Dimitris Papaioannou
Encyclopedia
Dimitris Papaioannou is a Greek
avant-garde
stage director, choreographer
and visual artist
who drew international media attention and acclaim with his creative direction of the Opening Ceremony
of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games
. His varied career spans three decades and has seen him conceive and direct stage works for Edafos Dance Theatre and Elliniki Theamaton, direct opera
s and music stage shows, work as a costume
, set and make-up designer
, and published over 40 comics
.
, Papaioannou showed a flair for fine art
from an early age, and studied under the renowned Greek
painter
Yannis Tsarouchis
for three years in his mid-teens. At 19, he earned himself a place at the Athens School of Fine Arts
, entering the institution with the highest marks attained by any student, and there studying under Dimitris Mytaras
and Rena Papaspyrou.
and comic book creator
. He presented his art work at a number of exhibitions, produced illustration
s for numerous magazine
s, and designed and co-edited the countercultural fanzine
Kontrosol sto Haos (1986–1992), one of the few publications to include openly gay content at that time in Greece. He also contributed to the Greek gay activist magazine To Kraximo (1981–1994) in the early 1980s, and gave an interview to the publication in 1993. Moreover, he published over 40 comics
in Greek alternative comics magazines such as Babel and Para Pende, many of which incorporated gay themes and explicit images (such as 1986's Rock 'n' Roll, 1988's My Ex-Boyfriend, and 1993's Heart-Shaped Earth). He was awarded first prize in a competition organised by Marseille Public Transport Authority at the 5th Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean, held in Marseille
in 1990, for his comic Un Bon Plan.
and the performing arts
while still at the Athens School of Fine Arts
, training and experimenting as a performer and choreographer, as well as a costume
, set and make-up designer
with dance companies
in Greece
. In 1986, Papaioannou took a trip to New York
where he was introduced to the Erick Hawkins
Technique at the dancer and choreographer’s studio, and where he attended seminars on Butoh
given by Maureen Fleming
at La MaMa E.T.C.
While in America, he choreographed and performed in the 1986 opera
The Monk and the Hangman's Daughter, directed by Ellen Stewart
and presented in Baltimore
.
in 1986, he founded Edafos Dance Theatre (έδαφος: "ground" in Greek
) with Angeliki Stellatou, and went on to conceive, direct, choreograph and produce all 17 of the company’s productions over its 16 years of life (the company disbanded in 2002). The group’s four early works – The Mountain–The Raincoat in 1987, and Room I–Room II in 1988 – represented Greece
at the 3rd and 4th Biennials of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean, held in Barcelona
and Bologna
respectively, and were warmly received by the press – Stefano Casi of the Italian
L'Unità
described the company as “the revelation of the Festival” in 1988.
In 1989, Papaioannou left Greece for Germany
to work as an unpaid trainee assistant to Robert Wilson
in Hamburg
as he prepared The Black Rider: The Casting of the Magic Bullets
with Tom Waits
and William S. Burroughs
. He then accompanied Wilson to Berlin
to act as a stand-in for the lights for his production of Orlando.
Papaioannou, once back in Athens, created The Last Song of Richard Strauss in collaboration with the visual artist Nikos Alexiou in 1990, the first in a series of critical successes for the Edafos Dance Theatre company. The Last Song was incorporated into the 1991 trilogy
The Songs, which was selected to represent Greece the following year at both the 6th Biennial from Young Artists of Europe and the Mediterranean in Valencia and at the Seville Expo '92
. The Songs was also seen by the then Greek Minister for Culture
Melina Mercouri
, who secured regular state funding for the company.
Moons followed in 1992, a two-part work that drew upon the poetry
of Sappho
and the ballet
Le Spectre de la Rose
, but it was 1993's Medea that was to prove the company's greatest success. This dance-theatre retelling of the Medea
myth was performed 52 times by the year 2000, touring festivals and venues across Europe
and the Mediterranean region, visiting New York
, and representing Greece at the Lisbon Expo '98
. In her review of the 1998 performance of Medea at the 12th Lyon Dance Biennial, Anna Kisselgoff of The New York Times
describes the production as "the festival's big surprise", praising its "extraordinary passion" and "striking intensity". Medea was named "Best Choreography" at the Greek National Awards for Dance in 1994.
