Asleep [Covid-19 Restage] (2021)

[40 min POP-UP DANCE solo comisssioned by Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums during the British art show 9]

“Has Covid-19 pandemic really led us towards a kind of emotional and social hibernation? If we imagine living our lives in a kind of “sleeping mode”, what does this mode entail to the creative, kinaesthetic body? Is it possible for creativity, to pause?”

Choreography, Dance: Sofia Kondylia
Music: Antari Loops
Voice: Elli Kampitsi
Dramaturgy: Eleni Mloukie
Scenic design: Sofia Kondylia

Supported by:
Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums
Citymoves Dance Agency

Asleep is a pop-up performance for one performer, one domestic object for rest (a bean bag pillow) and a circulating audience. The piece is discussing the body’s creativity and imaginative possibilities during the social distancing restrictions applied for Covid-19 pandemic. It creates an analogue to this “global pause” through bringing the body of the performer in a state of continuous “sleeping” mode. Drawing inspiration from the interchange between REM (dreaming) and non-REM (non-dreaming) sleeping cycles, the performer remains with her eyes dreamily closed, becoming intimate with, but also dependent upon her inhuman partner, as they whirl together between unpredictable movement, reality, and the subconscious.