Conception Athena Mazarakis (Co Created by Athena Mazarakis, Craig Morris, Gerard Bester)

Performer Quotes:

Morris - ‘Conventionally dancers were bodies in space but there was certain conformity to the movement. Now (in physical theatre) there's a new chance for you as an individual to define your space'

Mazarakis- ‘The body as medium or body as language precedes what traditional theatre brings through text. It is often able to make bold statements before other modes have started to do that, before words are even spoken'

Extracts from an interview with Warren Foster - Mail and Guardian November 9-15 2007

1. When We First

First performed at FNB Dance Umbrella ‘04
Music:  Sail Away - David Gray

2. Blue Bathroom

First performed at FNB Dance Umbrella ‘05
Music:  Twist and Shout
(P.Medley/B.Russel)
Performed by the Beatles

3. SleepTalk

First performed at FNB Dance Umbrella ‘04

Original music composition and arrangement: Chris Wood
Music sourced: String Quartet No.6 in F, Op. 96 “American by Antonin Dvořák (Lento)
String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D.810 “Death and the Maiden” by Franz Schubert (Andante con moto)

4. Take Out

First performed at FNB Dance Umbrella ‘05
Original music composition: Philip Miller

5. What If (For my mother)

First performed at FNB Dance Umbrella ‘05
Music:  Everytime we say goodbye - Cole Porter
Sung by Jimmy Scott - All the Way

6. Lost in Away

First performed at FNB Dance Umbrella ‘04
Music:  Psalom by Arvo Pärt - played by the Kronos Quartet

7. From the Outside In

First performed at KKNK ‘07
Music:  Koop Island Blues - Koop

Press quotes

Sunday Times April 10 2005

What is really exceptional are the choreographic vocabulary and the performances of Mazarakis and Morris, Bester employs a deceptively simple choreographic language that accurately portrays the reserved and tentative excitement the partners feel when they meet and fall in love. –Zingi Mkefa

The Star November 6 2007

This series of encounters of the romantic kind co-created with and directed by Gerard Bester has matured into a profoundly textured work radiating pathos, imagination, virtuosity and seasoned artistry. –Adrienne Sichel

Latest update: September 2013

Mazarakis was born in 1973 in Bloemfontein, Free State South Africa.

She started her dancing career training in ballet, tap and modern as a young girl and formalised her education at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape. She graduated with distinction from Rhodes University in 1995 where she trained in the drama department under Gary Gordon and was one of the founding members of The First Physical Theatre Company.

Mazarakis then completed her Masters degree, also with distinction, at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2010 producing the autobiographical Coming To as the practical component to her dissertation: Body of Knowledge: Interrogating Physical Intelligence and the translation of memory into motion in Coming To.

2012 – Present Education Officer at The Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative

2013- Restaging Attachements No 1-7 with Craig Morris, directed by Gerard Bester for the 2013 Aardklop Festival in September.

List of choreographic works

2012              Inter.Fear

Commissioned 30-minute work for Dance Umbrella 2012.  Created in collaboration with Hansel Nezza of Marabula Barcelona Berlin.

Commissioned full length work presented on the MAIN programme of the National Arts Festival, Grahamstown, 2012.

2012              Standing By

Solo multi-media work developed into a full length work through a Residency at GoetheOnMain.

2011                          Urban Fragments

Site-specific work with students of the Zentrum für Zeitgenössischen Tanz der Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln made as part of the Afropolis exhibition, Cologne, Germany.

2011              Standing By

Solo multi-media work COMMISSIONED by Rhodes University, Grahamstown, for Human Rights Week.

2011              Smoke and Mirrors

Full-length work choreographed for The Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative as choreographer in residence. Performed at the opening of the Wale Festival, Johannesburg.

2011              Flicker

Conceived, produced and co-created this full-length work for the Arena platform of the National Arts Festival, Grahamstown, with subsequent programming on the 969 Festival, Johannesburg. 

2010                          elev(i)ate and elev(i)ate2

Interactive dance installation presented at the 2010 FNB Dance Umbrella and Staged work presented at the NAF, Grahamstown, the 969 Festival, Johannesburg and the Out the Box Festival (2011), Cape Town.

2010              Everyday Falling

Duet choreographed for The First Physical Theatre Company, Grahamstown.

2010              Blow

Co-devised Physical Theatre work for the 969 Festival, Johannesburg.

2010              Animal Farm

Choreography for Sibikwa's Production of Animal Farm Directed by Phyllis Klotz 

2007              Coming To

Full-length solo work including Interactive Digital Art.  Performed at the National Arts Festival, Grahamstown, SA and The Nunnery, Johannesburg, SA.

2007              Touch

Full-length group work created for senior students of the Wits School of Arts.  Performed in Johannesburg, SA.

2005              In the spaces between bricks

20-minute Duet. Commissioned by the Philip Stein Young Choreographers Grant.  Performed at the FNB Dance Umbrella, Johannesburg, SA

2005              Just in Time

Full-length group work created for senior students of the Wits School of Arts.  Performed in Johannesburg, SA.

2004              Soma

Full-length group work created for senior students of the Wits School of Arts.  Performed in Johannesburg, SA.

2003              Tick Tock Bang

Trio performed at the FNB Dance Umbrella, Johannesburg, SA.

2003              Breaking News

Mime-theatre solo. Performed at My Big Fat Greek Festival, Durban, SA and at The Dance Factory, Johannesburg, SA.

2003              Beyond Words and the Big Red Lollipop

Full-length group work created for senior students of the Wits School of Arts.  Performed in Johannesburg, SA.

2002              Limb by Limb

Solo dance work performed at the FNB Dance Umbrella, Johannesburg, SA.

2000              my back to the bells

Solo work performed at the FNB Dance Umbrella, Johannesburg, SA, The Dance Umdudo, Grahamstown, SA & at My Big Fat Greek Festival, Durban, SA.

Teaching Experience :

2010 Sessional staff member in the Dramatic Arts Division of the Wits School of Arts (WSOA), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.  Teaching Responsibilities: First quarter teaching of Physical Theatre IV and Masters Performance Laboratory.

2010 Leave-replacement teaching in the Drama Department of Rhodes University, Grahamstown.  Teaching Responsibilities: Last quarter teaching of Dance Repertory III, Choreography III and Honours Choreography.

2004 – 2007 Lecturer in the Dramatic Arts Division of the Wits School of Arts (WSOA), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.  Teaching Responsibilities: Movement Studies, Physical Theatre, Mime and Choreography.

1999 – 2003 Sessional Tutor in the Dramatic Arts Division of the WSOA, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.  Teaching areas: Voice, Physical Theatre and Movement Studies.

1998 Facilitator at The Voice Clinic, Saxonwold, Johannesburg.

1996 Tutor in the Rhodes University Drama Department, Grahamstown, SA. Teaching areas:  Voice and Movement studies.

Awards

Mazarakis was a founding memeber of The First Physical Theatre Company in Grahamstown South Africa under the Direction of Gary Gordon.

Silver Standard Bank Ovation Award (2010) for elev(i)ate 2

Kanna award (2007) for the most prestigious achievement in Dance Theatre for Attachments nos 1 – 7

Gauteng MEC Award (2006) for Most Outstanding Female dancer in a contemporary style for performance in the works Petra and Attachments nos 1 – 6

Philip Stein Young Choreographer's Grant award (2004) commissioning a new work – in the spaces between bricks (2005)

Latest update: september 13