community work
photographs
"ANTIDOTE" is a work-in-progress performance of sound-music + movement-dance with elements of site-specific and structured improvisation, danced upon Bach's first suite for cello.
The performance "ANtiDOTE" deals with the problem of noise pollution in modern societies and its impact on the health of people and other living beings in general, as analyzed by many scientific studies. Sound and motion are everywhere. Around and within us. And yet, how much do we really pay attention to these sensory 'super powers' of ours? How dystopian is the future that we humans create by 'silencing' our senses every day?
Through harmonies of sound and movement and the uniquely admirable first cello suite of Johann Sebastian Bach we wish to remind the human soul that it can breathe and exist through qualities and aesthetics that consciously or subconsciously can and do regulate it with beauty, peace and empathy.
Scientific research analyzes the phenomenon of noise pollution and the negative impact on the health of people and living beings, in general.
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oncept - direction - dance performance: Georgia Petrali
sound design - cello - performance: Manos Sgouridis
production assistance: Maria Lithiropoulou
scientific associate: Athanasia Keli
sound & lighting coverage: Marietta Grammatikaki
graphic design - videography: Joanna Poupaki
website management: Maria Kasnakidi
photography: Stefanos Paterakis
support: Cultural Association of Vasilies
sponsors: Radio Me, Mousiko Kanali, Radio Fly, Efori Gi
special thanks: Elpida Galanaki, Maria Perdikaki, Eri Zervaki, Kallia Tagaraki, Konstantina Terzaki, Lou Jonas, Tzeni Mavraki, Babis Simeonidis, Nikos Ilaridis, Yannis Charalambidis, Manos Stamatakis, George Vlassis
In the loss of her challenge to cross over, a passionate woman is experiencing her confusion on a floating crane. The shift. The shiver. The loss. The daylight soon becoming dark... The coming unknown and the decision that must be taken in order to turn the page and leave the situation from before. A pure desire for self liberation from the abusive behaviors of the spiraling past, hoarded memories and a black dog that is afraid to leave the safety of the boat; its shelter from the previous violence it has experienced has now become its new prison.
An in-between state to be relived again and again...
Changes of red and black moods. The frames of anarchy now surrendered in the last drops of any romanticism left.
“[...] when the big war came in the circus area, the ‘monkeys’ had forgotten how to be themselves, and then, they couldn't climb or hang, or whatever [...]”
And from what it seems maybe the biggest obstacle of that desired freedom, of leaving a situation, of a dog crossing over to land, are those monkeys that play with our brains and onions.
concept / texts / narration / performance / direction: Georgia Petrali
camera / edit / music / direction: Joanna Poupaki
special thanks: Komninos Sofikitis - Prosinamos Ltd, Marian Dumitru, Alexandra Tamiolaki and Nionios
One of the mottos of "fysalida" is "movement inside and outside".
Focusing on movement and the need to make a statement about contemporary social and ecological issues, in the past 11 years I have chosen to create artistic works embracing a deeper philosophy of how everything can bring harmony.
Harmony between nature and human, between human and human.
After the dance-theater performance GAIA_be the bee at Cretaquarium in October 2016
https://vimeo.com/208035466
as well as various activist street art at central locations in the city of Heraklion
http://www.fysalidance.com/streetart.php?lang=el
in 2018 follows the production BE the TREE project, a modular project about nature and the quality of life in modern society.
BE the TREE project consists of:
- a series of artistic workshops and dance practices starting with research and exercising the concept of the tree as an idea, experience, need
- creation and presentation of artistic videos aimed at informing and raising public awareness about ecological issues
- tree mapping in the area of Agia Triada in the city of Heraklion, an act of care, respect and love for the environment
- street art performance with students at Georgiadis park in Heraklion town for the World Mother Earth Day, Sunday 22 April 2018
- dance performance with guest artists and colleagues from Greece and abroad
- solo performances
Reacting to the chronic and unfair cuts and abuses of trees on our island, and more specifically the lack of education and empathy about ecology and the environment, I often visualize the human body as a tree, wise and beautiful, with roots and fruit, soil and water, thoughts, memories and emotions that dance harmoniously together with the consent of all its leaves and branches in the space-time of our existence and coexistence in the universe.
