16o Dance Days Chania
NOFENCE
P. Tsafaras, L. Vavylousaki,
N. Kontou & L. Vavylousaki, G. Volonakis

16^th Dance Days Chania
International contemporary dance festival | July 20^th - August 2^nd
Performance
NOFENCE, "You Are The Center of Your Little World" (Austria)
July 24^th | 21:30 | "Mikis Theodorakis" theatre

You Are the Center of Your Little World is a surreal exploration of the ordinary, set in a world governed by bizarre rules. The piece exaggerates, distorts, and ridicules human life until it cracks open and reveals its distorted tender core. We see the lives of four individuals sharing a house, experiencing how rituals, habits, and language are transformed - no longer tools of connection, but vehicles for absurdity. Sleeping becomes "hitting hay," embarrassment tastes like a "foot sandwich", cigarettes turn into soup and tears become milk. With each of the four peoples' days unfolding we are plunged deeper into strangeness. Roles blur, meaning bends, and reality distorts, as we question what it means to exist together. Humorous, joyful, and tender, the piece explores the emotional weight of the everyday, how we make sense of ourselves in a world that refuses coherence.

Choreography: Mairead Rutter OConnor
Choreography and Performance: Eva Moutet, Valentin Thalmayr, Louis Manuel Maxime Montes, Sara Sánchez Martín
Extra Collaborator: Timo Bouter
Mentorship: Jelka Milic

Supported by the Austrian Embassy in Athens.

New Choreographers evening
Starting time 22:15 

Paris Tsafaras, "00:13"
Lenia Vavylousaki, "Thoughtcrime"
Nadia Kontou & Lenia Vavylousaki, "Status Quo"
Giannis Volonakis, "Anti-Ego"

The pieces were created as part of the Young Choreographers 2026 program
of the National School of Dance (KSOT).

- Nadia Kontou & Lenia Vavylousaki - Status Quo
Opponents and, at times, allies move within the same political sphere.
A social cause is supposed to unite them; yet the need for personal dominance prevails.
Every gesture, every glance, every word becomes a display of power.
Everything has been said. Nothing has been resolved.
A struggle for superiority - or a struggle for appearances?

Choreography: Nadia Kontou, Lenia Vavylousaki
Performers: Nadia Kontou, Lenia Vavylousaki
Music: "Bloss" - Ori Lichtik, "Persistence with Echo" - Christophe Zurfluh
Music Editing and Sound Design: Stelios Lydakis
Photos: ALBERT VIDAL / VERTEX COMUNICACIO

- Lenia Vavylousaki - Thoughtcrime
Unspoken thoughts and hidden emotions. Introspection. Movements that censor themselves. Feelings controlled by thoughts.

Suppression. Resistance. Complete resistance against oneself. A feeling of suffocation. Boom. And then, all over again.

Choreography: Lenia Vavylousaki
Performers: Maria Kozonaki, Iris Dagdeleni, Yiannis Volonakis, Nadia Kontou, Myrto Papanastasatou, Lenia Vavylousaki, Nikiforos Kalafatis.
Music: Broken Chords Can Sing A Little, Silver Mt. Zion
Photos: ALBERT VIDAL / VERTEX COMUNICACIO

- Paris Tsafaras - 00:13
00:13 explores the dark side of male friendship and the fragile balances that sustain it. Four men share space, body, and time, until the moment difference disrupts the cohesion of the group.

Behind their sense of companionship, an unspoken yet intense rivalry emerges - a constant negotiation of power, desire, and acceptance. Friendship gradually transforms into a field of tension, where belonging and the need for dominance dangerously coexist.

A work about belonging, betrayal, and the cost of male unity when it comes into conflict with personal truth.

Choreography: Paris Tsafaras
Performers: Paris Tsafaras, Lampros Karakostas, Antonis Karampatos, Pablo Soto González
Music: Get in the car/ Travis Lake
Photos: ALBERT VIDAL / VERTEX COMUNICACIO

- Giannis Volonakis - Anti-Ego
There is not space for everyone
Someone is left over

It breaks
It forms again
It is pressed
It tries to escape

Love is immense
And pain comes with it
In the same body
It brings joy
And yet it remains empty

Intense moments shape the body
These are the ones that teach
This is where life strikes

It is not silence that transforms
It is the fracture
The excess

A part remains behind
Silent
Yet present

Pain arrived with joy
And within it
They both found space

How much can a human being adapt
Before they begin to fade
Where does adaptation end
And where does loss begin

Choreography: Volonakis Giannis
Performers: Volonakis Giannis, Dagdeleni Irida, Kozonaki Maria, Nikiforos Kalafatis, Karakostas Lampros, Myritzi Despoina, Papadopoulou Athena, Brofa Marialena, Charalambous Maria
Music: Bill Dixon, Colin Stetson, Antony and the Johnsons.
Photos: ALBERT VIDAL / VERTEX COMUNICACIO

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