KALAMATA – Dedicated to all Dance Artists, with sold out performances in the Dance Hall and crowds of people every day in the city’s Central Square, the 30th anniversary Kalamata International Dance Festival, under the artistic direction of Linda Kapetanea, wrapped up on July 21. This year’s festival ran July 12-21, hosting a total of 19 productions, 10 groups from Greece and nine from abroad. In particular, this year in Kalamata gathered 121 artists, 19 dance groups, 20 volunteers, 86 dance students in professional seminars, 109 children in the dance workshop for children and teenagers, 112 participants in the workshop for parents and children, 28 people over 50 years old and 17 people with disabilities in the corresponding workshops.

Synonymous with the evolution of contemporary dance in Greece, the Kalamata International Dance Festival completed 30 years of constant and uninterrupted presence this year, having been established as the leading contemporary dance event in the country and one of the most important dance events in Europe. This year’s program was the result of the collaboration of the Artistic Director Linda Kapetanea and Kalamata Mayor Athanasios P. Vasilopoulos with Minister of Culture Lina G. Mendoni, Regional Governor of the Peloponnese Dimitris Ptochos, President of the Public Benefit Enterprise of the Municipality of Kalamata FARIS Sotiris Kritsotakis and the members of the Board of Directors of FARIS.

The program on the Main Stage opened on July 12 with the presentation of two works in one performance, ‘Midnight Raga’ by the multiple award-winning German choreographer Marco Goecke and ‘I’m Afraid to Forget Your Smile’ by the Dutch brothers Imre and Marne van Opstal with the State Ballet of Hesse (Hessisches Staatsballett). After its premiere at the Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT 2) in 2017, the demanding ‘Midnight Raga’ choreography, specially designed for the two dancers performing, took on a new form at the Hessisches Staatsballett. In the second part, viewers watched ‘I’m Afraid to Forget Your Smile,’ an ode to mortality and the strength of human nature in the face of death, which had its world premiere at the Staatstheater Darmstadt in 2022. Imre and Marne van Opstal, rising stars of the European dance scene, consistently create works for the Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) and other leading institutions worldwide. The show’s music was performed live by the choirs ‘Melifono’ and ‘Filii Notas,’ under the direction of Maria Bazou, in collaboration with the Municipal Conservatory of Kalamata.

On the Central Stage on July 17 the play ‘The House of Trouble’ / ‘O Ikos tis Tarachis’ by Patricia Apergi, an Onassis Foundation House production, was presented as part of the ‘Extroversion’ program. On July 20 and July 21, for the second time after his first appearance in Kalamata from where he started the world tour of the project BKLDOG, the Olivier award-winning British choreographer Botis Seva and his ‘Far From the Norm’ team returned to the Festival to present the their latest project ‘Until We Sleep.’ Botis Seva, the most influential artist in contemporary dance today, is a phenomenal artist of unlimited emotional intelligence, innovative, demanding and exhausting physicality, but also unparalleled hard work that inspires the modern generations of dancers and choreographers. His work is influenced by the codes of contemporary dance, physical theatre, hip hop and black culture. In the atmospheric work ‘Until We Sleep,’ seven dancers on stage described the nightmare of a lonely woman under the pressure of her leadership role to lead a wandering community through successive trials.

Black Box hosted five productions this year, two by Greek and three by foreign choreographers. Athanasia Kanellopoulou opened the program on July 12 with the project Two — Matters of Existence which made its world premiere at the Festival and on July 13 and 14 was followed by the project ‘Terranova / hidden link’ by Italian choreographer Diego Tortelli and German dramatist Miria Wurm inspired by the mycelia that allow plants to communicate with each other over long distances. It was followed by the work ‘A Thousand’ on July 16, by Haris Gekas, and on July 18 and 19 by the impressive and long-awaited presentation of Josef Nadj’s announced last work entitled ‘Full Moon,’ with the support of the French Institute. The work, which premiered at the Montpellier Dance Festival in June 2024, brought together seven dancers and with them Josef Nadj on stage. The Black Box program closed July 20-21 with the Catalan group Lali Ayguadé with the project ‘Runa,’ with the support of the Embassy of Spain and the Cervantes Institute.