With my friend and co-worker Zenia Drossou, we decided to dedicate about a month and a half to map the trees of the Agia Triada district in order to record information about the green areas of this region. Our desire is to become a source of inspiration for other people who would like to do something similar in other neighborhoods. As a result, we created a detailed record with photos and notes for all the trees in the district (in gardens and on the streets). In the same spirit of the artistic and human desire for expression and communication, the first video of the series Be the Tree project was realized in collaboration with Stella Meligounaki and Yorgos Mavromanolakis.
Our deepest desire and need remains to raise public awareness about nature and ecology, while our oxygen-deprived scream is transformed into the "common truth": We want TREES in our City!
the street art performance |
video art |
Green proposal
Georgia Petrali © 2018
with Dimitra Daskalaki and Marina Christodoulaki
the new production of Fysalida Dance (c) 2017 will premiere at the TEDxAUEB 2017 | Mosaic
Gazi-Athens on 18 March at 17:30
Through a mosaic of dance patterns, three different bodies are mixed with the ingredients of a recipe in a bowl full of feelings, underlining with humor how a common action can bring together different entities.
Besides ... at the end of the day, don’t we all want to be free, happy and left with a sweet taste on the lips?
And finally, who makes the difference?
and which is the most “essential” element for each of us?
the ingredients?
the action?
the result?
or following a common path?
Fysalida dance group presents its new dance-theater production “GAIA - be the bee” in CRETAquarium (Gournes, Crete) on October 8, 9, 15 and 16 at 20:00.
The project “GAIA-be the bee” tells us stories about the illusive love of power, the cost of the capitalization of all things and human disorientation as we move away from the arms of Mother Earth.
"Gaia" presents an original chronicle of human society, of our relationship with nature and fellow human beings, of female existence in a constant struggle for emancipation and survival. The performance focuses on female figures traveling in time, transforming the definition of female nature and the natural environment by following the "dogmas of the times"... or perhaps they define them?
In this particularly aquatic eco-artistic journey we will have as companions the Snake Goddess and other primitive and modern characters that emerge from times that we associate with innocence, romance, harmony with nature. We are witnessing their mutation, martyrdom, revival, even their death, hoping to experience a kind of renaissance that will co-ordinate with humility and reverence, awe and gratitude to the divine natural phenomena and the rich goods of Mother Earth.
two earthy, but also sea creatures, female figures, descendants of the Snake Goddess, using voices from movement and dance, a poem of kinesiological sacrifices, like a contemporary rite invoking global harmony with mother nature and planet earth
* The performance is part of the dance theater performance-GAIA (work in progress), scheduled for Summer-Autumn 2016
"Gaia, after the fall of the Sky, united with the Ocean and gave birth to gods and goddesses of the liquid element"
CONCEPT
Shifting between remote landscapes of voices and memories two strong female figure dominate the stage.
"Life is not a fast track" and "Secret Ritual" met in summer 2014 during the dance Festival Akropoditi, in Syros island.
"SoLo-4-2" is the fusion of two solo-projects inspired by heavy issues rooted in our society
Mirroring each other, diving in deep socio political issues, the two performers reach out through a strong physicality, triggering imagery and emotional empathy. They use the body to touch upon social issues relating to human nature and the planet. Moved by the need of transformation, justice and love, they both share their experiences, to inspire evolution and metamorphosis.
Based upon researches on Archetypes and the observation of the natural process of transformation as a constant reality which exists for everything and for everybody, the SoLo-4-2 project could be considered as a "scream to the human void". Premiered at Acker Stadt Palast on 2 June 2015
Georgia Petrali in Life is not a fast track procedure recalls a feminine archetype the Snake Goddess, symbol of Earth, nature, fertility, power, spirituality, reincarnation, rebirth and abundance. This figure develops in her own written and spoken texts through a very specific way to articulate movement in space.
This feminine archetype rises today as an inspiration, a promise of rebirth and mental exaltation. Her strong and explicit figure constitutes the basic inspiration of her "work in progress". As an artist, Georgia is interested in making a contribution to the society, reminding us the importance of basic life values, principles and forces.
Life is not a fast track procedure has been performed in Greece at: Akropoditi-International Dance Festival Syros, 19.7.2014
Partially inspired by Emma Goldman's text "The tragedy of Woman's Emancipation", Secret Ritual is the journey of a woman at the edge of schizophrenia, where self-punishment becomes a way of living. Through different states of being and traveling across various levels of perception, she finds her authentic Self finally bare from shame and guilt.
