30.05 — 01.06

Katerina Andreou Athens-Lyon

Bless This Mess

dance — premiere

KVS BOX

Accessible for wheelchair users | ⧖ ±1h | €18 / €15

The punk culture that emerged in the mid-1970s focused partly on aesthetics but even more so on an attitude: the possibility of undermining the functionality and productivity of the world. In opposition to hi-fi cultures that see noise as polluting the signal one wants to send, lo-fi cultures view noise as a state to be inhabited rather than a disturbance to be eliminated. This noise protects the world from being too legible. But how can a choreography embrace this state of noise? Katerina Andreou is a Greek artist whose previous creations were notable for their singular choreographic language, which completely subverts the harmony of the body and the canon of dance: the steps are disjointed and furious, with a syncopated energy that catches us off guard. With this first collective creation premiering at the festival, Andreou unveils the chaotic resistance of punk and noise as a state of mind to a world that wants to be increasingly transparent and simplified. Together with an incredibly skilled group of performers, she embraces this energy, the frank and direct gestures and steps, carrying elements of playfulness and absurdity. This carefully constructed confusion might appear as a territory in which one is not lost, but perhaps more solid and secure. Bless this mess!

Presentation: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, KVS
Conception: Katerina Andreou | Performance: Katerina Andreou, Lily Brieu Nguyen, Baptiste Cazaux, Melissa Guex | Sound: Katerina Andreou, Cristian Sotomayor | Lights and set: Yannick Fouassier | Outside eye: Costas Kekis | Technical direction: Thomas Roulleau Gallais | Production and touring: Elodie Perrin
Production: BARK | Coproduction: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, CCN de Caen en Normandie as part of the associate artist programme, KLAP Maison pour la danse Marseille, ADC Genève, Athens Epidaurus Festival, T2G Théâtre de Gennevilliers, Festival d’Automne à Paris, NEXT Arts Festival, Les SUBS – lieu vivant d’expériences artistiques Lyon, Maison de la Danse Lyon – Pôle européen de Création, CCN de Grenoble in the context of Accueil Studio, CCNR – Centre chorégraphique national de Rillieux-la-Pape, ICI – CCN Montpellier Occitanie (direction Christian Rizzo)
Residencies: Espace Pasolini, kunstencentrum BUDA
With the support of Direction des Affaires Culturelles Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Caisse des Dépôts, Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels
Bless This Mess was created in part at The Watermill Center – a laboratory for performance in april 2023

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