The Sleeping City

Athens, 25/11/2018, Workshop, Dimitra Nikolopoulou, Sophia Kanli

“The Sleeping City”

Dimitra Nikolopoulou, theatre/drama pedagogue, art historian, director, Greece

Sophia Kanli, primary school teacher, Greece

Workshop 2,5 hours

Part of the 2018 ATHENS GREECE INTERNATIONAL THEATRE/DRAMA & EDUCATION CONFERENCE
organised by the Hellenic Theatre/Drama & Education Network (TENet-Gr)

Language: Greek

A practical workshop, using drama games, physical theatre, platform theatre, personal storytelling, script creation and digital photography. The workshop has been inspired by R. Dotremer’ s fairytale “The sleeping Forest” and is based on the myth of The Sleeping Beauty. Our location and point of reference will be the city of Athens. How do our sociopolitical references and deeper thoughts shape our attitude and perception of the modern urban culture, which is characterized by alienation and seclusion? Two characters, very much like  Beckett’s characters, wander around  the sleeping city’s corners, boulevards and funfairs. Using elements of physical theatre, we will create still images of our city and will try to explore them with post dramatic techniques. Afterwards, we will set under inquiry everything that invigorates us and awakens us from our everyday lethargic routines. Poetry, painting and music will operate as starting points for improvisation, role playing and small drama scenes. Within the framework of the creation of the scenic space we will exploit multimedia projections and co-create interactive installations. Our aim is to comprehend how applied drama and a post dramatic directorial approach are able to cultivate participants’ emotional and critical skills, to create bonds of solidarity and the ability to act, listen, empathize and have a socio-political dialogue. In other words, we will put our expressive means into practice, in order to cultivate our spontaneity, our empathy, optimism and social skills. We will examine our perceptions of our city and get to know each other’s thoughts and views. We will also become familiar with contemporary expressions of the art of theatre, such as viewpoints and performance art. Finally, we will learn how to create an improvised performance, using poetry, music, the fine arts, etc., based on the interests and ideas of our group of children/adolescents/adults we can work with. The workshop is open to educators, pedagogues, actors, dramaturges, performers, artists and practitioners or students of humanitarian and social studies.

Participants are asked to bring:

 -Digital pictures of Athens as a sleeping (allegorical/symbolic) city.

-An item that inspires them (literally text, poem, piece of music, object, video recording, sound).

Dimitra Nikolopoulou holds a degree from the Communication and Mass Media Department of the National and Kapodestrian University of Athens, a degree from the History and Archaeology Department of the Athens School of Philosophy and a degree from the Department of Art History and Theory, Arts School of Athens. She is a graduate of the three –year program of Drama Pedagogy and Theatre Play of the “Day Theatre” in Athens. She has also completed the program “Drama education in K.E.K of Athens University. She is currently a postgraduate student of Acting and Directing at the Open University of Cyprus, at the same time attending the university program “Performance” at the University of Athens.  She has attended drama classes in Method Acting Center –Paris, La Fabrique, London International School Of Performing Arts (London, ),physical theatre at Duende School of Ensemble Physical Theatre, seminars on ancient Greek drama, kinesthetics, musical movement and drama therapy workshops. She has also attended seminars on stage design, puppet, mask and doll making. In 2014 she began exploring the field of site specific performance. She has worked with several documentary groups (Middle East etc.) She has been facilitating drama workshops for children, teenagers and adults since 2015, while being a regular staff member of the “Day Theatre”.

Sofia Kanli was born in Athens. She is a pediatric nurse and a primary school teacher. In 2006-2007 she participated in the annual theatre/ drama seminar of the Department of Education of the National and Kapodestrian University of Athens. Since 2016 until today, is a member of the theatrical play group "The Box". She is a member of the Hellenic Theatre/Drama & Education Network. She has organized and participated in many educational and cultural activities. She is a member of the following institutions: ibby, wwf, Greenpeace and Marpessa Routes (volunteer group). Recently she was awarded the volunteer prize for active reading (2018).