Cie Ioannis Mandafounis ©Gregory Batardon 205 Worldwide Shows in the Last 3 Years

cie ioannis mandafounis ©Gregory Batardon 205 worldwide shows in the last 3 years

REPERTORY

«‘‘ Mysterious, rigorous, funny, the choreographer’s pieces challenge a rational compre- hension, but they also sharpen curiosity and fascinate with the dancers’ quality of movement and their presence.’’

Myriam Kridi, Le Phare, September 2014 Before becoming a freelance choreographer, Ioannis Mandafounis was part of the Gothenburg Opera Ballet, the Nederlands Dans Theater II and a member of the Forsythe Company from 2005 to 2009.

Ioannis Mandafounis co-founded his company as well as the artistic collective Mamaza in 2009. Through his work, he developed a choreographic space that questions the tension between visual image and the physical feeling it produces in the viewer, or rather between the physical image and the visual feeling.

With his collaborators, he’s always searching for new opportunities to ac- quaint spectators with dance. He cultivates “a way of seeing”, making the spectator responsible for his experience as a viewer and inviting him/her to invest in what they are seeing in order to live a real experience. This desire to involve the spectator, to invite them to push open the “doors to perception”, so to speak, is a constant in his performances.

Principal creations 2007 - P.A.D. 2009 - Z.E.R.O 2011 - Cover Up 2012 - Nikel Project, Asingeline, Pausing 2013 - Eifo Efi, Twisted Pair 2014 - Garden State, ApersonA 2015 - One One One, Soli 2016 - Ossip Mandelstam. A performance 2017 - NU, Sing the Positions

Principal key dates 2004 - Greek Dance Award, Outstanding Male Dancer 2009 - Creation of the company 2011-2012 - Associated Artist at DeSingel 2012-2014 - Associated Artist At Mousonturm 2015 - Swiss Dance Award, Outstanding Male Dancer 2015-2017 - supported by PRAIRIE - Migros Cultural Percentage

3 Sing the Positions by mandafounis & parent - creation 2017

A pure and simple fusion of dance and a music concert. Pure rhythm, sensation, lots of noise and even more energy! Dance fuses with a concert, featuring extravagant fur and leather rock’n’roll costumes, as movement, voice and music come together. Ioannis Mandafounis and Manon Parent, masters of movement, have created a show that transports the audience from their busy everyday lives, to connect for a moment with simple truths expressed through dance.

‘‘ Ioannis Mandafounis anchors his choreographic principals in improvisation and the raw transmission of emotions. ’’ Anne Davier, Journal de l’ADC, March 2016

0n tour in 2017 16-28 august, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Edinburgh, UK // 5-8 october, Tanzhaus Zürich, Switzerland // 26 october, Festival Cena Cumpli- Cidades, Buenos Aires, Argentina // 29 october, Festival Cena CumpliCidades, Olinda, Brazil // 31 october, Festival Cena CumpliCidades, Joao Pessoa, Brazil // 2 november, Festival Cena CumpliCidades, Recife, Brazil // 15-19 november, Theatre ADC, Geneva, Switzerland.

4 NU by mandafounis & giudicelli - creation 2017

NU offers the spectator an opportunity to experience nudity in its simplest form. Invited by the dancer to participate in a ceremony where by both bodies will undress and be naked in a confined space, the spectator will witness the dancing body. Ioannis Mandafounis and Emilia Giudicelli dismantle the theatrical space to engage only the « essential ».

‘‘ In this piece, nothing else exists. The dancer inspires us to live the present moment, facing our body, facing the other. Everything is out of control. Each emotion is experienced in way that is pure, naked.’’ spectator, May 2017

0n tour in 2017 11 april, Tanzhaus, Zürich, Switzerland // 21-23 april, Performa festival, Losone, Switzerland // 6-7 may, L’Abri, Dance Days, Geneva, Switzerland // 10-11 may, Teatro Duse, Festival Circo Massimo, Bologna, Italy.

5 One One One by mandafounis & mcatamney - creation 2015

With One One One, the choreographers are conveying the spectator to a pertur- bing, as well as a questioning and awakening experience. The artists translate emotions from the public, transforming them to send them back in a dancing envelope.

