Vitoria Kotsalou
Day out of time

1st Week
Wednesday 13/7 - Thursday 14/7 - Friday 15/7, 12:00 - 13:00 and 17:00 - 18:00 Bench talk
Saturday 16/7, 12:00 - 14:00 Group meeting
Sunday 17/7, Sunrise to Sundown Day out of Time
Monday 18/7, Feedback loοp


This is a performative movement practice from sunrise to sundown, in a public space. It is performative only in the sense that it takes place outside on a street within the town where people are passing by, nevertheless the focus is not on performing but on the practice and investigation. Opening the senses, the relations, the dreams, and the context of space. Through this practice the 3 layers of the skin of awareness—the personal, the social and the environment/cosmos come together through dancing. This is an act of dedication and of exploration of dance and a chance to pose questions…how can I dance so that I gain energy to last all day, is dance an act of integration, what dance is for us, where does it come from, how does it come, what is dancing and what is truth of presence and how do they relate true dance, how does the state of dance relate, expand or how is it hindered in a social context.

Dance does not ever stop, it continues and we dancers get in and out of its tune and expression. And possibly our deepest ability as dancers is to tune into dance, not to create it or do it.

Day out of Time is a practice proposal by Vitoria Kotsalou and was practiced in RICE on Hydra in 2014 and 215, and at Akropoditi Dance Fest in Syros 2015.

Open call for participants
Anyone who is interested in this process is welcome to join. The only prerequisite is the will to dedicate a full day to dancing in a public spot, and take part in the briefing meetings before and after the day. This is open to dancers of any background and experience.

Process

Bench talks
Each participant is invited to meet with Vitoria on a chosen bench (outside in the town) and a certain time to talk. This is a way of meeting, person to person, of exchanging ideas and concerns regarding our process through dance, our state of being and the practice of Day out of Time.

Group meeting
A two hour meeting with the whole group of participants. To talk, tune and investigate the process as well as organize the spacing throughout the city of Syros for the next day.

Day out of Time
Each participant on his/her own will, goes out at sunrise at his/her chosen spot and begins the practice. The practice ends at sundown. We will care to choose spots with shade throughout the day. Participants may have water with them, and there will be an arrangement for the use of a nearby (to each chosen spot) toilet.

Feedback loop
The participants will meet in groups of three or four at an agreed time and chosen bench or outside location to exchange, talk, refer and sediment on their experience of Day out of Time. Participants may write ideas or sediments in a textbook that will be given to them-thus a collection of material may occur.

Vitoria Kotsalou received a BA in Psychology from the University Reading, England. Since 2004 she has been training as a dancer, taking part in dance, street theater, theater and performances in Greece and abroad as well as presenting her solo projects. In August 2012 she organized and directed the Hydra Small Dance Festival, and in 2013 she collaborated with Michael Kliën to create R.I.C.E. Her collaboration with Michael also included production management for the exhibition Parliament (presented at the Benaki Museum Athens) and dancing in Jerusalem (Athens Festival). She inspires dance through workshops and classes to children, adults, dancers and mixed ability groups. Her work is devoted to living dance: to develop necessary changes for listening and learning, for building or breaking pathways in order to experience, conceive, transform and transmit movement. Her work is focused on the observation and excavation of information the body carries within and its relevance to society. She works as much in outdoor environment as in indoor places and develops a musicality that is affected by the senses, memory as well a sound.