Kinitiras Ω

This year, Kinitiras Ω, becomes 10 years old and gives the opportunity to everyone at Kinitiras to celebrate!

The group will be renewed from next year with people who will systematically attend Kinitiras Dancetheatre this year.

Kinitiras Ω (Omega) started in 2014 with a vision for mature adults to access dance and theater through a creative community where they can activate their bodies as well as strengthen and cultivate their creative expression.

Working with professionals from Kinitiras company, the group gained experience in co-creation, rehearsal and production by participating in artistic events and performances. So, in addition to the performances at the end of the year, the Kinitiras Ω group inspired the documentary KIN.Ω (Chrysanthi Badeka), traveled to Esslingen, Germany, to attend the stAGE festival where they presented the work of Eros and Psychi directed by Antigone Gyra and participated in Ana Sánchez-Colberg’s Seven to Seventh Project at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation’s Summer Nostos Festival. In the last years, Kinitiras Ω has been working steadily with the ACROPODITI Dance and Performing Arts Center based in Syros, and every summer a workshop is held – a collaboration between Kinitiras Ω and a group of 65+ permanent residents of the island – within the framework of the annual Acropoditi DanceFest.

During the academic year 2020-21 (November-April) Antigone Gyra, artistic director of Kinitiras and one of the coordinators of Kinitiras Ω, prepared – in the midst of a pandemic – a study, with the financial support of the Greek Ministry of Culture, on the subject of “Contemporary dance and dance theatre in the third age. A study on the work of the group KINITIRAS Ω”, which was presented in April 2022 at Flux Laboratory Athens, in June in the context of the first two-day workshop on dance held at ASKT and organized by SE.HO.HO. (Employees’ Union in the Dance Space) and in Syros at the 9th Akropoditi DanceFest.

Through the weekly meetings the participants:

• They will come into contact with a gentle physical exercise inspired by modern dance, rhythmic, physical theater as well as vocal, breathing exercises and singing.
• They will learn to take care of their bodies, so that their daily lives will improve.
• They will explore through the language of the body and the voice, stories of memory that give strength and courage for the present.

Biographies

Antigone Gyra creates dance and theatre performances as well as video art and is the mother of three children. She graduated from the London Laban Centre with distinction and she was awarded the Graduates’ Choreography award in 1993. In 1996 she created Kinitiras Dance Spectacle (Chorotheama) company with which she has choreographed many works up until today. She has also facilitated workshops and given lectures on dance and theatre subjects.
In 1995 she received the second award for young choreographers of Rallou Manou competition with her work “The stories, you grew up with, grew up”. Her works have been performed in Greece and abroad. In 1997 her work “Doors and Clouds” represented Greece in the Young artists Biennale in Turin and in other festivals in Greece and Italy. In 2002 her solo work “X” with Ioanna Kampylafka was qualified for the Choreography Competition in Hanover. In 2004 she created her street dance theatre works “1896” and “ Lysistrata’s Cry” after being ordered by Athens 2004 Olympic Games. In 2006 she started creating her trilogy on war. The first two parts of the trilogy “«Lysistrata’s Cry» (2006) and “Klytemnistra Invisible” (2008) were chosen and performed in the 2nd and 3rd Dance Platform (Athens Megaro Mousikis). With her work “Klytemnistra Invisible” she represented Greece in the 8th International Fringe Festival in Thailand. In 2009 her work “The Net” toured in provincial areas supported by the Ministry Of Culture. In February 2010 she presented her solo work “Gone” during the European program City to City Cabaret in Sofia and Athens. From 2010 until 2012 she was the artistic director of the European Network SPIDER ARTISTIC NET representing Greece. During this, she presented the third part of her trilogy “Handle with Care”.
In the theatre she has cooperated as a choreographer and movement director with many theatre companies and directors such as: Theatro Technis (G. Lazanis), THOC( Ch. Siopachas), National Theatre (G. Theodosiadis, Efi Theodorou, S,Fasoulis), Theama Company, Dh.Pe.The Kalamatas (G. Kakleas), Theatre Porta (A. Kalogridis), Theatre Mousouri (T. Vasileiou), Theatre Simio (A.Diamantis), Theatre of Neos Kosmos (D. Arapoglou), Ison Ena Company (I. Remediaki), Opsis Company (A. Tompouli), Theatre Diana (G. Paloumpis – E. Rantou), Theatre of Herodus Atticus (S.Evangelatos) etc.
In December 2008 she funded, together with Vicky Adamou and Flora Kalomoiri, the first residency centre for performing arts in Greece, Kinitiras Studio.
Since March 2017 she teaches at the drama school “Dilos-Dimitra Chatoupi” and is a member of the artistic company GAV (Gyra, Adamou, Venetsanopoulos) with which they created the performance “Deep Sigh” with the support of the Greek Ministry of Culture, as well as the action “Pop Up Readings” which was ordered by the organization of Athens International Book Capital 2018.
Antigone designed the action EK PLIXI (Sur Prise) that brings dance in schools while organizing Erasmus+ youth exchange programs with the aim of social awareness (lgbtq+, refugees, hate speech etc.). In the last two years, she carried out two choreographic researches (Femininity in transition, Contemporary Dance and Third Age) with the support of foreign bodies and the Ministry of Culture.