Her research includes studies about Jungian Archetypes in the "Kabbalistic Tree of Life" and the Alchemical transformation principals, which develop through the 3 spheres of existence: the individual, the socio-cultural and the planetary one. Employing different vocabularies and medias, Secret Ritual develops between a concrete and an abstract world. Exploring pedestrian actions, versus choreographic movement material, Jadi integrates spoken text and make use of objects. On a surrealistic landscape of rhythms, images and words, Secret Ritual takes place, in an eternal cycle of transformation.
Sectet Ritual has been performed in Greece at:
Dance Vacuum-Athens, 8.7.2014
Akropoditi-International Dance Festival Syros, 17.7.2014
Vis Motrix studio-Thessaloniki, 13.9.2014
a dance theatre performance for WATER
Agios Titos square, Saturday March 28th 2015, 21:00
According to the UN General Assembly in 2010: “The right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation constitutes a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights”.
However, more than one billion people, that is one in seven people on the planet, do not have access to safe drinking water.
“and we are all small islands of an aquatic planet”
Every day on this planet, approximately 2.000 children under the age of 5 die from diarrheal diseases and about 1.800 of these deaths are related to water and sanitation.
“and we are all small islands of an aquatic planet”
Every 22nd of March, World Water Day, we read, we get informed, we become aware, we are saddened by the statistics, we protest for the right to water, we proclaim that water is an unalienable public and eco good, essential for life, human society and ecosystems.
The dynamics of the course of events and of the whole situation shows anything but prudence. It rather shows contempt for all those “unquestionable” goods that for many people have stopped being unquestionable. Who would have expected that billions of creatures on this planet would be deprived of clean water and would bleed for a sip of “blue gold”? Who can believe that the next world war won’t be for gold, nor for oil or for food, but for water?
War for Water on the aquatic planet!
On this aquatic planet, from Chile and Bolivia to Didymoteicho and from Detroit to South Asia, water, that is considered by definition a “good”, is no longer a good. In this water crisis, the overconsumption in the Western world exacerbates the problem even more. More than 80% of the abstracted water around the planet is not efficiently used. It is just that we have learned to needlessly waste water, as the United Nations says.
“My known and unknown friend, that you were washing the sidewalks and the floors furiously, to clean them with water and chlorine, tell me now, what chemical will ever clean our soul for what we’ve done? But also for what we haven’t done?
And you that you have been washing for hours your new motorcycle, with soap and water, tell me now how difficult itis to clean your mind as well?
But also you that you were spilling bottles of water anywhere, or you were leaving the tap running and the hose neighing, spewing water, water for hours, endless hours, as if nothing ends…
And you that you concreted the river in order to build whenever you like or you closed the well for your own interest, and so on…”
And it is not only that. Over the last decades water has turned into a marketable product, often particularly expensive. It is estimated that 200 billion bottles of water are sold every year throughout the world, leaving huge profits to industries. The consumption of bottled water conceals another environmental and social risk: The commercial exploitation of the springs and rivers by the companies deprives precious water that could be distributed for free through the public water supply network. At the same time, the privatization of drinking water in various countries such as Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, Morocco and South Africa, led to a decline of its safety and quality, abandonment of water distribution infrastructure, increase of tariffs and of households that face water cut offs, and finally, to social uprisings.
Water is privatized; it becomes a marketable commodity and is priced while the water stocks decrease globally. The only winners will be the large multinational corporations. We all become scapegoats for their own profit.
Really, for what profit we are talking about, now that our lives are in danger? We forget that the amount of water on the planet is fixed, doesn’t increase and is only recycled? We forget that pollution makes its renewal frighteningly difficult?
The primary and most precious good, the source of life, the most important component of the human organism and generally, of all the animal and plant kingdom, deity in the mythology of all cultures with its inner healing power, bound to the history of mankind and the life on Earth itself, Water, is threatened from all sides. No living being on this planet can live without it.
Water is here before us, since always, it has a life and memory, changes shape and form, flows, creates ecosystems, even from nowhere! It’s inside and outside us, everywhere, but not forever!
