The finalists of the 7th Young Choreographers Festival Open Call

Onassis Stegi invited early-career choreographers, dance companies, and other creators of contemporary artistic practices around the concept of dance in a lab, aiming at the intersection, development, and promotion of original methodologies to submit their proposed works for the 7th Young Choreographers Festival that will take place on 1 & 2 February, 2020 at the premises of the Onassis Stegi.

The program was curated by a six-member international committee of contemporary dance and performance professionals: Vallejo Gantner, Artistic and Executive Director at Onassis Foundation USA; Ásgerður Gunnarsdóttir, Assistant Professor at the Iceland University of the Arts; Linda Kapetanea, Artistic Director of Kalamata Dance Festival and co-founder of RootlessRoot Company and the “Fighting Monkey” practice; Androniki Marathaki, choreographer and educator in “Dancing to Connect”, Alexander Graham Roberts, Co-Director of Reykjavik Dance Festival and Program Director of the Department of Performing Arts at the Iceland University of the Arts; and Sanjoy Roy, dance critic for the Guardian, editor of Springback Magazine, and holder of the well-respected “UK 2019 Dance Writing Award” for the most influential dance journalist in the UK. The committee reviewed 67 proposals in total, selecting the ones by Iro Vasalou, Georgia Tegou & Michalis Theofanous, Anastasia Valsamaki, Alexandros Vardaxoglou & Dafin Antoniadou, Candy Karra & Chara Kotsali, and Christos Mouhas.

The young choreographers that were qualified will participate in a series of specially organized meetings, workshops, and masterclasses with the artists that collaborated with the Onassis Stegi during the 2019–2020 season, such as the Brazilian dance group Passinho Carioca, which takes part in the latest staging of Aristophanes’ Birds directed by Nikos Karathanos, Linda Kapetanea, Euripides Laskarides, Androniki Marathaki, and Dimitris Papaioannou. Othen than the 6 original performances of these 9 young choreographers, the Festival will feature an unexpected prelude, a surprise performance in work-in-progress, guest contributions and parallel activities, with the intention to function as an international meeting platform around contemporary dance. The 7th Young Choreographers Festival was designed by Ileana Dimadi, Head of Dramaturgy at the Onassis Stegi.