There are no works of Dimitris Papaioannou that did not traverse half of the globe. In INK, his new production he puts water in the spotlight. The show will be presented in Budapest in 2023.
And so, after seven months I am back at the theatre, almost a year after watching the acclaimed The Great Tamer in New York. I am sitting at the Carignano theatre, a metre and a half apart from any other spectator in Turin at the Torinodanza Festival, to watch the world premiere of Dimitris Papaioannou’s INK a duet performed by the choreographer with artist Šuka Horn.
‘There are no works of Dimitris Papaioannou that did not traverse half of the globe’ – stated in Dane et Journal. From Still Life to Inside, from Primal Matter to The Great Tamer, Papaioannou’s work has been performed in more than 23 countries. The Greek dancer, choreographer – directed the opening and closing ceremony of the Athens Olympics in 2001 – is known for creating simple, visionary works which are immersed in a mental, oneiric space that, in addition to splendid visual effects, delve deep into the human condition.
‘Dimitris Papaioannou is today the most powerful creator of a scenic language that interweaves the body with visual art. Man becomes the object of the representation of the artist’s idea, and at the same time the subject of plastic and pictorial forms that draw movements of deep theatrical consciousness and forge a personal contemporary mythology.’
In his new work, INK, Papaioannou puts water in the spotlight, using an irrigation system to water the fields. In his show it is the scene that is watered: a constant jet wets the choreography and produces the sounds that lead the movement.
‘I had thought of creating an installation with some performative interventions. In the end I created a show, which was born from a deep and personal emotional flow, an emotional state very different from my previous works’ says the Greek.
What we see on stage is a black and grey atmosphere like a horror movie, quotations of Andrej Tarkovskij, angels and demons, Greek mythology and pieces of plastic. The relationship between the two is dark and complex: who is the young man? Our animal side, the irrational, what we deny about ourselves and do not want to see?
