Interview/Editor: Eleni Nearchou
The Cyprus Choreography Platform returns again this year for its 25th edition. As every year, this year too, young and experienced choreographers will present their work on the stage of the Rialto Theatre. The platform will take place from Friday 14/11 until Sunday 16/11.
We spoke with Melina Ioannidou, about her work "Ishoi", which she will present at the 25th Cyprus Choreography Platform, at the Rialto Theatre.
What is your work about, Beshoi? How did the creation of this performance come about?
My work, Ishoi, is about the sounds that we humans create, either with our bodies or with our voices. I wanted to do an experiment on it, see what can come out of body movement and the voice or sounds that come out of it. I relied on the character of each of us, the "madness" we carry, and how it evolves when five performers co-exist on stage. Through the show, the five women express their female hormonal fluctuations, their different moods, but also their need to "wrinkle up", and show off without filters, something that is truly theirs. The creation of the project arose out of my own obsession with rhythms. I have always played with sounds, made rhythms with voice and body, was inspired by sounds around me, so the desire to bring this search to the stage was born.
"The composition highlights the inner flows and rhythm of life, inviting the audience into a vivid, multidimensional aural experience." What kinds of sounds make up this listening experience?
The auditory experience of the work is composed of sounds that come from the body, the voice, but also from everyday life. Part of the experiment is that we can use, in a unique way, everyday objects, things from the house, which I wanted to be heard and used without being seen. The viewer does not see, but hears and through it, he is invited to enter into a process of thought and imagination: to wonder what this object that produces the sound might be, what is its origin and how it is transformed within the work.
We also use everyday words, expressions and sounds that carry rhythm or musicality and emphasize them by turning them into rhythmic or musical patterns. I am interested in discovering how something so familiar, an object, a word, a sound that we encounter every day can acquire new life and meaning, through the work.
What emotions are you trying to evoke through the performance?
Initially I would like to create a feeling of familiarity – for the audience to feel with the sounds we create, a connection with something familiar. At the same time, however, I am interested in provoking a sense of discomfort or discomfort, a spastic, almost cringe-like mood that never stops provoking. I want the viewer to constantly move between "I feel comfortable" and "I feel uncomfortable", because there, I believe, something different is born.
At the same time, I would like to leave room for the viewers to feel emotions that I might not recognize, because everyone's experience is different. This variety of reactions is also part of the work. After all, we ourselves "play" with different sound emotions, so what will emerge each time is alive, unpredictable and constantly changing for everyone.
What is the role of events like the Cyprus Choreography Platform, both for the creators and for the audience?
The Platform is an opportunity for young choreographers as well as for the most experienced, to create innovative works, test new ideas, experiment and develop their choreographic skills in the professional field of contemporary dance. It creates the framework for a multidimensional stage with different choreographers and dance works, which ideally will be able to travel to festivals abroad. For the public, it gives the opportunity to see different performances within a festive three-day period. At the same time, to question, to be concerned, to feel various emotions, to be challenged, and generally to create a connection and more understanding for this art.
I am leaving the context of the show and the Platform now. How were you drawn to dance? What was it that made you understand that this art expresses you and through it you express yourself?
As long as I'm alive I remember dancing forever. From a young age I had a great passion for dancing, although for a period when I was more intensively involved in tennis, I paid more attention to it than to dancing, and so my talent and interest in dancing fell by the wayside.
When I had to decide at 16 what I wanted to do, I realized that dancing was what made me feel fulfilled! When I'm on stage, I feel like I'm in heaven, like I'm flying.
By completing my dance studies, I wanted to create my own opportunities and a path for myself, something I really wanted to do and enjoy. It was important for me to follow my own path, to create in the way that felt true and free, to dance in my own works and, above all, to create my own identity in movement. I realized then that choreographing completely expresses me and awakens something in me that I cannot explain in words, but which is expressed through my movement and works. I enjoy speaking through my choreography, through my body. It's exactly what we say: I was born to do what I do, because I feel it with all my soul.
