Arianna Economou presents a new solo performance titled ‘Breathing Eye’ that consists of a combination of movement, soundscape and video. ‘Breathing Eye’ probes the relations and boundaries between movement – senses, self – other, memory – present moment. Having the principle of George Berkeley, used by Samuel Beckett at the beginning of the short film FILM (1965), “esse est percipi” (To be means to be perceived) as a starting point, Economou perceives the only script written by Becket and more precisely the character of ‘O’, as another body, and explores a choreographic approximation of him. This becomes the fundamental theme of the work. Moments, conditions and images from FILM are translated into her own narrative structures and rhythms, whilst autobiographical elements and the playing up of other archetypical characters.
FILM’s protagonist is an older man, who feels threatened by a mechanical eye which records and multiplies everything, thereby developing a very high level of self-consciousness, entering a “staring contest” with everything that is around him and perceives him. “It’s a movie about the perceiving eye, about the perceived and the perceiver – two aspects of the same man. The perceiver desires like mad to perceive and the perceived tries desperately to hide. Then, in the end, one wins.”, explained the director Alan Schneider.
Examining with a critical mood that “in the end, one wins”, Economou along with the team started the development of the work, that focused on the exploring the relationships between the dancing body with the senses, as well us with the ways in which moments from Becket’s work can be embodied and attributed through another sound and visual language.
Evagoras Vanezis
Art theorist, Curator
A Note From Arianna Economou
In constructing the dance inspired by FILM, the body brought me close to working with cellular awareness and cellular breathing. The eye, associated closely to the brain, and therefore closely connected to the primal cellular intelligence was central, throughout.
The daily routine of physical exploration in the studio, the eyes, the senses and the larger theme of perception, both internal and external, was paramount.
Interestingly, parallel to the creative process of shaping BREATHING EYE I found myself writing a whirlwind of thoughts as they jostled and asserted themselves, in note form. Therefore to the E for Eye [the camera] and O for the protagonist as the Object of Observation, I added A, myself as the observer, adding another facet to the existing material.
I would like to thank deeply, all the members who collaborated creatively and made invaluable contributions in the shaping of the piece:We all found Beckett’s FILM inspirational.
“I have thought of consciousness as a fluid, able to fill whatever shape it encounters, given patience. The more we find out about it, the more completely we might fill that shape”.
From GRAVITY by Steve Paxton
Credits:
Performance, research, dramaturgy, writing: Arianna Economou ; Curation, research: Evagoras Vanezis ; Sound design, composition : Yiannis Christofides ; Visuals, assistant director: Maud Nivet ; Dramaturgy advisor: Petros Konnaris ; Styling Advisor: Anita Michaelidis; Production Manager: Pantelis Georgiou ; Documentation, film of performance: Justyna Ataman
Photographs of performance: Sergio Vaccaro
Production: Echo Arts
Supported by the Cultural Services, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport and Youth
‘Rehearsal’ by Echo Arts, Kaimakli
June 12, 13, 23, 25, 27, 29th 2021
Dance House Lefkosia
September 16th, 19th 2021
(exact dates tba)
08:00 pm