One One One suggests a specific relation to the public. The performers take over the public space as a field for experimentation and non-representation. The performers engage physically and mentally destabilizing a certain idea of reality, giving them an opportunity to explore their limits or their relationship to transgression.

‘‘ The two dancers interact on a profound level with the spectators and invite them to test their own relationship to transgression. ’’ Marie-Pierre Genecand, Le Phare, September 2015

6 0n tour in 2017 10 february, Rangashankara, Attakkalari Biennial, Bangalore, India // 11 february, Chowdiah Memorial Hall, Attakkalari Biennial, Bangalore, In- dia // 12 february, Rangoli Metro Art Centre, Attakkalari Biennial, Bangalore, India // 14 february, Fanatika, Ahmedabad, India // 15 february, Amdavad ni Gufa, Ah- medabad, India // 25-26 february, Electrotheatre Stanislavsky, Moscow, Russia // 17 april 2017, Zico House, Beirut, Lebanon // 19 april 2017, Station Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon // 12 may, Festival Circo Massimo, Bologna, Italy // 23 july, Kalamata International Dance Festival, Kalamata, Greece // 29-30 july, Athens, Greece, Ho- rohronos Art Space // 16 september, Performance Reihe Neu-Oerlikon, Zurich, Switzerland // 19 september, Tinguely museum, Basel, Switzerland // 25 october, Teatro ElKafka, Festival Cena CumpliCidades, Buenos Aires, Argentina // 31 october, Festival Cena CumpliCidades, Casa Ribeira, Joao Pessoa, Brazil // 9-10 november, DIDStudio - Fabbrica del Vapore, Milano, Italy.

‘‘ With an aim to discover and dwell on relationships with the public, the performers were successful in creating magic among the audience. The connect with the audience created a different buzz and many could feel the magical effect even after the performance. ’’ DHNS, Deccan Herald, February 2017

7 Ossip Mandelstam. A performance by mandafounis, giannotti, mosca, myers - creation 2016

Ossip Mandelstam. A performance pays homage to the great Russian poet with gesture, energy and spoken word. The challenge the artists have given themselves in Ossip Mandelstam. A performance, is to give image to the poetry. As a physical prolonging and accompani- ment to the verse written in 1909 by the poet who would finally succumb to the ruthlessness of the Stalin regime: “What shall I do with this body they gave me/So much my own, so intimate with me? […]”.

‘‘ Ossip Mandelstam. A performance renders graceful the porosity of language. It is proof that poetry can make the body dance, and that gestures can be transformed to take on the power of song. ’’ Maxime Maillard, Le Courrier, March 2016

0n tour in 2017 28 march, Belgrade Drama Theater, Belgrade Dance Festival, Belgrade, Serbia // 1-2 december, Horohronos Art Space, Athens, Greece.

8 ApersonA by mandafounis & giannotti - creation 2014

ApersonA deals with the idea to create a dialogue between body, voice, story-tel- ling, and the role of the visual, Ioannis Mandafounis questions himself on how to communicate emotions to the public in the most direct way possible. Accompanied by Elena Giannotti, they form an immensely expressive duo. With a lively range, their faces and their gestures make us travel through varied emotional spheres, from one scene or sketch to another. The complicity of their danced game as much as their respective awareness, promises beautiful encounters in plurality.

‘‘ Ioannis Mandafounis has invented a new form of expressionism. (...) Thanks to the innovative and expressive qualities of these two dancers, the spectators accomplish formidable interior voyage. ’’ Marie-Pierre Genecand, Le Phare, November 2016

0n tour in 2017 30 march, Motum Dance Festival, Thessaloniki, Greece // 1-2 april, NAO Project - DIDstudio, Milano, Italy // 13 may, Racconti di Altre Danze, Li- vorno, Italy // 22 november, Tanzfestival Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland.

9 COMMISSIONED WORKS 2018

«‘‘ If these installation-performances highlight a process, on the stage, Ioannis Mandafounis does not present his experimentations or his choreographic research, but well thought out projects for a large and diverse public. ’’

Myriam Kridi, Le Phare, September 2014 Mistero Buffo for the Greek National Theater

For the 100th anniversary of the Russian revolution Ioannis has been invited by the Greek National Theater to create a new work based on the famous play Mistero Buffo written by Vladimir Mayakovsky. For this occasion Ioannis will have to create a piece that deals with Mouvement, Speech, Dramaturgy and Sound.