Other major Edafos Dance Theatre works include:
1995's A Moment's Silence, the first Greek stage work to deal directly with the issue of AIDS
(a topic Papaioannou also tackled in his 1987 comic The Red Freckles on Your Skin), presented the world première of The Songs of Sin, a cycle of songs written by the Oscar-winning composer
Manos Hadjidakis
, and of the specially commissioned Requiem for the End of Love by composer Yorgos Koumendakis. A Moment's Silence was dedicated to the memory of Alexis Bistikas, who died of AIDS in 1995.
1995's Xenakis' Oresteia – The Aeschylus Suite, a retelling of Aeschylus
' Oresteia
set to the music of Iannis Xenakis
and performed at the Ancient Epidaurus Theatre
as part of the Epidaurus Festival.
1999's Human Thirst, a collection of six short choreographies that included 1990's The Last Song of Richard Strauss, won awards for "Best Production" and "Best Female Performance" (Angeliki Stellatou) at the Greek National Awards for Dance. Outside Greece, the production was performed in Cyprus
, France
and the United Kingdom
.
2001's For Ever, a non-narrative work that proved to be the last Edafos Dance Theatre production, was performed for the final time in Athens
in the summer of 2002. The work was named "Best Production" at the Greek National Awards for Dance.
He directed two opera
s for the Athens Megaron Concert Hall: Thanos Mikroutsikos
's The Return of Helen in 1999 (which was also performed at the Montpellier Opera in France and the Teatro Verdi in Florence
, Italy
), and Bellini's
La Sonnambula
in 2000. He also directed two stage shows for the Greek
singer Haris Alexiou
(1995's Nefeli and 1998's Tree), and two for Alkistis Protopsalti (1998's Volcano and 2000's A Tale).
As a choreographer, Papaioannou worked with the Greek National Theatre, the National Theatre of Northern Greece, Lefteris Vogiatzis' nea SKINI theatre company, and the Athens Festival
(a 1994 show with George Dalaras
), and created choreographies for two works directed by the Oscar-nominated director Michael Cacoyannis: 1994's Theodora, written and performed by Irene Papas
, and the 1995 production of Luigi Cherubini
's opera Medea
, for which he also produced the costumes. He also designed sets and costumes for the Greek National Opera
, and a number of Greek theatre and dance companies. As a performer, he worked with numerous Greek dance companies, including OKTANA Dance Theatre.
His film work included performances in Menelaos Karamagiolis' 1998 feature film
Black Out p.s. Red Out and the 1990 film short The Kiss by Alexis Bistikas (which saw him engage in an on-screen kiss with the actor Stavros Zalmas), and sets for Bistikas' 1989 film short The Marbles.
and Closing Ceremonies of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games
by Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki
, President of the Athens 2004 Organising Committee for the Olympic Games. Three years in the making, the Opening Ceremony
was hailed a "triumph" by Time
magazine and The Times
of London
.
In 2005, following the success of the Athens 2004 Olympic Ceremonies, Papaioannou received the Golden Cross of the Order of Honour, awarded by the President of the Hellenic Republic for outstanding artistic achievement.
, his first work following his creative direction of the Opening
and Closing Ceremonies of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games
. 2 was produced in collaboration with the electronic music
composer
K.BHTA
for the production company Elliniki Theamaton. A "dissection of the male psyche", the production commanded a large of amount of Greek press attention, not least for its open references to homosexuality. 2 proved a commercial success; its run was extended twice and over 100,000 tickets were sold in total.
The work seems to draw upon a range of influences, including the work of Jean Genet
, René Magritte
and Robert Wilson
. Inspiration for the show also came partly from Papaioannou's experiences as a gay man in Greece. Contemporary magazine described 2 as an "inspiring" work that "captures the zeitgeist".
