roots in the sky_Despina Lloyd Goula

Choreographer Despina Lloyd Goula presents two variations of an impressive dance-dialogue-with-buildings under the common, eloquent title “roots in the sky”.

Using the contemporary artistic language of “vertical dance” that is emerging wordwide, Goula investigates the unexpected experience of seeing dancing bodies when they are suspended in mid-air and in contact with specific and yet often disregarded architectural surfaces; she explores movement that uses elements of rock climbing and involves the relationship of bodies, which when tethered with ropes and other relevant equipment (harnesses and abseil devices) struggle for their freedom and risk their safety.

Dance emerges via its unique relation to each space and is experienced as something original, inimitable, fascinating. Bodies tell, in duet, the story of the primordial human wish to detach from the umbilical cord of materiality, from the connection to temporality and decay. Such bodies tend towards the experience of weightlessness that goes beyond all things human and call forward stories for superheroes and free spirits that we encounter in popular culture around the world. As the choreographer notes: “Naturally, vertical dance is a duet with your rope. With another person, it allows you to break the course of the rope that always pulls you back, creating an exciting game of two bodies defying gravity and finding ground/setting roots in the sky.”

Creation: Despina Lloyd Goula
Performance: Despina Lloyd Goula & Lisa Spaull (18 & 19/ 05), Despina Lloyd Goula & Femke Luyckx (23, 24 & 25/ 05)
Co-production: compagnie KAIROS
Rigger: Yannis Psarros
Music: Ioannis Belegrinis
Photography: Marko Dimić

Duration: 10’