Premiere from january 18th to february 11th, 2018, Greek National Theater, Greece

It finishes when it finishes for the Royal Danish Ballet

Commissioned to create a full-length evening for the Royal Danish Ballet (Corpus Group) Ioannis will research bodily movement ideas in conjunction with the art of Magic. He hopes to make disappear not only the dancers in front of our eyes, but why not, the piece as well as the stage itself.

Premiere from april 11th to 15th, 2018, L’Abri, Geneva, Switzerland On tour from april 21st to may 9th, 2018, Royal Danish Ballet, Copenhagen, Denmark

11 COMPANY

«‘‘ Quality of movement, precision, rapidity, fluidity,fl listening, natural aptitude; from the Gothenburg Ballet to William Forsythe’s company, through the Netherlands Dance Theater and the numerous pieces that he himself has created, these are gifts that audiences around the world have been able to know and appreciate in him. ’’

Patrice Delay, jury of the Swiss Dance Prize, October 2015 Biography ioannis mandafounis

Born in Athens in 1981, Ioannis Mandafounis studied dance at the National School of Athens and at the Conservatoire de Paris. Before becoming a freelance choreographer, he was part of the Gothenburg Opera Ballet, the Nederlands Dans Thea- ter II and he became a member of the Forsythe Company from 2005 to 2009. In parallel, he formed the “Lemurius company” and created several pieces such Provalondas tin Skia (2005), Anthropines Diastasis (2007), Crosstalk (2009) and Yperparagogi (2011). In 2007 he created a new version of L’Après-midi d’un Faune for the Greek National Opera.

In 2007, he began to collaborate with Fabrice Mazliah with whom he co-created P.A.D. produced by the Dance Festival of Athens and presented in the Swiss Dance Days (2011), among others. They also created HUE, produced by the For- sythe Company for Bockenhimer Depot and Eifo Efi in 2013.

In 2009, the «Cie Projet 11» was born from their collaboration as well as the art collective Mamaza with May Zarhy. Together, they created Z.E.R.O. (2009), Cover Up (2011), Pausing and The Nikel Project- songs&poems (2012) as well as several installations like Asingeline, Context without Content and Garden State which have been shown and co-produced by numerous venues and festivals.

In addition to his work with Mamaza, Ioannis has also collaborated, and continues to collaborate, with guest artists to create works such as Ouïe-Voir with Olivia Ortega (2009), Twisted Pair with Nikos Dradonas, Katerina Skiada and Olivia Orte- ga (2013), ApersonA with Elena Giannotti (2014), One One One with Aoife McA- tamney, Soli, a collaboration with Laurent Chétouane and Roberta Mosca (2015), Ossip Mandelstam. A performance with Elena Giannotti, Roberta Mosca and Bruce Myers (2016), NU with Emilia Giudicelli (2017) as well as Sing the Positions in collaboration with Manon Parent (2017).

Ioannis Mandafounis also teaches improvisation workshops and Ballet from the point of view of the ancient martial art Budo, as well as choreographing for other companies and schools like: Ballet Junior Geneva, P.A.R.T.S. Bruxelles, Palucca Schule Dresden, Greek National Opera, K3 Kampnagel Hamburg, Tanzlabor 21 Frankfurt and others.

In 2015, Ioannis Mandafounis received the Swiss Dance Awards in the category of Outstanding Male Dancer accolades. 13 Complementary quotes

ApersonA ‘‘ The movement never stops. Gesture is always being re-launched, projected elsewhere on the stage and in the story that we tell ourselves, never closed into a single clean, finished illustration. This is one of Ioannis Mandafounis’ talents: to pass from serious experimental work to sweet, uncomplicated ravings. There is a lightness in his way of weaving his performance that reminds us of his lightness as a dancer, excellent and precise, a dancer trained at the Conservatoire de Paris and who worked wonders in the Netherlands Dance Theater and in the prestigious Forsythe Company. ’’ Marie-Pierre Genecand, Le Phare, September 2016

