dance video
GRRAH
Zoi Tatopoulos, also known as “ztato,” is a creative director and choreographer. Zoi is best known for her extra-terrestrial approach to creative direction and movement choreography. Her visceral vision has stunned viewers since her debut on social media in 2014. This experimental content has exposed a new genre of dance, trademarked with an alien emoji. FKA Twigs, a long time follower, says “I have been aching to work with ‘ztato’ for years, so it was a dream come true to finally be creating together.”
In 2021, Zoi directed and choreographed, “We Will Find It,” an internationally acclaimed short dance film, featuring the industry’s top male dancers. This viral release has sparked the attention of many.
Zoi’s recent work includes choreographing FKA Twigs music video “Tears in the Club” ft The Weeknd, which has received a “Best Choreography Nomination” for the 2022 VMAS.
Singer, Banks, has brought on Zoi to choreograph and creatively direct the tour for her newest album “Serpentina”, which included a “Jimmy Kimmel Live” performance for her track “Holding Back”. She has also recently choreographed an “H&M” campaign directed by Igor Zimmerman, Two music videos for singer/artist Poppy and most recently choreographed the Wynn Residency Spectacle, “Awakening”.
Living her early 20’s in Athens, Greece, she was hired by European acclaimed director Giannis Kakleas to choreograph the cult musical “Daimones,” starring singer, Anna Vissi. In 2017, Zoi choreographed the contemporary division of “So You Think You Can Dance,” in Greece. Her otherworldly pieces received standing ovations.
Having been brought up by motion picture director and production designer, Patrick Tatopoulos, most can safely assume the creature-esque and cinematic influences were brought down genetically. She plans to continue directing and choreographing video concepts, music videos, shows, etc.
Back On 74
Acclaimed production duo JUNGLE have returned with a new single, ‘Back On 74’, which arrives alongside a music video which is the first of its kind to be made. A product of the pair’s collaboration with WeTransfer, it’s an interactive experience which is slightly different for every viewer.
Only available for 14 days exclusively via WeTransfer, the video sees dancers performing in a virtual art gallery, where each piece of art can be downloaded by viewers in real time. Each artwork download is then replaced by a random selection of 10,000 other unique pieces (created by JUNGLE’s J Lloyd), meaning no two views of the video are the same.
When fans engage with the video to download artwork, they also access the opportunity to win tickets to their chosen show on Jungle’s upcoming European and North American headline tour.
Watch the interactive video for ‘Back On 74’ here.
CREDITS Director: J Lloyd Director: Charlie Di Placido Executive Producer: Matthew Craig Producer: WeTransfer Choreographer: Shay Latukolan Assistant Choreo: Lars Bohte Assistant Choreo: Oriane Serveille Dancer: Will West Dancer: Mette Linturi Dancer: Maikolo Fekitoa Dancer: Didde-Mie Lykke Dancer: Honey Makwana Dancer: Belen Leroux Dancer: Stefano A Addae Dancer: Benjamin Williams Dancer: Dylan Mayoral Dancer: Zhane Samuels Dancer: Naomi Patterson Dancer: David Cottle Dancer: Samuel Mena Garcia Dancer: Kikz Katika Dancer: Miranda Chambers Dancer: Fatou Bah Dancer: Oriane Serveille Dancer: Josh Richards Production Manager: Jamie Tarr Production Assistant: Tommy Chadwick Jungle Management : Sam Denniston Jungle Brand Management: Adam Faires 1st AD: Freddie Wright 2nd AD: Jessica Simmonds 3rd AD: Elsa Grace AD Runner: Tim Marckwald DOP: Natasha Duursma 1st AC: Oliver Bingham 2nd AC: Emily McNey 2nd AC (Second Unit): Jack Plumridge Trainee: Niyi Ferreira Trainee: Sam Harvey Steadicam: Gary Kent Data Wrangler: Casey Ponting Gaffer: Sam Alberg Desk Op: Elliott Linehan-Cross Spark: John Forsyth Spark: Marina Lewin Richter Spark: Dak Kannan Spark: Ryan Monteith Spark: Antti Janhunen Spark Trainee: Hannah Mulry Master Rigger: Ashley Connell Rigger: Ricky Vallance Rigger: Sam Brooker Production Designer: Sam Storey Buyer: Harry Pearce Art Dept Coordinator: Macy Treu-Dingle Standby Props: Andrea Guerrero Standby Art Director: Harrison Toward Assistant Art Director: Joe Harrison Assistant Art Director: Elin Taylor Art Assistant: Jake Garrett Art Assistant: Jade O’Connor Art Assistant (Second Unit): Tom Thain Camera Prop Tech: Jon Wayre Video Technician: Lwehla Say Construction: David Thomas Rigger: Paul King Standby Rigger: Mitchell Williams Rigger: Sam Cashman Rigger: Gary Chandler Sound Recordist: Roger Cutting Sound Recordist (Second Unit): George Davies Stylist: Melo 1st Styling Assistant: Daisy McDonald Styling Assistant: Flossie Doherty Styling Assistant: Amira Walters Byrne MUA: Victoria Poland MUA Assistant: Daniela Alves MUA Assistant: Giorgia Chiarella MUA Assistant: Billie McKenzie MUA Assistant: Becca Mclintok Hair Stylist: Afi Emily Attipoe Hair Assistant: Brielle Bianca Edmondson Hair Assistant: Taneesha Aiyeola McFarlene Hair Assistant: Dayne Dante Barber: Chris West Runner: Oscar Benady Runner / Driver: Dom Blencowe Runner: Peg McMillan Runner: Samuel Jackson Runner: Megan Markley Runner (Prep): Sam Lane Medic: Mike Hampson Medic (Second Unit): Tony Martin Camera Hire: Panavision Lighting Hire: Panalux Catering: Luluz Location: Alexandra Palace, thanks to Location Works Dancers Skeleton Crew Amsterdam: Leonarda Xenisa Gigi Elise Neo Marquisha Jasmin Mijntje Jade Robin Ruben Jeremy Jurvinio Luciano Juan
HOMEWARD
FROM THE PROJECT HOME WEBSITE
OUR STORY
Project Home is a movement-centered production company and arts organization. Established in 2010 by internationally renowned choreographers and teachers Christopher Martin and Larkin Poynton, Project Home produces moving collaborations between dancers, videographers, photographers, lighting artists, directors, musicians, and more.
