Anxiety in black and white, interactive installation, in a collaboration project with George Georgiou, 2015

Materials : STAGE WITH DANCE DIAGRAM (wood, plastic colour) , SOUND COMPOSITION (bubbles remix )

In a collaboration project with : George Georgiou
Reference Artists: Andy Warhol , Trisha Brown

Credits to Pavlina Georgitsis and Ifigenia Papadatou for their assistance in the recording process.

video documentation part 1 : https://www.facebook.com/1021250284604894/videos/vb.1021250284604894/1044619618934627/?type=3&theater

Part 2 : TBA

Abstract :
Why I dance...in order to feel freedom-to feel alive-to forget-to express what I cannot say-to believe-because dance is the air I am breathing and allows my body to embrace my soul...Dance is my meditation...Dance is my therapy...according to the rhythm of my life...according to the rhythm of my heart...
But this is How I feel as a dancer...a social one...
Through this project I want to prove to my audience that Dance and Music are conceptual natural languages with intrinsic and extrinsic meanings.They are physical movements and sounds, which are interrelated with rules and guiding performances in different social situations.
For this project I created a stage, where I placed a dance diagram. This diagram is a choreography, based on a sound composition that George Georgiou, a sound artist, created with pop bubbles.
Pop bubbles are used as an anti-stress technique. So I call them stress bubbles.
George recorded a collaboration of Pavlina Georgitsis, Ifigenia Papadatou and me , while we were poping the stress bubbles. Then he composed a "song" based on the theme of my project.
Based on this "song" I created a choreography, which is composed by the steps that are placed on the stage.
The viewers have to listen the "Intentional Rhythm" and follow the steps.The creation or the performance of dance seems to be rooted in the alternations of quiescence and activity.
This experience might create a small anxiety to the participant at the time of his/her involvement but at the same time it works as an anti-stress technique, because he/she has to focus in order to find a rhythm and follow the steps. This is why I call this process black and white. As first named it, has a double meaning.
Anxiety is a natural response to the reality. From time to time, it breaks through the comforting illusions that we create to ourselves about life.
I dealt with this issue as an artist, not a psychologist, although to a further exploration, I would be interested in a collaboration, which would approach it throughout this field.
To sum up the comparison of verbal and nonverbal communication(black and white again) is cleared if the viewers conceive my dance and George's music more like poetry than prose.
References and Bibliography
• Dalley, Tessa, Gabrielle Rifkind, and Kim Terry. 1993. Three Voices Of Art Therapy. London: Routledge.
• Gardner, Dan. 2008. The Science Of Fear. New York: Dutton.
• David Small.1988.ILLUSION AND REALITY : THE MEANING OF ANXIETY.London
• Judith Lynne Hanna.1980.To Dance is Human : A theory of nonverbal communication .University of Texas Press,Austin and London

Photo Documentation