“and I’m afraid that soon, in our times, the only liquid element that I won’t pay for, will be my tears and their saltiness, which will be chasing every time I silenced and every pillage that occurred and I stayed indifferent…”
The abandonment of ethics and needs is reflected in the breakdown of buildings, societies and relationships. Created in a moment of connection, this short film has a resonance that is recognizable to those experiencing privatization of public places and life.
The commercialization and privatization of public goods, the water, the air, the land, the sea, the seeds is legitimized under the guise of the debt and a development that only aims at profit.
All these are decided in our absence.
What is development really?
What is environmental consciousness?
Is there development when it is not compatible with nature?
Are we confusing economic self-sufficiency with the looting of a place?
Technology with greed?
At the very end, could this devastation of nature lead to the devastation of our own soul?
Art can be a catalyst; a herald of truth and dream, beauty and desire, innocence and actuality; especially in times of ‘crisis’, as in the case of Greek society. The Greek word ‘crisis’ means ‘judgement-opinion’ and this is a great philosophical statement, holding various different meanings. Judge as in faithfully thinking, perceiving, supporting an opinion, as in being clear towards an ideological view.
The balance between body, mind, heart, spirit are all involved in a ‘crisis’ era.
direction: Georgia Petrali, Daniel Bear Davis, Sideris NanoudisThis video is an exploration on wind and the forces of change that this particular element depicts on body. The subject of research in this interaction shows the effort to accept, change or reform and functions as a mediator in the quest for a physical identity (cultural, social). It is part of a tetralogy based on the platonic solids (octahedron, cube, tetrahedron, icosahedron) and the elements that each one symbolizes.
Written/Directed: Aliki Chiotaki, Georgia PetraliBlue dusted with red, this familiar blue, this well-known red, the blood that is thicker than water... and you..., how is to be pranced around like a puppet, my friend, and like it?
A stone that talks, the imprint of life on us, below us, to the right and to the left, we are not willing to see, but we speak, and we are and we go on, again and again, with the same immeasurable indifference, the same cowardice and recklessness, because all the difficulties don't come by fate alone, but by the decisions that we are.
Crocodiles and kangaroos, and animals, and humans, and a Goddess hunting me since I was a little child, and I feel like I owe her a favor, yet I fall on my knees from the ubiquitous fear in my mind's dizzying chatter...
Crete, 2.000 B.C.: The most ancient, dynamic and complex society on European soil. A powerful female figure dominates, the Snake Goddess.
Crete, 2014 A.D.: Leading region for suicides in Greece, the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons in the Mediterranean Sea, solar panels and wind turbines , oil and gas, the water and the wind, the land and the seeds...
cement everywhere...
Investments and development...
Really, what is development?
And how can this apply without harmony with nature?
And the studies and tests, aren't they tailored to our interests? Are we really playthings? Of which system? And what kind of social disintegration do we actually serve?
And what about freedom? What about our art and passion? What about our honor and morals?
Our honor as a means of thinking, as a result of our minds and wisdom, of respect and love, for the neighbor, nature, the perpetual complex of time that never counts and can never be caught...because the future is today, and we do not learn from the past, we thoughtlessly violate the wise memory of our mistakes, as our selfishness, crowned with the phobia of a rudimentary deprivation, makes us anything but complete and beautiful...
Morality as a communication code, based on a sequence of light and selflessness, darkness and courage.
Harmony with nature is being lost in the name of development which aims only at profit... The profit, not of moral ideals, but of distorted standards in the everyday life of man that, at the end of the day, is called to sorrow by his need for health and freedom...
And in the storms of our times, I wonder more and more often what happened to this society and to the Snake Goddess, the Great Mother, and she appears before my eyes... a symbol of the earth, of nature, fertility, power, spirituality, reincarnation, rebirth, abundance. She charms and tames the wild animals, an enchantress. This female archetype comes today as an inspiration, as a promise for rebirth and spiritual uplift.
Things are simple and common everywhere, because at the end of the day, we all want to be free and beautiful, my fucking friend!.
Tell me now, how's that going to happen?
Because it's been a long time since I felt both of these at once...
The balance between the body, mind, heart and spirit, all are involved in a time of "crisis".
I kiss you and embrace you tightly, because I’m tired of trying to communicate with you by looking into your eyes...
Sorry if this hurts you, but you’d better leave this puppet-theater and stop being strung so tight!
