is organizing a series of seminars-workshops led by experienced instructors.
Seeking to address the issue of ‘broadcasting’, as it related to dance and thus open a discussion on the significance of presence, the economy of experience in the internet era, and the politics of accessibility, this year’s ARC is introducing the practice of live streaming some of the performances of the four-day festival nucleus on video walls in the city center and online.