Alternative Stage Founding Donor
Major Sponsor of the Greek National Opera
The new production by the Greek National Opera Ballet, To Have Been So Close So Many Times, crafts a multidimensional stage universe where contemporary dance and music theatre intersect and viscerally coexist in a never-ending conversation. Three chamber music works by Giorgos Koumendakis engage with four poems by Constantine P. Cavafy, set in the amanes style, creating a profoundly esoteric, contemplative, and constantly evolving soundscape.
Three distinguished choreographers - Patricia Apergi, Ilias Hatzigeorgiou, and Eva Georgitsopoulou - approach the material through diverse aesthetic and movement languages. The body is brought to the fore as a carrier of memory, desire, and loss, while movement hovers between group coordination and individual deviation. Nine dancers move within a setting of constant transition, where time seems to slow, repeat, and take on an almost ritualistic dimension.
Petros Touloudis' sculptural installation turns the stage into a moving soundscape. By generating and conveying sound, it serves as a mechanism that transforms the stage into a space where emotions do not scream but rather echo across time, allowing room for imagination. Zacharias Karounis delivers a unique vocal performance, accompanied by Angelina Tkatcheva on the santoor, the Oros Ensemble, and the Osmosis Saxophone Quartet. John Papatzanis is in charge of percussion coaching and performs on a wide variety of percussion instruments on stage, alongside the dancers.
This performance does not tell a linear story; instead, it plunges the audience into an immersive, emotional experience - an inward ritual.