A DVD of 2, produced and directed for the screen by Athina Rachel Tsangari of HAOS FILM, was released on 11 December 2007 by Elliniki Theamaton and Modern Times.
in the summer of 2008.
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
stage director, choreographer
Choreography
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...
and visual artist
Visual arts
The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...
who drew international media attention and acclaim with his creative direction of the Opening Ceremony
2004 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony
The Opening Ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games was held on August 13, 2004 at the Olympic Stadium in Maroussi, Greece, a suburb of Athens. 72,000 spectators attended the event, with approximately 15,000 athletes from 202 countries participating in the ceremony as well...
of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
. His varied career spans three decades and has seen him conceive and direct stage works for Edafos Dance Theatre and Elliniki Theamaton, direct opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
s and music stage shows, work as a costume
Costume design
Costume design is the fabrication of apparel for the overall appearance of a character or performer. This usually involves researching, designing and building the actual items from conception. Costumes may be for a theater or cinema performance but may not be limited to such...
, set and make-up designer
Designer
A designer is a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that "specifies the structural properties of a design object". In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics, is referred to as a...
, and published over 40 comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
.
Fine arts training
Born in AthensAthens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Papaioannou showed a flair for fine art
Fine art
Fine art or the fine arts encompass art forms developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than practical application. Art is often a synonym for fine art, as employed in the term "art gallery"....
from an early age, and studied under the renowned Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
Yannis Tsarouchis
Yannis Tsarouchis
-Early life:Born in Piraeus, he studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts . He was also a student of Photios Kontoglou, who introduced him to Byzantine iconography, while he also studied popular architecture and dressing customs...
for three years in his mid-teens. At 19, he earned himself a place at the Athens School of Fine Arts
Athens School of Fine Arts
The Athens School of Fine Arts , is Greece's premier art school whose main objective is to develop the artistic talents of its students.-History:Athens School of Fine Arts was established on 12 January 1837, known as the School for the Arts...
, entering the institution with the highest marks attained by any student, and there studying under Dimitris Mytaras
Dimitris Mytaras
Dimitris Mytaras is a Greek artist born in Chalkis in 1934 and is considered one of the important Greek painters of the 20th century.His work is mainly inspired by the human figure, and a combination of naturalism and expressionism...
and Rena Papaspyrou.
Early recognition
Papaioannou first attracted attention as a visual artist, illustratorIllustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
and comic book creator
Comic book creator
A comic book creator is someone who creates a comic book or graphic novel.The production of a comic book by one of the major comic book companies in the U.S...
. He presented his art work at a number of exhibitions, produced illustration
Illustration
An illustration is a displayed visualization form presented as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that is created to elucidate or dictate sensual information by providing a visual representation graphically.- Early history :The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric...
s for numerous magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
s, and designed and co-edited the countercultural fanzine
Fanzine
A fanzine is a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon for the pleasure of others who share their interest...
Kontrosol sto Haos (1986–1992), one of the few publications to include openly gay content at that time in Greece. He also contributed to the Greek gay activist magazine To Kraximo (1981–1994) in the early 1980s, and gave an interview to the publication in 1993. Moreover, he published over 40 comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
in Greek alternative comics magazines such as Babel and Para Pende, many of which incorporated gay themes and explicit images (such as 1986's Rock 'n' Roll, 1988's My Ex-Boyfriend, and 1993's Heart-Shaped Earth). He was awarded first prize in a competition organised by Marseille Public Transport Authority at the 5th Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean, held in Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
in 1990, for his comic Un Bon Plan.
Dance training
Papaioannou began to take an interest in danceDance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
and the performing arts
Performing arts
The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...
while still at the Athens School of Fine Arts
Athens School of Fine Arts
The Athens School of Fine Arts , is Greece's premier art school whose main objective is to develop the artistic talents of its students.-History:Athens School of Fine Arts was established on 12 January 1837, known as the School for the Arts...
