Dünya Maskara | Rewriting archives
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Mairi Pardalaki is a dancer and choreographer from Athens based in Paris. As a performer, she has worked among others for Romeo Castellucci’s “Moses und Aron” at the Paris Opera, for Alexandra Pirici’s “Parthenon Marbles” at the Forum do Futuro in Porto, and for Akram Khan’s outdoor performance “Kadamati” with the Théâtre de la Ville.
Mairi stages contemporary narratives in which text, music and movement play an equal part. Creating unexpected proximities between different worlds, she often collaborates with researchers from various fields: two performances have been created with physicists, exploring the neutrino elementary particle (“The Neutrino Passoire” – 2019) and plasma physics (“Bam! Charge” – 2021). These creations have received the support of the Universities of Birmingham, Paris-Saclay and La Sorbonne, as well as the European Research Council Public Outreach Award, attributed to scientific collaborator Dr Kostas Nikolopoulos.
Since 2020, with numerous residencies in Turkey and Greece, she is committed to excavating unknown narratives and creating new ones between greek and turkish cultures, without ignoring the complex layers of history on which they are based.
“Dünya Maskara” is a turkish-greek performance inspired by 19th-century bilingual songs and funerary inscriptions from Istanbul, written in “karamanlidika”: a dialect and writing system of the turkish language, utilising the greek alphabet. Karamanlidika were used by turkish-speaking Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire.
Choreographer Mairi Pardalaki and poet Çağla Meknuze explore the traces of this past linguistic proximity and invent new approaches by juxtaposing their writings with the archival themes such as love, death, religion and the place of women in them.
An idea by: Mairi Pardalaki
Texts: Çağla Meknuze & Mairi Pardalaki
Based on publications by: Matthias Kappler, Evangelia Balta, Anastasios Iordanoglou
Performers Greece-Turkey: Elina Demirtzioglou, Mairi Pardalaki
Performers Greece: Sevasti Zafeira, Marietta Manaroli, Katerina Gevetzi
Performers Turkey: Canan Yücel Pekiçten, Aslı Bostancı, Gizem Seçkin
Original music: Emre Malikler
Additional music recording: Fotini Kokkala
Transcription of byzantine music notation: Nikos Papageorgiou
Participation in sketch recordings: Elif Dikeç
Voice preparation: Katerina Fotinaki, Anna Linardou, Çağıl Kaya
Costumes: Dimitra Liakoura in collaboration with Katerina Momitsa
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Executive producers: Berdahi, Balkans Beyond Borders
Production manager: Christina Papadaki
Project grants: European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists – EFFEA, Teatroskop – a program initiated by French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, French Ministry of Culture and Institut français Paris, IF Export 2024, The JF Costopoulos Foundation, NEON Organisation for Culture and Development, ALFinMOTION – Anna Lindh Foundation Mobility Programme, i-Portunus, Be Mobile Create Together.
Residencies: Anis Gras / EHPAD Cousin de Méricourt – Cachan, Akbank Sanat Dance Atelier – Istanbul, Kinitiras Artistic Network for Performing Arts – Athens, Gate 27 – Ayvalik, Purespace Studio – Istanbul
With the kind support of: French Institute-Istanbul, French Institute-Athens, Istanbul Foundation for Culture & Arts (İKSV), Zografyon Lyceum-Istanbul, Kadiköy Rum Cemaati Vakfı.
Thank you Çıplak Ayaklar Kumpanyası & Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Dance Department
25 July | 20:00 | Yiali Tzami
Mairi Pardalaki/Berdahi – Dünya Maskara | Rewriting archives
