Henshin

Choreographed and performed by Konstandina Efthimiadou
Set and costumes: Iliana Skoulaki, Katerina Kakridoni, Konstandina Efthimiadou
Music:  by Laurent Delforge
Lighting designer: Lefteris Pavlopoulos

“Henshin” is the japanese word for transformation, literally meaning “to change or transform the body”.
It is a solo dance performance inspired by the folk music and dance of the northwest  part of Greece, Epirus.
It is a suspension between the sky and the earth. The traditional dances of this region are performed in a circle using a repetitive set of steps. The circle though, acts as a support to the one leading the dance who is free to improvise using turning and suspending movements, constantly giving in to the gravity and jumping high up finding the connection to the sky.
Henshin is an attempt to visualize a human’s journey on earth,  the struggle to stand and find the way of existing in the constantly transforming space of the body on its way to once again vanish.
It is an experiment on physical transformations in combination with creative use of props and set material.

Konstandina Efthimiadou followed rythmic gymnastics training for ten years before entering the State School of Dance in Athens. After graduating she also followed greek folk dance training. In Greece she worked with Horeftes, the Hellenic Dance Company, Haris Mantafounis dance Company and the National Opera of Greece.
In 2007 she moved to Brussels to join Utima Vez- Wim Vandekeybus for the creation of “Menske” and the continuation of “Spiegel” tour 2008.
In 2009 she joined Enclave Dance company under direction of Roberto Olivan for the creation and tour of “Mermaid’s call” and “Alba Eterna”.
In 2010 she joined Akram Khan Company for the creation and tour of “Vertical Road” and tour of “Confluence”.
In April 2012 she moved back to Greece for the creation and premiere of  “KIRERU” with RootlessRoot(Jozef Fruzek, Linda Kapetanea).
Recently Konstandina has decided to focus more on her own work,she has already created a solo piece “Henshin” which was presented and supported in August 2012 by Music Village Festival in Greece while in April 2013 she created a group piece “Looking forward to meeting” for the symphonic dance evening presentation for S.E.A.D. Academy in Salzburg.

Kostandina is currently freelancing throughout Europe, United Kingdom and Asia.
She has also lead workshops in Greece and abroad such as:
Flic Scuola di Circo-(Torino), Deltebre Dance Festival-(Spain), Tainan University of Fine Arts-(Taiwan), State School of Dance-(Athens), SEAD (Salzburg), Music Village(International music festival-Pelion-Greece)