, training and experimenting as a performer and choreographer, as well as a costume
Costume design
Costume design is the fabrication of apparel for the overall appearance of a character or performer. This usually involves researching, designing and building the actual items from conception. Costumes may be for a theater or cinema performance but may not be limited to such...
, set and make-up designer
Designer
A designer is a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that "specifies the structural properties of a design object". In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics, is referred to as a...
with dance companies
Dance company
A dance troupe or dance company is a group of dancers and associated personnel who work together to perform dances as a spectacle or entertainment.-Members:*Artistic Director*Choreographers*Dancers*Board of Directors*Education administrator...
in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. In 1986, Papaioannou took a trip to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
where he was introduced to the Erick Hawkins
Erick Hawkins
Frederick Hawkins known as Erick Hawkins was a leading American modern-dance choreographer and dancer...
Technique at the dancer and choreographer’s studio, and where he attended seminars on Butoh
Butoh
is the collective name for a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, or movement inspired by the movement. It typically involves playful and grotesque imagery, taboo topics, extreme or absurd environments, and is traditionally performed in white body makeup...
given by Maureen Fleming
Maureen Fleming
Maureen Fleming is an American dancer, performance artist, and choreographer from New York City. She studied butoh dance and is known for her meditative, dreamlike solo dances, which include elements of contortion, and in which she often performs unclothed...
at La MaMa E.T.C.
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club is an off-off Broadway theatre founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart, and named in reference to her. Located on Manhattan's Lower East Side, the theatre grew out of Stewart's tiny basement boutique for her fashion designs; the boutique's space acted as a theatre for...
While in America, he choreographed and performed in the 1986 opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
The Monk and the Hangman's Daughter, directed by Ellen Stewart
Ellen Stewart
Ellen Stewart was an American theater director and producer and the founder of La MaMa, E.T.C. . In the 1950s she worked as a fashion designer for Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Lord & Taylor, and Henri Bendel.-Biography:Ellen Stewart was either born in Alexandria, Louisiana or Chicago,...
and presented in Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
.
Edafos Dance Theatre (1986–2002)
Upon his return to AthensAthens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
in 1986, he founded Edafos Dance Theatre (έδαφος: "ground" in Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
) with Angeliki Stellatou, and went on to conceive, direct, choreograph and produce all 17 of the company’s productions over its 16 years of life (the company disbanded in 2002). The group’s four early works – The Mountain–The Raincoat in 1987, and Room I–Room II in 1988 – represented Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
at the 3rd and 4th Biennials of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean, held in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
and Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
respectively, and were warmly received by the press – Stefano Casi of the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
L'Unità
L'Unità
l'Unità is an Italian left-wing newspaper, originally founded as official newspaper of the Italian Communist Party.-History:L'Unità was founded by Antonio Gramsci on 12 February 1924, as the newspaper of workers and peasants, the official newspaper of Italian Communist Party : it was printed in...
described the company as “the revelation of the Festival” in 1988.
In 1989, Papaioannou left Greece for Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
to work as an unpaid trainee assistant to Robert Wilson
Robert Wilson (director)
Robert Wilson is an American avant-garde stage director and playwright who has been called "[America]'s — or even the world's — foremost vanguard 'theater artist'". Over the course of his wide-ranging career, he has also worked as a choreographer, performer, painter, sculptor, video...
in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
as he prepared The Black Rider: The Casting of the Magic Bullets
The Black Rider
The Black Rider: The Casting of the Magic Bullets is a self-billed "musical fable" in the avant-garde tradition created through the collaboration of theatre director Robert Wilson, musician Tom Waits, and writer William S. Burroughs. Wilson was largely responsible for the design and direction....
with Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
and William S. Burroughs
William S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...
. He then accompanied Wilson to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
to act as a stand-in for the lights for his production of Orlando.