I strongly believe that "Art ought to go Everywhere".
Georgia Petrali
Concept-Text-Performance: Georgia PetraliIn March 2013 ‘Fysalida’ made an open call to attract participants for the group’s next street art action, dedicated to the International Dance Day. Shortly after, a team of people was formed who shared a common interest for the call, their love for movement, dance and... freedom!
On April 29 we danced in one of the most central squares of the city of Heraklion, Freedom Square, under the subject of what else but the freedom! Freedom of movement and expression!
Freedom, a concept that bears numerous definitions and meanings, but only one true, embodied by each one of us: a concept that inspires, provokes, motivates and… invites us all to ‘dance’ with it.
To move and express ourselves!
Heraklion, Wednesday 18 July 2012
Moving inside and outside, the Fysalida Dance is taking to the streets again, this time looking at a very critical issue on which the fate of society hangs. Dance and activism meet and mingle, coming together to confront the planet's most dangerous enemy: Man.
Οur question: Why does Crete 'have' to become an ‘electric island’?
We don't want to become trapped in that frantic race!
We want to adopt new values and a new direction.
We have a different perspective on ‘development’.
Development equals quality of life, self-determination and protection of our living space, the right to joy and above all the right to live in harmony with nature and to enjoy its bounty. We want to decide how our vital natural resources will be managed.
Heraklion, Sunday 1 April 2012
For the 1st of April 2012, Fysalida Dance focused upon the 1st of April's custom concerning the jokes with lies. Fysalida took this 'custom' that many different European Cultures share and enlarged it into a brain-storming of thoughts, movement, sound, feelings and passion for the... 'truth'.
On Sunday the 1st of April 2012, we all danced our sorrow for the socio-political situation a lot of countries 'live'. This was an honest comment and an 'activistic' action that was performed by every-day people and was expressed through movement, dance and theatre outdoor in a central street of Heraklion town in the island of Crete.
All of us performers, we simply wanted to state our disagreement to the unfairness that 'governs' our lives in a very immoral way. Immoral against the planet, the society, the people, the nature. This was and is our truth.
We would like to wish all to: Search for the Truth in our own Hearts!
And let's not forget that: "One constructs truth in the same way one constructs lies."
by Odysseas Elytis
In 2011 Fysalida Dance produced the solo performance “To Trizoni”, first appeared after a selection for a performance competition in Athens, Greece on the 24, 25, 26 of March 2011. The competition had as a theme ‘what i like in the crisis’ and all the solo performances were inspired by the ‘phenomenon of crisis’.
"To Trizoni" is a lyrical, personal ‘hymn’ not only to the world crisis but also to the personal crisis that every artist is always involved in. It basically deals with the inner need for expression and creation no matter who, no matter what, no matter where.
Everything is turning upside down and round and round and nothing seems so steady but yet the need for connecting with the ‘whole’ through art can only exist within a ‘crisis’! Our ‘personal crisis’!
Despite the lack of technical equipment and crew, this inner need almost always overtakes everything. Therefore, art can go everywhere. Art exists everywhere.
The metaphor and connection between the house and the heart.
The pure, spontaneous feeling of personal moments, within the house, within the heart.
The silence of our solitude in our house... The silence of our solitude in our heart...
Inspired by the generalised ‘crisis’ of our times, dancer and choreographer Georgia Petrali drew inspiration from this collective phenomenon, transforming it into a performance this Autumn 2011.
Through a dialogue between dance video and selected scenes from various works prepared by the Fysalida Dance, combined with a live musical-theatrical presentation worked up by Emmanouel Sgouridis, Georgia Petrali has created the dance theatre piece “Ma Crise dans Ta Crise” (“my crisis in your crisis”).
The stars of this show are divided passions and desires, day-to-day fears and dreams from those dark corners of our soul and mind that are so difficult to embrace and conquer.
In this potpourri of moods, our need for dreams, for love is vital, physical need, an undoubted form of redemption when viewed from the perspective of how we were ‘before’ and ‘after’.
The intense, spasmodic movements of the dancer at the high point of the show are nothing more than man’s struggle to release himself from the previous situation and move to the next one. This is a physiological, organic development, like that of an insect metamorphosing from larva to nymph. This condition may exist in every moment just like every moment contains within it death and life. Light and darkness.
