The thirty-ninth edition of the Romaeuropa Festival inaugurates its journey in partnership with the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. The protagonist of the Festival’s opening is the prestigious Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon which brings together over twenty dancers, with two different choreographies: Mycelium by Christos Papadopoulos, which is inspired by the natural world and invites us into its perceptive atmosphere of sounds and hypnotic movements; Biped by the great Merce Cunningham- widely considered the father of contemporary dance- which is a pioneering dialogue between dance and technology to the tune of Gavin Bryars and his Ensemble.
Bio
Ballet de l’opéra de Lyon: With Françoise Adret, then Yorgos Loukos, Julie Guibert, and now Cédric Andrieux as artistic director, the Lyon Opera Ballet remains a pioneer in its exploration of the highest standards of contemporary dance. As a laboratory for experimental and groundbreaking productions, with an emphasis on complemental repertoires, the Ballet is home to the greatest artists of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Deeply rooted into its region and relevant on the international scene, the company is devoted to telling and writing part of the history of dance with constant awareness to the issues of our time.
Christos Papadopoulos was born in 1982 in Nemea, a small village in the Peloponnese. He discovered theater while studying political science at Athens’ Panteion University, where he trained at the National Theater of Greece Drama School, before turning to dance. After graduating from the School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam, he returned to Greece in 2004. Following his participation in the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games, he joined Dimítris Papaïoánnou’s company, with whom he worked closely for 12 years. In 2016, he created his first piece, “Elvedon”. Inspired by the temporal flow of Virginia Woolf’s novel “The Waves”, it won him immediate international recognition. Since then, his work has constantly sought to draw closer to the infinite richness of nature’s movements, which he witnessed as a child. Far from romanticism, the choreographer stages organic entities driven by quasi-physical laws, in which individuals, as part of the group, must constantly negotiate their relationships and their need for one another. Set to the hypnotizing beats of his musician sidekick Coti K., his minimalist writing plays on the simplicity of gesture with its repetition, putting constraints and life drives in tension, inviting the audience to let go.
Credits
Biped
Created in 1999
Entered the repertoire of the Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon in 2024
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Music: Gavin Bryars
Set and holograms: Paul Kaiser and Shelley Eshkar
Costumes: Suzanne Gallo
Lighting: Aaron Copp
Danced by the Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon
Mycelium
Created on 9 September 2023
Entered in the repertoire of the Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon in 2023
Choreography: Christos Papadopoulos
Music: Coti K
Lighting design: Eliza Alexandropoulou
Costumes: Angelos Mentis
Ballet Masters: Amandine Roque de La Cruz – Pierre Advokatoff
Danced by 20 dancers of the Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon
