Transverse Orientation

Artist talk with Dimitris Papaioannou
"The Great Tamer" has thrilled the audience in 2019 and we were very much looking forward to Dimitris Papaioannou's new work. Unfortunately, due to the current situation, we will not be able to show "Transverse Orientation" now. But we remain in contact with the exceptional choreographer and his company and hope to be able to invite them again in one of the coming years. On 21 May, artistic director Olaf Kröck will instead meet Dimitris Papaioannou for an artist talk in our Digital Ruhrfestspielhaus. Admission to this digital event is free.

Directed by Dimitris Papaioannou

Co-production with Onassis Stegi, Athen

German premiere

Dimitris Papaioannou has created a new masterpiece. His latest work, which echoes themes of 2019’s festival favorite “The Great Tamer,” is once more a rhapsodic rush of images, light, and music. In “Transverse Orientation” the Greek choreographer tackles nothing less than the very essence of our existence: Thanatos and Eros, the ever-competing basic drives of human nature. Papaioannou does not tell a story in the traditional sense and yet his visually stunning creation paints a clear picture of life, death, and transience. Like a mosaic that has disintegrated into its separate parts, his production invites the audience to pick up the pieces and create their own meaning. Accompanied by the enticing music of Antonio Vivaldi, his company of dancers interacts with and around an enormous bull, a symbol of power, virility, and the Ancient God Zeus – but also of a fraught patriarchal order which stands on the brink of collapse.
Dimitris Papaioannou is a visionary trailblazer of the Greek avantgarde. His works gained international recognition for their outstanding visual language, painstaking attention to detail, and proclivity for absurd humor. He also directed the spectacular opening ceremony of the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Among other places, he worked at Tanztheater Wuppertal, where he was the first choreographer after Pina Bausch to create and direct a full stage show. There he also met American dancer Breanna O’Mara, a company member of the Pina Bausch Ensemble, who will be among the performers in “Transverse Orientation.”

Produced by ONASSIS STEGI / Co-produced by Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen, Festival d’Avignon, Biennale de la danse de Lyon 2021, Dance Umbrella / Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Fondazione Campania dei Festival – Napoli Teatro Festival Italia, Grec Festival de Barcelona, Holland Festival – Amsterdam, Luminato (Toronto) / TO Live, New Vision Arts Festival (Hong Kong), Saitama Arts Theatre / ROHM Theatre Kyoto, Stanford Live / Stanford University, Teatro Municipal do Porto, Théâtre de la Ville – Paris / Théatre du Châtelet, UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance.
With the support of Festival Aperto (Reggio Emilia), Festival de Otoño de la Comunidad de Madrid, HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts, National Arts Centre (Ottawa), New Baltic Dance Festival, ONE DANCE WEEK Festival, P. P. Culture Enterprises Ltd, TANEC PRAHA International Dance Festival, Teatro della Pergola – Firenze, Torinodanza Festival / Teatro Stabile di Torino – Teatro Nazionale.
Funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports. Dimitris Papaioannou is supported by MEGARON – THE ATHENS CONCERT HALL.