“What impresses me about the ‘crisis’ is that as various situations approach their ‘peak’, the need for transformation becomes increasingly a search for the authentic, the integral, the whole; a search for the truth.
The hope that the caterpillar will become a butterfly.
That darkness will become light.
That corruption will resolve into catharsis.
all, that feelings become a necessity and hope becomes a traveller on the path with us”.
Georgia Petrali
In 2010 Fysalida Dance produced the dance theatre piece “Moments of Metamorphosis”. The performance “Moments of Metamorphosis” was firstly held on the 4th of June 2010 at the Tamiolaki Winery in the village of Houdetsi on Crete. The location where the performance took place was laid out so that it embraces all the special features and innovations of this specific production, by transforming the winery into a theatre. The succession of natural and artificial light combined the natural beauty of the landscape with the special features of the indoor space.
The performance is inspired by Shel Silverstein’s book ‘The missing piece meets the big O’ and deals with the need for wholeness via our interpersonal relationships using various art forms such as dance, music, theatre, photography, poetry, video art, installations and interaction with the audience. The work takes the spectator within the space and seeks to bring him close to concepts and truths which are every-day yet profound at the same time. The meaning of the book, the search for one’s self, the attempt, and the achievement of wholeness through one’s personal journey by following one’s inner voice and outer signs cannot be anything else but a thread of life for any of us.
“Moments of Metamorphosis” is a work inspired by life itself, by the simplicity and magic of love; the desire for wholeness. It is a journey from earth to sky, from darkness to light, from life to death and back to life again; rebirth. Crystal-clear moments; death contains within it a new life. Man perceives this development as an imposition, like death and is unable to be present at the moment of his own metamorphosis. The insect is not afraid of its journey from larva to pupa. It accepts its fate and its organic development and evolution which nature offers it. It receives salvation from death in life by following the path from darkness towards light. The intense, spasmodic movements of the dancer are nothing more than the insect’s struggle to release itself from the previous situation and move to the next one.
Every moment of awareness results in the birth of a truth and the death of a fear. The importance of accepting the relationship between life and death, via the movement and words of the performers, expresses the tragicomic nature of our personal fears. The conflict of our own desires, our ‘wants’ and ‘musts’, is nothing else but our personal need for freedom and love. The need to advance through awareness of our own metamorphosis, through the flow referred in the book to as ‘rolling’ rather than ‘crawling’.
Duration of Performance: 70΄In 2010 Fysalida also produced the dance video “Phobias”. This particular video was filmed outside, thereby enabling local architecture to be incorporated into the film.
“Crystal, clear moments of life and death.
Conscious moments dipped in dream and phobia.
Moments that give birth to a truth and the death of a fear.
And then…
It ‘s as if legs begin to sink into thick, white thoughts; thoughts that the wind is playing hide and seek with...
You’re afraid.
You run far away from what is utterly yours…
Your greatest fear.
The fear of being in the here and now with yourself.
You search for the door to leave…
to go out again into the world you do not know…
Free of fear this time…
going wherever you feet take you…
trusting again, you seek the unknown…
You run.
Outside.
You want to leave.
To get away from who?
From yourself?
Man!
Your ego is confusing you.”
Georgia Petrali
In 2009 Fysalida produced the video art piece “the 7 deadlies in a relationship” which was created for the Booze Cooperativa festival in the summer of 2009 on the subject of ‘the 7 deadly sins’.
The “7 deadlies in a relationship” is nothing more than a surrealistic impression of a love affair. The meeting, the evolution of the relationship with its ups and downs and high and low points, the inhibitive-defining factor of the ‘3 Fortunes’ and its ‘happy end’.
Duration of video art: 5΄In 2009 Fysalida produced the solo performance and video art piece “Insect” which together first appeared in Amorgos town on 10.4.2010 as part of the 8th International Culture and Tourism Conference ‘Yperia 2010’ on Amorgos. The video art piece “Insect” has also been screened at the 30th International Festival of Films on Art in Montreal, Canada, at the International Film Festival Document.Art in Otopeni, Romania, at Booze Cooperativa in Athens, at Athens Video Dance Project 2010, at Athens Video Festival 2010, at Athens Fringe Festival 2011, at the International Symposium of Nafpaktos 2011, at the 3rd Moving Frames-Digital Art Festival in Mitilini, at Naoussa International Film Festival-Digital Shorts 2011, at Festival Miden in the Historical Centre of Kalamata, as also at several festivals in Greece and abroad.
