THE SHAPE OF ABSENCE

A piece about the Missing presents, at the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, on Friday 21st and Saturday 22nd of October, by the Cyprus based choreographer Machi Dimitriadou- Lindahl and her dance company Asomates Dynameis.

The Shape of Absence consists of two parts “Stained Shirt” a piece that was presented first time at the Dance platform 2010 and “Gravity”.

“The piece”, as the choreographer says, “is dedicated to the missing as well to those left behind, to remember, to hope, to dream. The process of mourning is a slow journey from darkness to light. It is an effort to reconcile with life and death, with the brevity of our existence. However the power of the soul wins over gravity. Desire and love are able to re-create the Shape of Absence of the beloved one and keep it tenderly in the embrace of memory. No one is lost as long as resides within us.”

The movement vocabulary Machi Dimitriadou- Lindahl chooses is flowing and lyrical. “I use”, she says the stillness, “the breath, the momentum of the falling body, or the risk one takes to fly low, to win over gravity, to find oneself out of axis, to feel the emptiness of the space, an emptiness that vibrates a Presence. I also challenge the notion of Duet by using one dancer as an echo of the other. The visual part is also very important to me, to merge the images with the dance, to create an “inside the mind” landscape of memory or of dreams. In the “Shape of Absence” I try to connect my personal memories with the feeling of the place, the people around me and their history. To create a dance piece about the Missing is a small contribution I can offer to the country that is hosting me.”

01| Stained Shirt
How stories are inscribed in our body and mind? Which stories? The ones that we share or the ones that keep us apart? Between two metallic panels standing like grave stones a man comes forth to trace and share with us the marks of the past. The division, the sacrifice, the struggle, the loss, the lust for life, the necessity to transcend, is what we all share in our common human existence.

02| Gravity
Dedicated to those who perish as well as to those who are still here, left behind, to remember, to hope, to dream. Nobody is lost as long as he or she resides within us. Love conquers “gravity”.

Supported by the Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture, the House of Cyprus, the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation

Sponsors: Shacolas Group, the Bank of Cyprus, the Costas and Rita Severis Foundation.