arisandmartha

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ALL THAT MATTER
or notes on performing friendship
2021

Two years since their last production Lucy. tutorial for a ritual, the collaboration between Martha Pasakopoulou and Aris Papadopoulos is in its essence put under the microscope and is examined as an attempt to perform friendship on stage. The two interpreters, but also friends, collaborators and artistic partners, delve into a common archive of movement material, dance practices and notes, which while drawing from the past is being constructed on stage. In the process of finding out what really matters, they re-shape it, reintroduce themselves and bring to surface that intangible in-between space. “The property of neither, the potentiality of both”. The audience is present as yet another viewpoint, a reflector of the duo’s friendship and its need to be witnessed.

CREDITS

Concept-Choreography-Performance
arisandmartha | Aris Papadopoulos & Martha Pasakopoulou
Dramaturgy Consultant
Anastasios Koukoutas
Sound, Set & Costume Design
arisandmartha
Lighting Design
Eliza Alexandropoulou
Press-Communication
Evangelia Skrobola
Photography
Alaa Ghosheh
Production
arisandmartha

Kindly supported by the Duncan Dance Research Center – Athens With the financial support of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports (2020-21)

The work premiered in March 2022 in Athens and following its successful reception is programmed to be presented again in May 2022.

GALLERY

Klimentini Vounelaki, April 2022 

“As if by some miracle, Sunday night, somewhere in Votanikos, Athens I was bound to discover yet another culture space, the Industrial Park PLYFA and with it the performance by arisandmartha, the artistic collaboration between Aris Papadopoulos and Martha Pasakopoulou. A spacious studio was turned into a performance space, literally with just the essentials: chairs for the audience, two chairs for the performers, a laptop for the musical choices and the mirror of the room covered in meaning. One as the mirror of the other, identifying with each another but also being others, being one’s own self and what connects them to (or appalls them from) the other. The secret drive in this open and impromptu game between themselves and others – because the spectator also becomes part of and aligns with the spectacle – could be “You need to be yourself and not what others demand of you” (Nietzsche). And then you have a take on the unknown, the unexplored routes again and again, seeking some liberating logic which goes beyond the norms of a constructed spectacle. This is how physical practices have been refreshed by the entry of the “thinking body” into the history realm and the two performers borrowed that credo – that which relates to taking up risks. They desired a risky duo and they succeeded. With constant question marks about what connects or sets them apart in their relation and co-existence on stage, articulated as speech or as text emblematically printed on the t-shirts: If I were you, The potential of both, The property of neither and others which summed up the imprint of their common attempt. With humour, directness and far from wanna-be attitude they came to remind us that sometimes our bodies are far more intelligent and sincere than our own selves!!” 

photos
Alaa Ghosheh

visuals
arisandmartha