Phaedra I—, written and directed by Avra Sidiropoulou and produced by Persona Theatre Company premiered at Tristan Bates Theatre in London, where it played to full houses for nine performances in February 2019.

The project is a solo multimedia portrayal of a modern-day Phaedra, the legendary wife of King Theseus, who falls hopelessly in love with her young stepson, Hippolytus. In this version, she bears all the ambiguities of a restless, contemporary woman, who oscillates between the desires of the flesh and the attraction to the void, as she suffocates in her socially imposed roles within the ruins of a decaying metropolis.

The production’s use of 3-D mapping, video projections and minimalist aesthetics yields a highly poetic visual trip through Phaedra’s stations of personal and public history. The performer embodies all the characters of the ancient myth passed onto us by Euripides, Seneca and Racine. Taking on their speech, Phaedra is also in constant dialogue with her digital selves, becoming Aphrodite, Theseus, Hippolytus, the Chorus and the crisis-ridden City itself. Struggling to escape the existential fatigue that plagues her, she ultimately emerges as a palimpsest of voices, images and memories.

Phaedra: Elena Pellone

Playwright - Director: Avra Sidiropoulou

Set/Costume/Video designer: Mikaela Liakata

Concept dramaturg: Miranda Manasiadis

Dramaturg: Eleni Gkini

Composer: Vanias Apergis

Lighting Designer: Anna Sbokou

Assistant Directors: Julia Kogkou, Maria Hadjistylli

Director of photography: Michael Demetrius

With the kind support of THE J. F. COSTOPOULOS FOUNDATION

Trailer: youtube

This project included the development of lighting design as part of the set and staging of a dance performance, to create a fully autonomous, pop-up style performance at The Vovousa Festival.

Darc Awards 2021, 4THplace for ‘The Space Cadet’

Concept/Choreography/Original Music/Design: Chloe Aligianni

Performer: Gian Aggelos Apostolidis Isaak (aka Fuerza Negra)

Co-creation of movement material: Chloe Aligianni& Gian Aggelos Apostolidis Isaak (aka Fuerza Negra)

Lighting Design: Anna Sbokou

Set & helmet construction: Yannis Aligiannis (XWorks)

Text compostion: Katerina Kataki

Narration: Thanasimos

Electrician: Nikos Iliopoulos

Technician: Giwrgos Antonopoulos

Sound mixing: Ellen Curtis

Scientific consultants: astrophysicist Dr.ThanassisAkylas (National Observatory of Athens), astronaut trainer Dr. Mindy Howard (Inner Space Training)

Music mentor: Lee Boyd Allatson

Project photos: Eleni Papaioannou, Gavriil Papadiotis, Xenia Tsilochristou

Costume sponsors: Ministry of Concrete, Safe Work LTD

Photography: Xenia Tsilochristou

A Third Planet production

A project in partnership with Flux Laboratory Athens

Funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture & Sports

Supported by The Croft Residency

Concept:

“The Space Cadet”, a contemporary dance performance installation by Third Planet, is a poetic journey into space, a cosmic quest of a solitary traveller, the astronaut. Audience and performer are constantly transported to new places, cover large distances and discover new frontiers. The performance is opening up a dialogue between art and science, while stimulating curiosity about the cosmos in relation to the planet we call ‘home’.

The protagonist exists within a tailor-made light installation which sometimes feels like a home, a vehicle, a spaceship from the future, and other times like ‘a prison’, a game or his entire universe. In every performance, dancer Aggelos Apostolidis (aka Fuerza Negra) is activating through movement the in-situ installation, while interacting with the ‘illuminating landscape’ designed by lighting designer Anna Sbokou. Architectural lighting and soundscapes create transitions in space and time where past, present and future merge.

Choreographer Chloe Aligianni, borrows elements from astronaut training and reimagines space travel conditions. She converses with history and choreographs with an electro pop attitude. “The Space Cadet” is a pop up performance, with the set installed in both indoor and outdoor spaces, that has been created with the logic of a performance that travels and lands in unusual locations, every time somewhere different. The lighting design was developed and realised with those restrictions in mind, as self-contained installation. Integration, portability and adaptiveness to accommodate the variation of locations, conditions and movement was a key element of the design.

For the ‘satellite wings’, RGBW LED profiles are edge-lighting the large polycarbonate panels, that were specifically engraved with a grid to imitate satellite solar panels. The underside of the panels’ frame was also illuminated with 4000K LED profiles, giving a subtle halo effect, ‘scanning’ the black floor of the structure. Additional colour-changing LED profiles were installed on the vertical metal structure to illuminate movement onto the cubicle and on/in the metal structure itself, meanwhile enhancing the three-dimensional structure. The interior of the cubicle was illuminated by 2500K LED strip and miniature spots around the cubicle frame were used to highlight and isolate performance areas around and on top of the cubicle.

All luminaires were IP65 and individually controlled with DMX drivers and a programming control desk. Special attention was given to the installation of the wiring that was fed through the cubicle to the central pivoting point of the whole structure, in order to allow its free rotation during the performance and all connections were fitted with IP68 connectors for safe and easy taking down/setting up of the structure at each outdoor venue.

For the optimum effect of the light installation, locations chosen had to have minimum light pollution so the performance can stand alone in the nightscape.

The performance landed in locations like the TheVovousa Festival, a rular setting near the valley of Aoos in the historic village of Zagori, at the National Observatory of Athens and at Flux Laboratory in Athens.

Video tralier: youtube

This project included the lighting design for the staging of the production at Athens Concert Hall, with the Orchestra of the Greek National Opera.

Choreographed by Jean Börlin to the music of Darius Milhaud, with a libretto by Blaise Cendrars and stage sets by Fernand Léger, La Création du monde from the Ballets suédois was first presented in 1923 in Paris.

To mark the 15th anniversary of the Fluxum Foundation, the Flux Laboratoryremounted The Creation of the World to collaborate with young graduates of the National School of Contemporary Dance of Athens - KSOT, giving them the opportunity to work alongside Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer. True archaeologists of dance, they specialise in reconstructing ballets whose original choreographies have been lost. For The Creation of the World, they recreated Fernand Léger's sets and costumes in a version that is both freer and more sculptural than the one originally imagined by the artist. The choreography focuses on the symbolism of the animal, human and divine kingdoms.

Production: Athens State Orchestra,Fluxum Foundation & Flux Laboratory

Photography: Gavriil Papadiotis [GavriiLux]

Lighting design of an immersive dance performancewithin a transparent cube, featuring screens on all sides and a central dancer.The dancer orchestrated a choreography that depicted the life journey of an individual affected by anemia. The performance showcased the progression from health to disease, the darkness and challenges faced, the diligent researchers seeking a solution, the groundbreaking discovery, and the eventual return to a normal, healthier life.Attendees had the opportunity to step inside the cube and personally engage with the performance. They could take photographs inside the cube and send messages, which were then projected onto the cube’s screens after the dance performance, creating a powerful sense of involvement and connection.

Production: Leoussis a_

Photography: MariosKourouniotis