In the Central Square of Kalamata a total of 11 outdoor performances by Greek and foreign artists were held, beginning impressively with ‘Approach 17. Opening’ by Yoann Bourgeois, inspired by the composition ‘Opening’ from the musical work ‘Glassworks’ by Philip Glass, a visual poem following the alternations between the peak and fall of a dancer on a ladder, searching for the “fleeting point of levitation.” They were followed by the dynamic duet of Edivaldo Ernesto and Eva Georgitsopoulou, ‘Pressure Wave’ and by the works ‘Transparent’ by Maria Fountouli and ‘RE B OU N D’ by Maria Manoukian. The work ‘Ecstatic Aporia’ from the 2nd year of the State School of Orchestral Art (KSOT) choreographed by Haris Gekas was presented on July 15 and the works ‘Fantastic, Isn’t It?’ by Eleftheria Iliopoulou and ‘The Dance of Change’ by Peter Jasko on July 16. On July 17, we saw the work ‘The Stage of Breath’ by Alegia Papageorgiou and Maria Bregianni while on July 18 the audience praised the eight finalists of the long-awaited ‘Dance Battle Art within One’ with the support this year of Flux Laboratory Athens: On the same day in the morning, artists of the Festival and students from the professional seminar program had competed in pairs on stage in two consecutive one-minute acts. The eight who were distinguished, competed in the evening in the Square with one-minute improvisations with the presence of a DJ, where the audience voted for the big winner, followed by a party on stage by audience and dancers together.

On July 19 followed the project ‘I Used to Want to Be a Superhero’ by Kostas Phoenix & Chaotic Universe and on July 20 the lights of the Square went out with the works ‘Modulus of Resilience’ by Iro Konti and ‘Lighea’ by Thomas Martino.

As part of the Peloponnese Festival outreach program entitled ‘Dance in the Cities of the Peloponnese Region’ implemented for the fourth year in collaboration with the Peloponnese Region, Yoann Bourgeois’ work ‘Approach 17. Opening’ was presented on July 13 and July 15 in public spaces in the cities of Tripoli and Nafplio.

In the context of the constant cooperation of the Festival with the Captain Vassilis and Carmen Constantakopoulos Foundation, on July 14 the same project was also presented in Pylos in collaboration with the Municipality of Pylos-Nestoros, while on July 21 the Modulus projects were presented in Navarino Agora / Navarino Bay of Costa Navarino. Also, on July 14, a workshop for parents and children was organized by Vitoria Kotsalou in Costa Navarino and a movement workshop for adults over 50 years old by Penelope Morout at the Panos and Elias Iliopoulos Museum in Filiatra.

The Kalamata Dance Festival also collaborated for the fifth consecutive year with the Museum of Cycladic Art, which, on July 15, organized in the Foyer of the Kalamata Dance Palace, an art workshop entitled ‘Give Rhythm to Sculpture,’ with the support of the Captain Vassilis and Carmen Constantakopoulos Foundation.

From July 5-21, the Festival’s educational seminars and workshops were held for the professionals and for the residents and visitors of Kalamata. This year’s educational program was developed as every year for the dance students of Kalamata, for professionals, and for the general public of all ages and the disabled.

The professional training program consisted of three seminars and two masterclasses which covered a total of 52 teaching hours: The seminars were conducted by Edivaldo Ernesto, Peter Jasko, and Elpida Skourou. The Festival closed impressively with the Self-Design Masterclass Fighting Monkey practice by Linda Kapetanea and the Masterclass ‘Far From the Norm’ by Botis Seva himself. Workshops for the public included a workshop for children and teenagers, for parents and children by Vitoria Kotsalo, for people aged over 50 by Penelope Morout and a seminar for the disabled by Venetsiana Kalampaliki and Irini Kourouvani, in cooperation with the Kalamata Physical and Medical Rehabilitation Center (KE.F.I.AP.)

The Kalamata International Dance Festival expressed its warm thanks to its established and new sponsors who contribute with their positive response to its implementation, to the communication sponsors, to this year’s partners, such as the Museum of Cycladic Art, the Municipal Conservatory of Kalamata and the National School of Dance (KSOT), to international bodies, to the embassies and educational institutions that support it every year, to the local producers who participate, to the volunteers for their valuable contribution and to all those who contributed to the realization of this year’s event.

More information is available online: www.kalamatadancefestival.gr.

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