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 Haris Iacovou, about her work "Whoosh", which she will present at the 25th Cyprus Choreography Platform, at the Rialto Theatre.
What does Whoosh tell? How did the creation of this performance come about?
WHOOSH recounts a set of fragmented experiences of a millennial woman, from her teenage years to the present day. The project was inspired by a Reddit thread about the beauty standards of the '00s and '10s compared to today's. The constant shifts in standards and social norms, as I have personally experienced them as a millennial, and their effect on women, was the trigger for the project. WHOOSH presents the female body as a site of continuous transformation, highlighting its resilience and power to survive, redefine and resist.
What emotions are you trying to evoke through the performance?
Through WHOOSH I seek to evoke contradictory feelings, an oscillation between tenderness and violence, softness and hardness. I want the audience to feel the conflict and coexistence of these elements, as it happens within the female body itself.
Entering the position of the spectator, how can we expect to feel watching the performance. What do we "take" with us when we leave?
The aim of the performance is to create an emotional identification with the body that is exposed, transformed and persisted. I expect, by leaving, that the show will become an occasion for a dialogue about the resilience of the body and, by extension, of existence itself, as well as about the concept of resistance.
What is the role of events like the Cyprus Choreography Platform, both for the creators and for the audience?
The Choreography Platform is an important institution for Cypriot creators, as it offers a platform for the creation and presentation of new works. At the same time, it creates a space for meeting and dialogue between the dance artists, as well as with the public.
Coming together is an integral part of the creation, but also the evolution of the dance community.
I am leaving the context of the show and the Platform now. What was it that made you understand that the art of dance expresses you and through it you express yourself?
I am fascinated by the use of the body and movement, because in it I find liberation, relaxation and resistance. I am fascinated by the dynamics of movement as a means of communication and the way it breaks the language barrier. I am fascinated by the temporality of the medium, the duration and the possibility of transcribing experience into experience and experience into collective memory.