Papaioannou, once back in Athens, created The Last Song of Richard Strauss in collaboration with the visual artist Nikos Alexiou in 1990, the first in a series of critical successes for the Edafos Dance Theatre company. The Last Song was incorporated into the 1991 trilogy
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
The Songs, which was selected to represent Greece the following year at both the 6th Biennial from Young Artists of Europe and the Mediterranean in Valencia and at the Seville Expo '92
Seville Expo '92
The Universal Exposition of Seville took place from Monday, April 20 to Monday, October 12, 1992 on La Isla de La Cartuja , Seville, Spain. The theme for the Expo was "The Age of Discovery" and over 100 countries were represented...
. The Songs was also seen by the then Greek Minister for Culture
Minister for Culture (Greece)
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism is a government department of Greece entrusted with the preservation of the country's cultural heritage, the arts, as well as sports, through the subordinate General Secretariat for Sport...
Melina Mercouri
Melina Mercouri
Melina Mercouri , born as Maria Amalia Mercouri was a Greek actress, singer and politician.As an actress she made her film debut in Stella and met international success with her performances in Never on Sunday, Phaedra, Topkapi and Promise at Dawn...
, who secured regular state funding for the company.
Moons followed in 1992, a two-part work that drew upon the poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
of Sappho
Sappho
Sappho was an Ancient Greek poet, born on the island of Lesbos. Later Greeks included her in the list of nine lyric poets. Her birth was sometime between 630 and 612 BC, and it is said that she died around 570 BC, but little is known for certain about her life...
and the ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
Le Spectre de la Rose
Le Spectre de la Rose
Le Spectre de la Rose is a ballet of the Ballets Russes based on a poem by Théophile Gautier. The music, by Carl Maria von Weber, was his 1819 piano piece Invitation to the Dance, in the 1841 orchestration by Hector Berlioz. Choreography was by Michel Fokine and set and costume design by Léon Bakst...
, but it was 1993's Medea that was to prove the company's greatest success. This dance-theatre retelling of the Medea
Medea
Medea is a woman in Greek mythology. She was the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, niece of Circe, granddaughter of the sun god Helios, and later wife to the hero Jason, with whom she had two children, Mermeros and Pheres. In Euripides's play Medea, Jason leaves Medea when Creon, king of...
myth was performed 52 times by the year 2000, touring festivals and venues across Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and the Mediterranean region, visiting New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and representing Greece at the Lisbon Expo '98
Expo '98
Expo '98 was an official specialised World's Fair held in Lisbon, Portugal from Friday, May 22 to Wednesday, September 30, 1998. The theme of the fair was "The Oceans, a Heritage for the Future," chosen in part to commemorate 500 years of Portuguese discoveries...
. In her review of the 1998 performance of Medea at the 12th Lyon Dance Biennial, Anna Kisselgoff of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
describes the production as "the festival's big surprise", praising its "extraordinary passion" and "striking intensity". Medea was named "Best Choreography" at the Greek National Awards for Dance in 1994.
Other major Edafos Dance Theatre works include:
1995's A Moment's Silence, the first Greek stage work to deal directly with the issue of AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
(a topic Papaioannou also tackled in his 1987 comic The Red Freckles on Your Skin), presented the world première of The Songs of Sin, a cycle of songs written by the Oscar-winning composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
Manos Hadjidakis
Manos Hadjidakis
Manos Hatzidakis was a Greek composer and theorist of the Greek music. He was also one of the main prime movers of the "Éntekhno" song ....
, and of the specially commissioned Requiem for the End of Love by composer Yorgos Koumendakis. A Moment's Silence was dedicated to the memory of Alexis Bistikas, who died of AIDS in 1995.
1995's Xenakis' Oresteia – The Aeschylus Suite, a retelling of Aeschylus
Aeschylus
Aeschylus was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, and is often described as the father of tragedy. His name derives from the Greek word aiskhos , meaning "shame"...
