between here and here...
the modern dance awareness society
tiptoeing a tightrope
straddling an ocean.
Two distinct experiences of understanding the world, often in conflict.
push and pull-a foot in each
balancing on both but as they diverge
tumbling into the liminal space between.
From the falls, into the seam, the magic of discovery.
Despina Sophia Stamos arrived in the US in 1970 from a quiet, farming village, on an island in Greece. To live between two cultures, the conservative traditional Greek, and the perceived “freedoms” of America, is to teeter between the two. Performed by Despina Sophia Stamos and guest artists Bianca Falco and Marija Krtolica, between here and here…, is an exploration of the space and tensions betwixt two distinct cultures coexisting in one body. Performers will source memory, kinetic impulse, and the performance site to create short interactive vignettes throughout the duration. Interactions upon consent only. A dance performance situated in the liminal space between two concrete caverns.
For more information about these events visit the Facebook page here.
About the Artists:
Despina Sophia Stamos is a dancer, choreographer, Pilates instructor living, teaching, making in NYC since 1989. Her work has been presented at such venues as Dance Theater Workshop, PS122, PS1 and in Brazil, Greece, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Puerto Rico and Italy.
Since 2006, Stamos has been collaborating with refugees and local dancers in Athens, Greece, in a project titled passTRESpass. Since passTRESpass 2016, they have annually produced a transnational dance dialogue performed with and for refugees in New York City and Athens, live-streamed at Anita’s Way in the bustling heart of Times Square. Stamos performed with Chen and Dancers, Hikari Baba Dancers, Anahi Galante, Fly by Night, the National Caravan Theater, Felix Ruckert, Simone Forti, Zendora Dance Theater, Aspasia Yga, Wendy Osserman Dance Theater, Blum Dance Theater, Marija Krtolica, Vanessa Walters, the Daisy Spurs, Time Lapse Dance, Abigail Levine, Daria Fain, Mikerline Dance Company and the Missile Dick Chicks. In 2019, Stamos co-created “Displaced Herstories and the Persistence of Bodily Memory” with Marija Krtolica and Florence Benichou, a dance inquiry into hysteria and performance. She continues to dance with the Hungry March Band and Stamos is the founding member of the modern dance awareness society and a cofounder of Chashama.
For more information about Despina visit her website here, or follow her on Instagram.
Marija Krtolica has been making dance-theater works since the early 1990s. Her works have been presented at alternative venues and festivals in NYC – her place of birth – Belgrade, Auzits (FR), Spread Art (Detroit), Cloud Festival (London), Itsliquid Festival (Venice), etc. She holds a Ph.D. in dance from Temple University. Marija is currently choreographing a dance theatre work Re-Inventing Love, in collaboration with three other performers.
Marija is thrilled to be dancing with Despina Stamos once again and looks forward to performing with Bianca Falco for the first time.
For more information about Marija visit her website here.
Bianca Falco is a melting pot. She was a ballet soloist, a Butoh dancer, danced for Murray Louis in Italy, and came to NY on scholarship at the Nikolais and Louis Dance Lab. She was “adopted” by Ellen Stewart. At LaMaMa she was exposed to experimental and classical theater, since 1997 she has created movement for actors and regular people for several productions. Her works have been staged internationally. In 2017 LaMaMa produced her project Terra dei Fuochi/Land of Fires. Chashama granted her a residency for the project as well. She was a teaching artist in India and was invited to dance in Singapore. In 2018 she toured Italy, performed at “Performance is Alive” in Miami. Since 2019 she co-directs PassTRESpass, a project with and for refugees in Athens. In 2020 she presented her work at TIAB (The Immigrant Artist Biennal). She is from Napoli, one of the most creative, and sometimes, challenging cities in the world. Through dance, she learned that she could transcend difficulties by translating them into modern dance. She hopes to lead everyone to a different perception, a different place, where limitations are beautiful and a key for people to come together and find solutions to social issues as well as personal ones.
For more information about Bianca visit her website here, or follow her on Instagram.
