OPUS

The originally Greek word 'classical,' choreographer Christos Papadopoulos says, describes a work (opus) written according to the rules and ideals of ancient Greek and Roman culture. It also implies a superior, complex work. In OPUS, the structure and complexity of classical music are dissected and translated into a completely different art form: dance.

In OPUS, four dancers are the instruments with which a physical composition is performed. Sometimes they play solo, sometimes together. Sometimes they follow the rhythms of the music, sometimes the melody. But emotions are out of the question. It is precisely by freeing themselves from them, Papadopoulos believes, that the dancers can reveal the harmonic logic of the Fuge. OPUS is an attempt to shape not our psychological, but our physical reaction to music. Through their perfectionist performance, these dancers offer us a unique sensory experience.

-|-Papadopoulos is not the first to explore the close relationship between dance and music, but he does it in his own way. With the microscope, to then zoom out again to a macro level. After seeing OPUS, the choreographer was compared to one of the biggest names in the dance world: "Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker has been building an oeuvre on the relationship between dance and music for years. But Papadopoulos manages to make a wholly unique contribution to this edifice by completely transforming Bach's Die Kunst der Fuge until nothing is left of it but its rhythmic structure."

Papadopoulos makes minimalist, very precise, extremely pure dance. Even so, a theme that directly affects us lies underneath. His performances are about living together, about the functioning of individuals in the group. A French critic called Papadopoulos 'a necessary new face in the dance world'. However, the Greek arrived late and unexpectedly in the dance world. He studied Political Science and discovered his passion for dance only afterwards. But then things moved fast. After studying dance in Amsterdam (School for New Dance Development) and Athens, his work was immediately picked up by international festivals, including Julidans (Elvedon, 2017 and ION, 2019). Papadopoulos was also asked to make the choreography for the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Athens.