IMALIS
Returning to the Source of Ancient Hellenic Theatre
Welcome to Imalis,
Imalis is a research and training center dedicated to the study of the performing arts in the Ancient Hellenic tradition. Imalis proposes, organizes and hosts a wide range of activities from in-depth professional workshops in the performing arts to healing and self-development retreats for the general public, conducted on location, and offering dedicated spaces and direct access to the archeological spaces.
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2013 Dance of a Tragic Figure III, with ATSUSHI TAKENOUSHI - May 20th-26th. Orphic Descent into the Role through Jinen Butoh,, in which we continue to deepen our exploration of movement score, mask & voice with the introduction of folkloric elements of historic Greek dances...
IMALIS at the University of Warwick for the Theatre at the Crossroads of Language and Genre, at the Humanities Research Centre, April 27th for the presentation of our research with Drama Centre's MA Course Leader, Paul Goodwin: "Body and Stage - Meeting Grounds of Traditions Across Time and Space."
3rd ARTAUD FORUM at The Centre for Contemporary and Digital Performance and the Antonin Artaud Performance Centre, BRUNEL UNIVERSITY, LONDON - March 22-23, where we will be delivering a presentation of our research titled "Raindrop on Still Pond: Epidauros as Point of Eminence and the Politics of Dampening in the Revival of Ancient Hellenic Theatre" for this year's conference theme "Theatre and Resonant Politics."
4th KUFSTEIN SUMMER SCHOOL FOR ARTS MANAGEMENT - Epidauros, May 12-18. Imalis will be presenting its Creative Communities Project and helping organize for the 2013 version of Kufstein University's 4th Conference in Epidauros...
IMALIS IN BRUNECK, SOUTH TYROL, AUSTRIA for the CBTS 2012 International SYMPOSIUM on "Tourism and Quality of Life Research" - December 10-13 2012. Imalis participated with a collaborative presentation with Prof. Wolfram (MHMK Macromedia U.) and Kaiser (U. of Heidelberg) titled The IMALIS PROJECT of EPIDAUROS - Prospects of Sustainable Development in Historico-Cultural Destinations...(more).
IMALIS IN LONDON AND CAMBRIDGE- October 26- November 1rst Imalis participated in the 2nd P:ACE Conference 2012 organized by University of the Arts/Drama Centre London with University of Cambridge on the "Rhythm of Objects." With the help of Drama Centre's MA in Acting students we presented a work-demonstration and a paper titled... (more)
2013 WORKSHOP SERIES ANNOUNCEMENT:
Into and Out of the Ancestral Palace - The Tragic as Song of Mourning and Dance of Renewal
The return to sources is a vital act of remembrance and creation which we call Imalis. The unifying theme of our 2011 and 2012 series “Shed the skin, trace the path, set the post,” was an expression of the fundamental gestures which we explore through our workshops as part of an integral and organic process of revival. The common thread running through these first seasons' workshops was our intent to reconnect with the performance tradition of Ancient Hellenic Theater as practitioners entering upon a path.
While the same theme will continue to inform our work and explorations in 2013, a new focus has been emerging from our culled experiences from the past two years, opening new questions: through what gates does one enter and exit the Ancestral Palace? Singing we enter, dancing we leave. This year we will be exploring approaches of Ancient Theatre as a rite of encounter with the dead and the gods for the purpose of cleansing, healing and renewal. In the depths of the profound crisis of identity and civilization we face today, encountering, confronting and overcoming the faces of our gods and ancestors is our path of renewal.
Train on site
Located in immediate proximity to the twin ancient theaters and sacred healing centers of ancient Epidauros, Imalis offers in situ immersive experiential practice and study in the arts of the ancient stage.
A vital learning context
Our work seeks to bring together local citizens, international artists and seasonal visitors into a vital learning context for cultural exchange and self-development, in one of the most unique natural settings and cultural destinations of Greece, and indeed the world.
Art & community
Imalis fulfills many important roles at once. It is an international network of collaborating artists and organizations, it is a partnership in local development and it is an artistic process.
A healing center
As its name indicates, Επί της Αύρας “upon the aura,” the sacred site originally chosen by the Asklepian healers of Chios retains all its telluric and healing qualities, which any visitor can experience to this day.
Imalis - ΙΜΑΛΙΣ:
1. dances & music that were performed around the well to celebrate the rising of the waters in springtime.
2. an international performance research and training center in the arts of Ancient Greek Theater in partnership with the historic township of Epidauros.
Ancient Theatre - Ancient Path
We imagine it overgrown. Though in the rough hills of Argolis, in reality far less than what we picture.
How does one find the path that leads to the palace of Orestes and Electra.
And there is a wall, they say, with no door. Ever crumbling by day. Blind, deaf hands rebuild it every night. It too is old. Older, even, than Greece. And keeps us out.
Speak to the wall for the door to hear. And you will enter the ancestral palace.
Walls, locked doors and labyrinthine corridors.
2012: Orestes in the Year of the Dragon
What lies hidden behind? Walls, surfaces, interiors... landscapes, clouds and mirrors. Poor Orestes. One must multiply before one can divide. Poor brother, poor sister. Faces both familiar and strange. Masks. Ancestors and Gods, both forgotten and real, living and dead. Father... Echoes, symbols and the emptiness of space. Loss, and open sky.
For whom is the bell ringing in my Father's house? Whose lonely voice bellows in the courtyards and empty halls? Hungry, loveless, outraged... monstrous.
What lies in the ancestral palace. The monstrous and its ironies.
Tragic, pathetic, laughable. Oh, so terribly human.
Pure medicine.
Mother... A door into the tradition.
Our theme of 2011 continues as we take one step further down the path of ancient ethopoetics. How do we speak to the wall for the door to hear? The amphitheater seems flat and empty. Yet this is not just an illusion.
Opening a path. It seems simple. A path with heart. A thread, a bobbin that love alone unravels.
Sister. Take your first step, dancing. Surely this is a trap...
This year we are once again proud to have several outstanding artists and teachers joining us in our journey. We invite you to browse our site and learn more about our upcoming workshops as well as the open work sessions which we have programed for the coming summer months, beginning in June.
2011 Pilot Season
On October 2nd, 2011, after five years of planning and development, Imalis successfully completed its first test-run in the form of three laboratory-workshops, that began on August 29th with the workshop entitled “Tone and Inner Action,” followed by “Making the Body all Eyes” and “Dance of a Tragic Figure.” We exchanged rich experiences with our guest teachers Phillip Zarrilli and Atsushi Takenoushi and further deepened our research and training process. For a brief recap of our past year, with highlights and some cool media, please go here: Overview 2011...
Our first three laboratory-workshops not only reached the goals we had set, but went beyond, as we had hoped, feeding into each other with new discoveries that have carried well into our research agenda for 2012. In each case, we worked directly with the tradition as a system of practices that the practitioner must “deal with,” in other words as a set of concrete, empirical realities encoded in the ancient text of Euripides’ Orestes. The first of these realities is the native tongue, as an embodied system of articulated sound. The tongue of Euripides. The last of these is space, as a shared field of awareness in which takes place the intentional act of the performer, both vocally, physically and beyond. The space of the ancient amphitheater.