Eifo Efi ‘‘ Word and action syncopate perfectly with the variant lighting changes as the audience watches their collaboration and the fusion of themes, as they catch a phrase of the text or action that is relatable to them. The duo’s physicality is fast and precise, they engage in brief moments of contact which break the isolation of their narratives. ’’ Victoria Graaf-Raw, Jomba Festival, August 2016

Twisted Pair ‘‘ In terms of the play on perspectives that reminds us of post-modern research, animality seizes the stage and gives birth to human language. A falsely realistic piece, Twisted Pair questions the perception of reality. ’’ Cécile Dalla Torre, Le Courrier, December 2013

P.A.D. ‘‘ The pair Ioannis Mandafounis and Fabrice Mazliah ; two of them dancers for a long time in the company of William Forsythe in Frankfurt. It is the least to say that their duo P.A. D. defies expectations from the choreographic representation that inspired this masterpiece. ’’ Gérard Mayen, MOUVEMENT magazine

‘‘ a subtle multi duet about intimacy and distance. A sparkling visual experience ’’ Sander Hiskemuller, TELEGRAAF Newspaper 14 Agenda 2017

14-15 january, Eifo Efi, Los Angeles, Odyssey Theatre, United States 22 january, Twisted Pair, DansARTe, Patras, Greece 10-12 february, One One One, Attakkalari Biennial, Bangalore, India 14 february, One One One, Fanatika, Ahmedabad, India 15 february, One One One, Amdavad ni Gufa, Ahmedabad, India 25-26 february, One One One, Electrotheatre Stanislavsky, Moscow, Russia 25 march, Historia | Container, Teatro Casa Ribeira, Natal, Brazil 28 march, Ossip Mandelstam. A performance, Belgrade Dance Festival, Belgrade, Serbia 30 march, ApersonA, Motum Dance Festival, Kalamaria-Thessalonica, Greece 1-2 april, ApersonA, NAO Project, DIDStudio, Milano, Italy 9-10 april, Asingeline, Dublin City LAB Gallery, Dublin, Ireland 11 april, NU, Tanzhaus, Zürich, Switzerland 17 april, One One One, Zico House, Beirut, Lebanon 19 april, One One One, Station Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon 21-23 april, NU, Performa festival, Losone, Switzerland 6-7 april, NU, L’Abri, Dance Days, Geneva, Switzerland 10-11 april, NU, Teatro Duse, Festival Circo Massimo, Bologna, Italy 12 april, One One One, Teatro Duse, Festival Circo Massimo, Bologna, Italy 13 april, ApersonA, Racconti di Altre Danze, Livorno, Italy 7-10 june, HA, Theater ADC, Geneva, Switzerland 23 july, One One One, Kalamata International Dance Festival, Kalamata, Greece 29-30 july, One One One, Horohronos Art Space, Athens, Greece 16-28 august, Sing the Positions, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Edinburgh, UK 16 september, One One One, Performance Reihe Neu-Oerlikon, Zurich, Switzerland 19 september, One One One, Tinguely museum, Basel, Switzerland 5-8 october Sing the Positions, Tanzhaus, Zurich, Switzerland 25 october, One One One, Festival Cena CumpliCidades, Buenos Aires, Argentina 26 october, Sing the Positions, Festival Cena CumpliCidades, Buenos Aires, Argentina 29 october, Sing the Positions, Festival Cena CumpliCidades, Olinda, Brazil 31 october, One One One, Festival Cena CumpliCidades, Joao Pessoa, Brazil 1 november, Sing the Positions, Festival Cena CumpliCidades, Joao Pessoa, Brazil 1 november, Historia | Container, Festival Cena CumpliCidades, Joao Pessoa, Brazil 2 november, Sing the Positions, Festival Cena CumpliCidades, Recife, Brazil 2 november, Historia | Container, Recife, Brazil, Festival Cena CumpliCidades 15-19 november, Sing the Positions, Theater ADC, Geneva, Switzerland 9-10 november, One One One, DIDStudio - Fabbrica del Vapore, Milano, Italy 22 november, ApersonA, Tanzfestival Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland 1-2 december, Ossip Mandelstam. A performance, Horohronos Art Space, Athens, Greece 15 cie ioannis mandafounis www.mandafounis.com

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