“Insect” describes the process of metamorphosis of an insect from larva to pupa. It is a journey from earth to sky, from darkness to light, from life to death and back to life again; rebirth. Death contains within it a new life. The insect does not fear its metamorphosis. It accepts its fate and the development and evolution nature offers it.
Man perceives this development as an imposition, like death and is unable to be present at the moment of his own metamorphosis. The insect is not afraid. It is wholly in the here and now. It receives salvation from death in life by following the path from darkness towards light. Everything is one.
The intense, spasmodic movements of the dancer are nothing more than the insect’s struggle to release itself from the previous situation and move to the next one. It is a normal, organic development. It may exist in every moment just like every moment brings death and life. Earth and sky. Light and darkness.
Duration of Performance: 15΄In 2008 Fysalida produced the film “Wrinkles and Dreams”.
The film is based on an original idea of Georgia Petrali and was implemented in the context of the programme entitled ‘Actions of promote the intervention area-Crete Regional Operational Programme 2000-2006’ in collaboration with the Heraklion Old Town Office.
In 2009 and 2010 the film “Wrinkles and Dreams” took part in various festivals in Greece (Athens, Thessaloniki, Drama, Heraklion, Kilkis, Rethymnon, Amorgos, Patra) and abroad (Japan, Poland, Italy, Portugal, Bulgaria, Hungary, Turkey, Atlanta, Jordan, Romania). To date the film has won 6 prizes. In May 2009 the film won the prize in the Personal Travel category at the Art & Tur Film Festival at Plock in Poland. In April 2010 “Wrinkles and Dreams” won the 2nd prize at the 8th International Culture and Tourism Conference Yperia 2010 on Amorgos in Greece and in October 2010 won the prize for best direction and the Grand Prix at the International Film Festival Document.Art at Otopeni in Romania. The same month, the film also won the innovative creation prize at the Patra International Film and Culture Festival in Greece and in January 2012 won the 3rd prize for its esthetic result in Artfools Video Festival 2012 in Larissa, Greece.
The film is original since it contains aspects of scenario, documentary, lyric narration and video-art. All scenes were shot outdoors and the camera places emphasis on local architecture. The background music which was especially composed for the film, and all the choreography weave themselves into the action. A collage of choreographed images brings life back to historic monuments, buildings and key locations in the neighbourhood.
The filming involved 120 professional and amateur dancers and residents of Agia Triada aged 4 to 74. All these people were brought together through community dance. This is a form of dance which seeks to mobilise a group to create a professional, creative result through movement, expression and contact with the art of dance.
Duration of film: 30΄In 2007 the Fysalida dance produced the solo-performance “Flock the stargazer” and the video art piece “Flock, the glass fish” and “Flock, the stargazer”, which were presented from 10 to 13 November 2007 at the Pagopoieion Theatre-1st floor, in Heraklion Crete. The video art piece “Flock, the star gazer” was also screened at Booze Cooperativa in Athens, at Athens Video Dance Project 2010, at Athens Video Festival 2010, at Athens Fringe Festival 2011, at the International Symposium of Nafpaktos 2011, as also at several festivals in Greece and abroad.
“Flock” and its characters are an alternative artistic insight into what is happening around us and what roles we play every day. Our fear of saying no to the theory of the flock. The traps which swallow up whole any stimulus-hook presented to us. Insecurity intensifying our senses, destroying above all the images which it demanded that we portray.
Duration of Performance: 30΄In 2006, the 4Ground Art Group in collaboration with Georgia Petrali presented the installation performance “Rooms” that was held at the Pagopoieion Theatre-1st floor, in Heraklion Crete on 11.9.2006. Material from the performance was later used in the video art piece “Rooms” which was presented at several festivals in Greece and abroad.
The above dance installation dealt with man’s need for personal refuge. A house made of teabags, a bedroom of nails and a kitchen of tar featured in the work. The performer sought quietude and calm. Along the way he became lost in the eerie rooms of the soul. Solitariness became loneliness and the need for quietude became isolation, hysteria, madness and in the end autism. A short trip from the dreamscape to nightmare that one’s personal surroundings can provide.
Duration of Performance: 25΄