27/8/23 – 3/9/23

Coordinated by Antigone Gyra and Vicky Adamou

“Return often and take me, beloved sensation, return and take me – when the memory of the body awakens, and an old desire runs again through the blood; when the lips and the skin remember, and the hands feel as if they touch again. Return often and take me at night, when the lips and the skin remember…”.
Constantine P. Cavafy

A workshop of personal exploration of our material and immaterial body through the five known senses – taste, smell, touch, hearing, sight – and the thousands of unexplored senses that form our human nature, body, soul and spirit.

How do I visualize my movement through the five senses and how does this transform into a personal dance of connection and empowerment?

How do I give space for images and movements to be born by creating deep channels of inner hearing but also by opening my channels to listen to the people around me?

How does the return to the memory of sensations and the creation of new sensations at once reveal new techniques of improvisational movement?

The workshop will be divided in two parts:

In the first part, through meditative techniques, we will explore the existence and absence of our five senses. Each day will be dedicated to another sense, while on the last day we will dive into our sixth, seventh, thousandth, endless sense, the one that cannot be told but exists within us, the one related to our instinct and the deepest holistic relationship with ourselves.

In the second part, this contact with our inner self will encourage us to move and improvise on our own, in pairs or in groups, exploring improvisational movement practices mainly related to our skeletal system, to the actual or mental spaces of our bodies and to our authentic movement.

In this workshop, existence as a whole universe and the whole universe as an integral part of existence will be discussed through a series of exercises that will sometimes be a personal journey and at other times an occasion for playing with others, with nature and the materials that surround us.

The aim is to create a common experience among the people who will participate which will offer:

• personal empowerment,
• information on different kinetic exploration practices
• memories that will touch tenderly our souls and bodies

When: 27/8/23 – 3/9/23 (arrival – departure)
Where: Paleochori camp, Lefkada
Cost: (workshop, breakfast, dinner and a snack per day and accommodation included)

*Early bird until 5/5/2023

Information/ Reservations: info@kinitiras.com

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Information about Paleochori

Paleochori is a camp hosting educational programs and retreats for dance and somatics. It is located on the hills above the famous Nidri of Lefkada. Four and a half wooded hectares of land, on a side hill that enjoys a breathtaking view of Prigiponisia (a complex of seven islands, Meganisi, Skorpios, Skorpidi, Sparti, Madouri, Cheloni and Tsokari).

The remote site of Paleochori camp offers only sounds of nature while the surrounding mountains provide a uniform evening shadow. You can reach the camp by a 5 minutes drive from Neochori or 15 minutes from Nidri. The land is cleaned and leveled with a number of retaining walls more than a hundred years old that have been recently restored, so that tents can be placed in different locations. The main element that stands out in the land is a large wooden patio of a whopping 95 square meters (9m X 10,5m).

The space is also equipped with autonomous wc facilities, showers with hot water and specially designed areas for resting in the shadow under the trees with swings and hammocks. Our primal need was to treat the surrounding space with care and respect for the environment and all the living beings of the land. For that reason we use only biodegradable soap and shampoo in the showers. We also use solar lamps in order to light the area.

Find out more at https://paleochoricamp.gr/facilities

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CVs

Vicky and Antigone, Antigone and Vicky, met at the end of the last century at the Athens Higher Drama School. One was teaching and the other was learning and these are the roles they have been alternating for years now.

They collaborated in the Kinitiras Chorotheama Group creating many performances both together and separately. In 2008, they inaugurated the Kinitiras Studio (together with Flora) which contributed for more than a decade to the cultural map of Athens, uniting professionals and amateurs of the performing arts through many different actions, workshops, performances, festivals, residencies etc.

Antigone and Vicky have taught dance and theatre workshops together, for people of all ages and backgrounds as part of Kinitiras’ programs. Their personal need to create new practices that focus on physical, spiritual and kinetic research has also led them to joint performances with mixed groups and with the Kinitiras professional company.

Vicky, in addition to professional theater and graphic design studies, has been systematically practicing meditation since the 1990s and Qigong since 2016, while this year she is completing her studies in drama therapy. Antigone, in addition to professional studies in dance, has attended the Process Hub’s three-year psychology workshop on the basic principles of group management, has gained the certificate to practice as a maternity assistant and has focused for years on the techniques of S.R.T. and Feldenkrais.

Together they have attended meetings in the “Support for Revision” groups for years and want to constantly develop by deepening their existence and art. Antigone runs the Kinitiras Artistic Network for performing arts and Vicky the Life After Death Theater Company. You will find their detailed biographies at https://www.kinitiras.com/who-we-are/?lang=en.

P.S. Vicky and Antigone have been meeting by the sea for years now, swimming together, walking, or greeting each other while Vicky swims and Antigone walks her dog.