Limassol, Cyprus. The award-winning dance production BLKDOG by choreographer Botis Seva and Far From The Norm will open the 27th Cyprus Contemporary Dance Festival this weekend in Limassol. The festival, organised by the deputy ministry of culture and Rialto Theatre, runs until June 21 and includes six productions and seven performances from England, France, Greece, Cyprus, Belgium and Finland.
Opening performance
Following Saturday’s performance at 9.30pm, audiences are invited to continue to the Rialto Theatre’s outdoor bar for the festival opening party, featuring music by DJ Christina Papakyriakou.
About BLKDOG
BLKDOG is presented as a sharp and deeply poetic commentary by Seva on the emotional experience of young people navigating a world that is not built for them. The highly physical hip-hop performance explores the fragile and often violent relationship between self-discovery and self-destruction.
Drawing on personal experience, childhood memories and adult trauma, Seva creates a labyrinth of memory in which movement serves as a language for what cannot be spoken. His artistic trajectory, rooted in hip-hop culture and the grime and rap scene, has developed through dance as a form of expression and release connected to lived personal and social realities.
Creative process
The work was developed through the collective creative process of Far From The Norm, which was formed in a youth club in Dagenham, London, as a space for experimentation and exchange of movement languages. That collective foundation remains central to the dramaturgy, with each performer bringing personal experience to the stage.
In its current form, BLKDOG has evolved from its 2018 version, with greater emotional complexity and a refined balance between darkness and light. The performance focuses on how childhood experience shapes adult identity.
Stage presentation
The performance unfolds as a rhythmic, fragmented journey through memory. Music by Torben Sylvest, lighting by Tom Visser and costumes by Ryan Dawson-Laight shape a dense and atmospheric stage world. Without a linear narrative, the work is presented as an experience in which each spectator is invited to interpret images, memories and emotional fragments.
Festival details
Seva, described as one of the most influential voices in contemporary choreography, has received international recognition including the Olivier Award in 2019 and the CHANEL Next Prize in 2022.
The festival features choreographic performances from Cyprus, England, France, Greece, Belgium and Finland from May 30 to June 21 at Rialto Theatre in Limassol and Nicosia Municipal Theatre in Nicosia. Performances begin at 8.30pm and tickets cost €10. Contact number: 7777-7745.