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‘The Chapter House’ is the title of the work choreographer Zoi Dimitriou presented at London’s Laban Theatre on 26 November 2015. The same work will be staged again at the same venue on 12 April 2016. ‘The Chapter House’ marks a new phase in the choreographer’s artistic career as she explores the importance of the concept of being a creator and the process of creating or re-creating a work of art in the digital age.
It is the result of collaboration between the choreographer and the US composer and innovator from the field of media in performance, Mark Coniglio (who developed the Isadora software and co-directs the Troika Ranch troupe). During the performance the audience views a video installation by Mark Coniglio to explore the creative processes through which the use of technology records, reconstructs and depicts a live performance.
Dance is an ephemeral art, and that’s precisely why it is being explored in this work. As Mark Coniglio so characteristically said, “it’s not a piece into which technology or multimedia are merely incorporated. On the contrary, it’s a reaction – using technology as a tool to respond to what I see”. The way the work is made allows spectators to watch the choreographer’s previous works again, using technology which serves as a tool to actively arouse memory.
Zoi Dimitriou graduated from the Greek National School of Dance, studied with an Onassis Foundation Scholarship at the Trisha Brown studio in New York and also completed a MA in European Dance Theatre Practice with distinction at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London in 2005. She founded her own dance troupe in 2006 which is based in London and Athens. Works by her have been presented at various theatres worldwide such as the Laban Theatre, The Place, ROH2, Arnolfini and the Onassis Cultural Centre, and at a range of festivals such as the Athens Festival, the Kalamata International Dance Festival, the Operaestate Festival Veneto, the Europe in Motion Festival and at La Scala Milan. The artist has won the Howard Foundation Award 2008, the Bonnie Bird Choreography Fund Award 2009, the CfC Award 2010 (Choreography for Children) and has also chosen to present her work as part of the European dance network Aerowaves.
