“Drops of Breath”, a performance-experience at the bottom of the sea

The last weekend of September (25, 26, 27/9) will find us watching the DRopes of Breath, a dance-visual performance at the bottom of the sea of Sounio!

It sounds incredible, but the production is already ready and is being jointly signed by the choreographers, Sophie Bulbulyan (DK-BEL/France) and Apostolia Papadamakis (Quasi Stellar/Greece), in collaboration with Lia Haraki (Pelma/Cyprus) and a group of artists from twelve collaborating countries (France, Germany, Greece, Switzerland, Spain, Cyprus, Lebanon, Norway, Netherlands, Hungary, Portugal, Sweden)

Within an underwater setting that will be set up especially for the performance, 14 dancers from France, Greece and Cyprus will perform an underwater choreography to the original musical composition of Tryfonas Koutsourelis, which will be heard both at the bottom from special speakers and on the beach. This is a unique dance & visual spectacle that is being held for the first time in the world in the open sea and with an underwater audience!

The multi-collective team of Drops of Breath consists of professional dancers, three dancers with disabilities, three children aged 12 to 14 who were all trained as divers, and divers who were trained as performers.

The Drops of Breath is the main action-culmination of the innovative project "The Underwater Heart of the Mediterranean". It is a project of multiple actions that intertwine a multi-level platform, touching in depth on social, environmental, cultural and artistic values.

How will the audience watch?

The performance will take place on the beach of the Cape Sounio Hotel, at Cape Sounio, with the unique backdrop of the ancient temple of Poseidon. The audience will have the opportunity to watch in three ways:

1. Underwater (with diving suit and equipment at a depth of 6 m).
2. From the surface of the sea with snorkeling equipment.
3. From the coast via a giant screen.

For those spectators who wish to watch the performance in the water, ticketservices.gr (the pre-sale ticket service of Drops of Breath) provides detailed information hereThe organizers, taking into account the particularity of this category of spectators, have taken all the necessary safety measures, and one of them is that for every 4 underwater spectators, there will be one safety diver.

Performance identity

Conception/Choreography: Apostolia Papadamaki – Sophie Bulbulyan
Underwater music: Tryphon Koutsourelis
Underwater set design, costumes: Giorgos Georgiou
Underwater filmography: Anastasis Agathos
Buoyancy training: Tasos Papapanos
Disabled Dancer Diving Instructors: Luc Lakeman, Tasos Papapanos
Official photographers and videographers: Alexandros Anagnostopoulos / Picme.gr, Luc Lakeman
Production Manager: Manolis Sardis
Duration of underwater choreography: 40' (total performance duration: 1½ hours)

Dancers: Tasos Papapanos, Thierry Maboang, Antonis Strouzas, Christina Patsali, Eleni Diamanti, Dimitra Svingou, Irini Kourouvani, Dimitra Antonaki, Souad Daoudi, Michée Quenum, Jules Bulbulyan, Nefeli Boskoiti, Vassilis Vassiliou, Aristotelis Marinopoulos.

The entire project was selected by the Creative Europe Programme (Horizon 2020), of the EU Directorate-General for Education and Culture.

Source: dancepress.gr