AS ONE: Apostolia Papadamaki / Olivier Besson

Contact Improvisation duet by Apostolia Papadamaki and Olivier Besson.
No previous meeting or rehearsal. This is an instantly composed dance.

"When a woman and a man meet for the first time.

When they are both masters of their art devoting their life to dance as a sacred language. A heart space opens and they can celebrate true freedom, creativity, playfulness as they allow the Spirit to dance through them.

That’s what I felt when I met Olivier Besson and instead of saying ‘ hello, how are you’ we decide to improvise and talk the magical language of contact improvisation. Remembering our capacity as human beings to communicate through vibrations.

The Divine Feminine and the Divine masculine existed As One in this meeting.

Put the sound on. Music by my beloved composer and colleague for years now @trifonkoutsourelis."

Apostolia

Filmed by an i phone in koufonissi villas yoga shala in July 2018.

Apostolia is an internationally acclaimed director/choreographer and embodied spirituality facilitator, founder of Biomatic Anatomy Method, and The Happiness Retreat - Holistic Wellness.

She studied Sports Science at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Dance at the State School of Dance of Greece, earned a BA in choreography in New York under scholarships of the Onassis Foundation and the Goulandris Foundation, Contact Improvisation with Steve Paxton and dance improvisation with Julyen Hamilton, as well as well-being modalities such as Meditation, Mindfulness, Yoga, and Breath-work.

Creative, Innovative, Hardworking, Visionary, Collaborative, Apostolia has extensive experience in conceiving and directing large scale artistic projects, corporate events, opera, and film.

Being a visionary artist, a polymath, and a humanitarian with outstanding organizational and administrative skills, she served as a Member of the Board of Directors at The Athens Concert Hall (2016-2019), as the President of the Board of the State School of Dance (2004-2006). She has been leading several EU Creative Europe programs collaborating with many European countries.

Some of her major artistic achievements include Drops of Breath / the 1st underwater dance performance in the world Anamnesis / a new model of participatory performance in archeological sights, Paralympic Games opening ceremony / Athens 2004, broadcasted worldwide.

A visionary multi-artist endowed with a vast knowledge of many body-mind-soul modalities, her artistic work and teaching methods are inspired by her life long research on Ancient Greek Mythology, Philosophy, Drama, and History, linked with archetypical themes. Her work has been presented in more than 40 festivals around the world.

She has been choreographing theater productions of Ancient Greek Tragedy for more than 15 years and she has deep knowledge on how to orchestrate Logos, Melos, Orchesis ( Word, Music, Movement)

Olivier Besson is an Associate Professor of Dance in the Berklee Conservatory. He joined the Conservatory in 2004 and he teaches improvisation, contact improvisation, contact skills, improvisation in performance, and the course Dancer's Toolkit.

Most notably, Besson's work has been presented internationally at the National Institute of the Arts (Taiwan) in 1997, Die Pratze (Japan) in 2006, the Art of Movement Festival (Russia) in 2006, Canaldanse (France) from 2000 to 2007, Companie Vertige (France) from 2005 to 2010, and LshVa (India) in 2016. He has collaborated with many individuals in the United States and abroad, including Chris Aiken, Cathy Young, Jane Shockley, Lisa Schmidt, Debra Bluth, Ming-Shen Ku, Toshiko Oiwa, Liz Roncka, Emmanuelle Pépin, Chandra Cantor, and musicians/composers Mike Vargas, Peter Jones, and Sharan Leventhal.

Besson's introduction to improvisation came through his exposure to contact improvisation, which he studied with Robin Field and Andrew Harwood. He furthered his study of improvisation and real-time composition with Julyen Hamilton and subsequently started developing his own methodology. During that time, he also studied and performed Bugaku (court dance from Japan) with Arawana Hayashi. Other training includes Butoh with Maureen Fleming and Action Theater with Ruth Zaporah and Sarah Hickler.

[pmatiass]

dance is really a blessing of Humanity and seeing you dance AS ONE, brought me shivers and tears, thank you so grateful 💜✨💜