The Ballet of the Greek National Opera presents The Golden Age, a new dance performance created by Konstantinos Rigos in co-production with the Belgrade Dance Festival. The world premiere will take place at the Belgrade Dance Festival on 12 April 2025, followed by performances at the Stavros Niarchos Hall of the GNO in the SNFCC on 9, 10, 14, 16, and 17 May 2025. This co-production with the Belgrade Dance Festival and the international tour are made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org] to enhance the Greek National Opera’s artistic outreach.

In The Golden Age, the GNO Ballet Director, Konstantinos Rigos, attempts to summarise the references that have left a mark on him, the obsessions that accompanied his coming-of-age process, the images that have defined him, the dance vocabulary he has crafted, his unique interpretation of stage performance, and the diverse music styles constantly playing in his earphones.

The Golden Age does not point to a specific time period; instead, it could be described as an emotional mixtape of Rigos’ 35-year-long journey in the world of dance, where the concepts of irony and nostalgia emerge as identical. From the National School of Dance (KSOT) to the peak of the Greek dance scene in the 1990s and the OKTANA Dance Theatre, the National Theatre of Northern Greece, the National Theatre of Greece, the Athens Epidaurus Festival, and the Greek National Opera, Konstantinos Rigos’ iconoclastic artistic imprint transcends the confines of dance, sparking a dialogue with the other art forms intersecting with it. His artistic identity remains restless, subversive, provocative, and poignant, yet deeply emotional.

In The Golden Age, Konstantinos Rigos introduces dance theatre vocabulary into the Greek National Opera Ballet, creating a new piece about the future of dance, through a striking blend of highlights that marked his 35-year-long journey, while also incorporating new materials and present-day influences. Highlights featuring old materials viewed through a modern lens, moments that tell of times gone by and their projection onto the future. Since the 1990s and into the new era of the GNO Ballet, Konstantinos Rigos has raised new questions with each movement he choreographs, about classical ballet, modern dance, dance theatre, the use of music, his movement vocabulary, imagery, music, singing, and speech.

With Ted Regklis in charge of the music, The Golden Age features the vibrant sounds of a wild dance party, showcasing pieces that range from “reworked” melancholic compositions by Verdi and Bizet to Greek songs by Chiotis, Loizos, and Mamangakis, as well as rock and jazz hits from the 1960s and 1970s. From the aria “Addio del passato” and the line from Hotel California “Some dance to remember, some dance to forget” to texts and songs performed by special guests, including Eleftheria Arvanitaki, Myrto Vasiliou, Dimitris Kapouranis, Idra Kayne, Dorothea Merkouri, Konstantinos Bibis, and Elena Topalidou, The Golden Age aspires to remind us that, since we cannot escape who we are, we ought to continue dancing to affirm our existence.

Looking back on the performances he has created from 1990 to the present day, Konstantinos Rigos, who also designed the production’s sets, notes: “A golden age, a new wave will sweep everything away, images from the past or the future, thoughts about love, faith, absence, and abandonment. The person and the place. Are we dressed or naked, like the emperor? Are we free or besieged? Are we God’s marionettes or travellers into the winter, always carrying inside of us the summer nights? Within a ring, we fight with our own selves or our own shadows, in both dark and clear blue lakes. Do we live in the Neverland, utopian Arcadias, enchanted Cithaerons, utopias, or in invisible cities? Events that have left a lasting impact on our lives and humanity, a mixtape of music and songs played on gramophones, reels, record players, Walkmans, and boomboxes, along with a small orchestra accompanying, just like in Titanic, the perishing humanity. A musical Babel. Are we looking for peace or a piece of “America”? What is this white noise surrounding us? Perhaps, it’s a wind that blows away these 35 creative years, exceeding the boundaries of thought, movement, performance, and physical constraints. Besides the body remembers! Once I had encountered a sad scuba diver. He talked to me about wild happiness that resembles the sleeping beauty lying within us, ready to burst forth after an abrupt release in a hotel where the seasons drift past us. And finally we go back to the initial question: Are you coming along on the excursion? Happy End.”

Collaborating on the dramaturgy is Erie Kyrgia, the costumes were designed by Daglara, and Petros Touloudis created the art installation. Christos Tziogkas is responsible for the lighting design, and Vassilis Kehagias is in charge of the videos.

Featuring the dancers Vangelis Bikos, Stelios Katopodis, Manex Alberdi, Yannis Gantsios, Elena Kekkou, Petros Nikolidis, Marita Nikolitsa, Daniele Pecorari, Stefano Pietragalla, Kaito Takahashi, Ariadni Filippaki, Yorgos Hatzopoulos, Despina Chrysostomou