Ioanna Kampylafka graduated from the London Laban Centre (Bachelor of Arts in Dance Theatre) and Middlesex University (diploma in Interior Design). During the academic year 2003-2004, with a scholarship from the Fulbright Foundation, she attended various dance schools in New York (Movement Research, Trisha Brown, Dance Space, Susan Klein, Barbara Mahler). During Spring and Summer of 2007, with the support of the program of Unesco, Aschberg Bursaries for Artists, she worked as a dance teacher, choreographer and dancer in Bangkok Thailand as a guest resident artist at the faculty of Dance School of Performing Arts. In the spring of 2008, after being invited by the organization “Temple of Fine Arts”, she taught composition and improvisation in Singapore and Malaysia.
Ioanna is member of Kinitiras since 1998 and member of the artistic collective Medea Electronique since 2008. As a choreographer she has worked with: “Splish-Splash” (Yannis Economides), Point Theatre (Nikos Diamantis), Theatre Art (Kugiumtzis), Regional Theatre of Kalamata (Stavros Tsakiris), Kalouta Theatre (George Frantzeskakis) etc. She has taught movement and improvisation in drama schools “Themelio”, “Theatre Arts”, “D.Fotiadi”, “Theatre of Changes” and “G. Theodosiades “.

Aliki Avdelopoulou was born and raised in Athens, Greece. She was admitted to the Drama School of National Theater with a scholarship from National Scholarships Foundation from which she graduated. She studied piano and music in National Music School, singing and phonetics with A. Leigh and M. Gementzaki & trained in a number of theatre and music courses. She is co-founder of VIOMICHANIKI (theatre company) and LITHOGRAFION Theatre in Patras – Greece and former member of Organisation of Telecomunication of Greece mixed choir in Athens, participating in festivals and international competitions winning first place.
She has worked with theatre companies in Athens, Regional theatres and various artists (S. Evaggelatos, A. Antipas, E.Karaindrou S. Tsakiris, A. Gyra, V. Mirianthopoulos and others) in theatrical plays, musical, dance theatre and theatre for kids as a performer, assistant director, assistant music composer, producer and voice trainer, in Greek and international festivals. She is the singer of the music group MONITOR with a record label. She is participating in several bands and music productions, in many live concerts and festivals. (“Papercut”, “End In Tears” – “GAD”, opening for Parov Stellar and others). She was the voice trainer at TV talent shows for kids (Music School MEGA – Junior Music Stars SKAI).
During the recent years, she is co working, mainly, with Kinitiras-Artistic Network for Performing Arts in various productions and educational programs in Greece and abroad.

Christos Polymenakos is a creator, performer, researcher and educator, creator of the body/word – Performance Writing method. He holds an MA in Performance Writing (Merit) from University College Falmouth Incorporating Dartington College of Arts, where he studied with a scholarship from the Hellenic Centre for Theatre and Dance. Christos has been developing and applying his body/word methodology in the field of Performance Writing as practiced in Dartington College of Arts, since 2010, in creation and dramaturgy, in teaching dramaturgy, improvisation, acting, critical analysis and feedback for professionals, amateurs and students. He has collaborated as a dramaturg, performer, researcher and educator in various fields of theatre, dance, creative and Performance Writing. His creative, research and educational work has been hosted by state and private artistic and educational institutions and festivals in Greece, abroad and online. He was the chief dance editor of highlights, arts and culture magazine, and a member of the State Committee for Dance Subsidies of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture. Christos is a member of Kinitiras since 1996 and has been working with the members of Kinitiras Omega (65+) since the spring of 2020.
www.christospolymenakos.com