Our artists share the common goal of creating meaningful work that transcends beyond the stage and screen. We hope to continue expanding the boundaries of dance, bringing together artists and audiences from all around the world to celebrate art.
A Body on Wall Street
TREYCOOL: Can you tell me about the origin of this work?
EIKO: I had worked as Eiko & Koma fore more than 40 plus years. When I first started to perform solo was soon after our RETROSPECTIVE PROJECT, 2009-2012. I called the entire project as A Body in Places.
Presented by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA), my first solo work, A Body in a Station, was a series of four, three-hour-performances in Nov 2014 at the Philadelphia 30th street Amtrak Station. This twelve-hour performance was accompanied by a six-month photo and video exhibition A Body in Fukushima at PAFA (excerpt of the video). The video was edited from still photos and all photos were from post-nuclear-disaster Fukushima. In many photographs I dance for no audience but a camera in deserted train stations in no-man’s land where no train ran.
From then on, all of my solos collectively titled as A Body in Places have been site specific, mostly in public sites with free ticket price. Most were accompanied by a photo exhibition or a screening of A Body in Fukushima. Between Fukushima and other cities, I have performed solo at more than 70 sites. Carrying or wearing the same old Japanese fabric.
In New York, I performed solo at consecutive River to River Festival in 2015 at Fulton Center, in 2016 on Wall Street and on Governors’ Island. Among many public sites LMCC curator and I investigated, I chose Wall Street for its significance of capitalism. The occasion followed a few my month-long Danspace Project Platform A Body in Places, throughout which I performed daily in small intimate sites in East Village. A Body in East Village was screened at Dance for Camera Festival in Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater that fall. A Body on Wall Street was screened at Dare To Dance Film Festival in 2019.
TREYCOOL: How did the people in the space affect your performance?
EIKO: My audience usually does not go to Wall street. At the performance are the combinations of passers-by, the people who work in the neighborhood and tourists. Yet the R2R audiences and my own audience members came knowing this performance was scheduled. When I perform in public sites, the latter, the ones I call “intentional audience members,” make a great difference. Without them. I look like a crazy old lady no one wants to see. But with intentional bodies and eyes there, it signals to passers-by that this is an intended event. Though people can still decide to ignore me. But at least no one would call ambulance as it happened during some rehearsals of my solo. I look so out of place and miserable!
TREYCOOL: Can you speak some about what this piece is conveying/presenting/exploring/describing?
EIKO: A Body on Wall Street I performed my “No No” dance to what Wall street represents. I learned the place, examined the weather and sun, created a score, and rehearsed on site.
STOIC
from the choreographer:
Stoicism is a school of philosophy founded in Ancient Greece in the early third century BC. Its name is derived from the Greek stoa; meaning “porch” or “covered shelter”, where stoicism was first taught. The philosophy asserts that virtue (self-control, courage, justice and wisdom) equals happiness and that our perceptions of matter; things – rather than the things themselves – cause most of our sorrow in life. Stoicism teaches that we can use our “reasoned choice” to decide how we categorize, respond, and reorient ourselves to external events. Today the word stoic is often used to mean simply “emotionless”, which of course does a great disservice to the actual philosophy.
In Stoic, I try to portray a small community of characters who exist in a fictional library or art gallery. They experience the art and each other intensely, face a variety of social addictions, and through different interactions and theatrical events, they eventually unravel, slowly lose their masks, and reveal more essential layers of themselves.
The movement material is created in close collaboration with all the performers, going from urban dance styles like angular “tutting” and structured “waacking” to more flowing and liquid contemporary dance sequences. A constant sense of ritual and folklore permeates the piece, contrasting with its more aristocratic setting.
This is my third collaboration with GöteborgsOperans Danskompani: after Noetic (2014) and Icon (2016), which were both developed with the visual artist Antony Gormley, Stoic (2018) ends a trilogy in which I use Greek wisdom as a starting point. For Stoic I worked closely with the gifted visual artist Hans Op de Beeck, who created the impressive grey concrete “library” in which the action takes place. He also developed the 1950’s-inspired costumes, which bring a very theatrical reality into the piece. The soundscape was crafted by Felix Buxton of Basement Jaxx; electro and drum and bass intertwine with live traditional music from Morocco, Congo, and Japan to create a very dense musical/theatrical experience. Stoic is also the second time – first time was in Icon – that dancers from my own contemporary dance company, Eastman, will collaborate and share the stage with GöteborgsOperans Danskompani. I would like to thank Artistic director of GöteborgsOperans Danskompani Katrín Hall, for this cooperation. – Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, 2018