Nicosia, Cyprus. Dancer and choreographer Arianna Economou is preparing a new performance while reflecting on a career documented in a personal archive dating back to 1983. She describes an approach to dance shaped by experimentation, holistic practice, and a non-linear relationship with timelines and dates.
Personal archive and career record
In her rehearsal space in old Kaimakli, Economou keeps shelves of boxes containing what she describes as the official mementos of her work over the past 50 years, including videos, photographs, and flyers. The earliest items in the archive are dated 1983.
Experimentation and personal working style
Economou says her style is impulsive and exploratory, and she acknowledges she is not strong with dates. She describes dance as an experimental artform and says experimentation is central to her practice.
Training in London and doubts about technique
Economou recalls studying dance in London in the 1970s, including training at Ballet Rambert and a year at The Place. She says she concluded she was not good enough to pursue dance in the way she had initially imagined, citing difficulties remembering sequences and challenges with her body compared with peers who had trained in ballet from an early age.
Teaching styles and shift toward holistic understanding
She describes encountering a conservative teaching environment that she characterises as harsh and discipline-driven, including comments about weight and corrective instruction. She contrasts this with her experience at Dartington Hall School in Devon, which she calls a beginning of healing and an entry point into a holistic understanding of dance, including being taught to “stand around my centre line.”
Postmodern influence and a different view of the body
Economou says she went to Dartington to study theatre after giving up on ballet, and there encountered proponents of postmodern dance associated with developments in New York, including Anna Halprin. She describes learning concepts about the body’s structure and connectivity, and says she came to view dance as a healing artform that expresses feelings alongside movement. She also says she later discovered technique within this broader approach.
Upcoming performance and rehearsal schedule
Economou is preparing a new project titled Heart’s Sacred Touch, scheduled to take place at the Dance Studio in Nicosia from May 28 to 30. She is working with dramaturg Giorgos Bizios, who is expected to arrive for a three-hour rehearsal. In the space, books and handwritten notes are arranged on a table and on large sheets of paper on the floor.
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