' Oresteia
The Oresteia
The Oresteia is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus which concerns the end of the curse on the House of Atreus. When originally performed it was accompanied by Proteus, a satyr play that would have been performed following the trilogy; it has not survived...
set to the music of Iannis Xenakis
Iannis Xenakis
Iannis Xenakis was a Romanian-born Greek ethnic, naturalized French composer, music theorist, and architect-engineer. He is commonly recognized as one of the most important post-war avant-garde composers...
and performed at the Ancient Epidaurus Theatre
Epidaurus
Epidaurus was a small city in ancient Greece, at the Saronic Gulf. Two modern towns bear the name Epidavros : Palaia Epidavros and Nea Epidavros. Since 2010 they belong to the new municipality of Epidavros, part of the peripheral unit of Argolis...
as part of the Epidaurus Festival.
1999's Human Thirst, a collection of six short choreographies that included 1990's The Last Song of Richard Strauss, won awards for "Best Production" and "Best Female Performance" (Angeliki Stellatou) at the Greek National Awards for Dance. Outside Greece, the production was performed in Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
2001's For Ever, a non-narrative work that proved to be the last Edafos Dance Theatre production, was performed for the final time in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
in the summer of 2002. The work was named "Best Production" at the Greek National Awards for Dance.
Other work (1986–2000)
Beyond his work with Edafos Dance Theatre, Papaioannou undertook a number of other projects between 1986 and 2000.He directed two opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
s for the Athens Megaron Concert Hall: Thanos Mikroutsikos
Thanos Mikroutsikos
Athanasios Mikroutsikos was born in Patras, Greece and is one of the leading composers of popular and classical music in his home country. He studied music theory and piano at the Patras Philharmonic Society and at the Greek Conservatory and continued under Yiannis A. Papaioannou...
's The Return of Helen in 1999 (which was also performed at the Montpellier Opera in France and the Teatro Verdi in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
), and Bellini's
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
La Sonnambula
La sonnambula
La sonnambula is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the bel canto tradition by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ballet-pantomime by Eugène Scribe and Jean-Pierre Aumer called La somnambule, ou L'arrivée d'un nouveau seigneur.The first...
in 2000. He also directed two stage shows for the Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
singer Haris Alexiou
Haris Alexiou
Haris Alexiou is a Greek singer. She is considered one of the most popular singers in Greece and has been commercially successful since the 1970s. She has worked with important Greek songwriters and composers, has performed at top musical theatres all over the world and has received several awards...
(1995's Nefeli and 1998's Tree), and two for Alkistis Protopsalti (1998's Volcano and 2000's A Tale).
As a choreographer, Papaioannou worked with the Greek National Theatre, the National Theatre of Northern Greece, Lefteris Vogiatzis' nea SKINI theatre company, and the Athens Festival
Athens Festival
Athens - Epidaurus Festival is an annual arts festival that takes place in Athens and Epidaurus, from May to October. It is one of the most famous festivals in Greece. The festival includes musical, theatrical and other cultural events....
(a 1994 show with George Dalaras
George Dalaras
George Dalaras , also possibly spelled as Yorgos or Giorgos Dalaras, is a Greek singer. He is of international fame and has recently been selected as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. He was born in Nea Kokinia, Piraeus. His father was Loukas Daralas, a singer of rebetiko.-Early...
), and created choreographies for two works directed by the Oscar-nominated director Michael Cacoyannis: 1994's Theodora, written and performed by Irene Papas
Irene Papas
Irene Papas is a Greek actress and occasional singer, who has starred in over seventy films in a career spanning more than fifty years.-Life:...
, and the 1995 production of Luigi Cherubini
Luigi Cherubini
Luigi Cherubini was an Italian composer who spent most of his working life in France. His most significant compositions are operas and sacred music. Beethoven regarded Cherubini as the greatest of his contemporaries....
's opera Medea
Médée (Cherubini)
Médée is a French language opéra-comique by Luigi Cherubini.The libretto by François-Benoît Hoffmann was based on Euripides' tragedy of Medea and Pierre Corneille's play Médée....
