holy purple | September 2021
Yard of Municipal Theatre of Piraeus | peirais Artport festival
"Because nothing can thicken and expand forward if it does not have the ability to go backwards as well, something scale alike, I imagine a future will always stand upon generations..
Then I go back to the principles of man.
Through the way our perception works and processes past and present, virtual and reality, through the overlap of senses and our relationship with the world, I see future within the nature of a dancer: in their constant interaction with interval conciliation or emptiness and in their strength against their own fear of not staying still forever in the same place."
Androniki

After a long wait, but no pause, the multifaceted play holy purple by Androniki Marathaki and her collaborators, was presented in the forecourt of the Municipal Theater of Piraeus: on September 24 and 25, through the constellation of staged performance "hiding in holy purple".
"holy purple" is a work of movement by movement on a moving ground. In a terrain that doesn't let you recognize where the land will be in your next step.
A "purple area" defines an area that is questionable. An area, which expands beyond its topological significance, and becomes a common place within which it is impossible to distinguish where, when and how to balance. Each of our next step seeks the ground that will support it and is influenced by our own flexibility in our every expectation.
It was formed through the synthesis of relationships, that is, from the synthesis of movement, tendencies and mobilities that exist between two or more points of the body, in two or more dimensions of the body, in two or more human bodies, of the two dancers, the dancers and the spectators.
Its organization is not focused on each of them, but on how they are related. Its compositional elements are variable. Perhaps the result can be read as eagerness for a next step. Perhaps it is reminiscent of dreams. The ones where what creates them doesn't matter as much as how their elements relate to each other when we're awake.
"hiding in holy purple" be researching the nature of the dance proposes a five stage journey for two female performers. Their relationships, sometimes isolated, sometimes heterochronized, with a gap between or in conflict, fleetingly invent some moments of resonance. They reflect the tendency and mobilities that develop between the points of the human body. The focus of attention is on relationships rather than things.
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Τhe dance performance "hiding in holy purple" is followed by the participatory installation"turning in holy purple" on September 26th. One more constellation of the project in which the same performance space is open for the audience to interact with.
Two participants each time share the moving platform for 20 minutes, changing its inclination according to participants’ transfer of weight.
How does their relationship unfold itself?
What will activate their next step?
Managing and processing their weight and their transfer or dispositions depends on instant decisions that are actually revealed in front of us. While appreciating the responsibility of simply beingness and free themselves through the relation with the other, they discover different dimensions of their body, their relation with space and time and the balance and imbalance of all the above. Anyhow, accomplishing relations with a random partner is inevitable and common place is a necessity for a healthier future, even for a “20 minute one”.
As holy purple is structured on a score of relations, that is movements between two or more points of the body, or two or more dimensions of the body, or two or more different bodies, in between the two performers, in between audience members and performers. The same principle also regulates turning in holy purple. This is an interactive installation that offers the opportunity to everyone to spin around in the purple area. A “purple area” is defined as a disputable area. As a field that is impossible for us to identify where, when and how we are going to find balance and stability while we are in. Every step of us is looking for the ground for support and is influenced by our flexibility in every expectation.
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more info
https://www.facebook.com/holypurple2021
the holy purples
Candy Karra & Loukiani Papadaki (performance & research)
Lambros Pigounis (sound composition and programming)
Nyssos Vassilopoulos (lighting environment)
Filippos Vassiliou (platform curator)
Steriani Tsintziloni (dramaturgy)
Rallou Avramidou (communication)
YiannisKranidiotis (creative coder / website visual curating)
Eftihia Liapi (poster design)
Alekos Bourelias & Christos Bourelias (video making, trailer, photos of "hiding the holy purple" and "turning the holy purple")
Kostis Kallivretakis (photos of rehearsals)
Nick Strauss Klein-feldenkraisproject (Feldenkrais Method guidance)
Delta-Pi (production organization)
Androniki Marathaki (research, choreography, artistic direction)
Cloudsdonthaveshape A.M.K.E.
"Holy purple" belongs to the subject “It's not about if you will love me tomorrow” and has been funded by the Ministry of Culture and Sports for 2020-2021 for the production of the project and the choreographic research.
With the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and Sports
Co-organisers: Municipal Theatre of Piraeus
Production : Delta Pi Productions
Institutional Partner: Municipal Market of Kypseli
Communications Partners: Connetiva, Snehta Residency, Debop