Thesmoforian Dance | An Ode to Earth

An original Symphonic Audiovisual Choreography by Giorgos Voukanos, with Vasilis Saleas as a soloist, text – lyrics by Effie Panagopoulou and more than 70 performers on stage. A unique musical triptych that unites myth and folk tradition with the future and the need to care for nature and the wealth that must be preserved for the generations to come.

The play takes us on a journey to ancient Greece, to the period of the institutional celebrations that took place before the Eleusinian Mysteries; a festival dedicated to the female, honouring Demeter and her daughter Persephone, and celebrated in October in various regions of Greece.

The performance opens a window on the past for its audience, illuminating threads which take them all the way to our present and future and giving them an authentic flavour of Greece and Attica through music, light and dance.

Vassilis Saleas provides a unique musical narration with the distinctive Greek sound of his clarinet, connecting the eras gone by and leading us on into tomorrow. There is both a sense of worship of nature and of indignation at our environmental abuses in the voices of the performers, awakening the audience to the play’s message. With allegorical reference to the crops and produce harvested from Greek soil, it attempts to revitalize old customs and values bathed in the unique and magical light of Attica Earth.

Admission for the public is free, while reservations can be made through the following link: https://www.ticketservices.gr/

Credits:
Soloist Vassilis Saleas
Texts / Lyrics: Efi Panagopoulou
Choreography: Artemis Ignatiou
Video: Yannis Spyroounis
Scientific Advisor: Aikaterini – Polymerou Kamilaki
Production Assistant: Eleni Athanasopoulou

Angela Gerekou is the Pro Bono Director

Soprano: Ada Athanasopoulou
Tenor: Stavros Salambasopoulos
Narration: Dimitris Manginas – Chrysa Roma
Piano- Synths: Giorgos Voukanos
Piano: Stavros Petsalakis
Lyre: Manolis Bountalakis

ART Dance Theater : Aigly Sarlani, Natalia Fontain, Maria Violaki, Chrysavgi Giannakakou, , Myrto Dimitrakopoulou, Panagiota Tzilivaki, Katerina Petropoulou, Myrto Kalyva

The Ancient Greek Instruments Ensemble, Lyraylos, (Panagiotis Stefos – Michalis Stefos – Olga Stefos)

The GraduArti Alumni Choir – Arsakion Tositsion Society (taught by Christina Varsami Koukni) and the Melody Chamber Orchestra conducted by George Aravidis