, for which he also produced the costumes. He also designed sets and costumes for the Greek National Opera
Greek National Opera
The Greek National Opera is the country's state lyric opera company, located at 59 Akadimias Street in centralAthens. It is a public corporation under the supervision of the Greek Ministry of Culture and administered by the Board of Trustees and its Artistic Director.The organization is responsible...
, and a number of Greek theatre and dance companies. As a performer, he worked with numerous Greek dance companies, including OKTANA Dance Theatre.
His film work included performances in Menelaos Karamagiolis' 1998 feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
Black Out p.s. Red Out and the 1990 film short The Kiss by Alexis Bistikas (which saw him engage in an on-screen kiss with the actor Stavros Zalmas), and sets for Bistikas' 1989 film short The Marbles.
Athens 2004 Olympic Ceremonies
In 2001, Papaioannou was appointed Artistic Director of the Opening2004 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony
The Opening Ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games was held on August 13, 2004 at the Olympic Stadium in Maroussi, Greece, a suburb of Athens. 72,000 spectators attended the event, with approximately 15,000 athletes from 202 countries participating in the ceremony as well...
and Closing Ceremonies of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
by Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki
Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki
Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki is a Greek business woman. She is best known for being the president of the bidding and organizing committee for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece...
, President of the Athens 2004 Organising Committee for the Olympic Games. Three years in the making, the Opening Ceremony
2004 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony
The Opening Ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games was held on August 13, 2004 at the Olympic Stadium in Maroussi, Greece, a suburb of Athens. 72,000 spectators attended the event, with approximately 15,000 athletes from 202 countries participating in the ceremony as well...
was hailed a "triumph" by Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine and The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
In 2005, following the success of the Athens 2004 Olympic Ceremonies, Papaioannou received the Golden Cross of the Order of Honour, awarded by the President of the Hellenic Republic for outstanding artistic achievement.
2 ("Two")
On 24 November 2006, Papaioannou premièred 2 in AthensAthens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, his first work following his creative direction of the Opening
2004 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony
The Opening Ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games was held on August 13, 2004 at the Olympic Stadium in Maroussi, Greece, a suburb of Athens. 72,000 spectators attended the event, with approximately 15,000 athletes from 202 countries participating in the ceremony as well...
and Closing Ceremonies of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
. 2 was produced in collaboration with the electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
K.BHTA
Kbhta
K.Bhta is a Greek artist. He was born in Melbourne, Australia, where he studied painting and art history before moving to Athens, where he studied graphic design. In 1992 he formed the electronic band Stereo Nova, with which he recorded five official albums...
for the production company Elliniki Theamaton. A "dissection of the male psyche", the production commanded a large of amount of Greek press attention, not least for its open references to homosexuality. 2 proved a commercial success; its run was extended twice and over 100,000 tickets were sold in total.
The work seems to draw upon a range of influences, including the work of Jean Genet
Jean Genet
Jean Genet was a prominent and controversial French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. Early in his life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but later took to writing...
, René Magritte
René Magritte
René François Ghislain Magritte[p] was a Belgian surrealist artist. He became well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images...
and Robert Wilson
Robert Wilson (director)
Robert Wilson is an American avant-garde stage director and playwright who has been called "[America]'s — or even the world's — foremost vanguard 'theater artist'". Over the course of his wide-ranging career, he has also worked as a choreographer, performer, painter, sculptor, video...
. Inspiration for the show also came partly from Papaioannou's experiences as a gay man in Greece. Contemporary magazine described 2 as an "inspiring" work that "captures the zeitgeist".
A DVD of 2, produced and directed for the screen by Athina Rachel Tsangari of HAOS FILM, was released on 11 December 2007 by Elliniki Theamaton and Modern Times.
MEDEA2
Papaioannou prepared MEDEA2, a revival of his 1993 production Medea with an all-new cast, to première at the Athens FestivalAthens Festival
Athens - Epidaurus Festival is an annual arts festival that takes place in Athens and Epidaurus, from May to October. It is one of the most famous festivals in Greece. The festival includes musical, theatrical and other cultural events....
in the summer of 2008.