Aria Skokos

Aria Skokos 

My Blog    

People say that dreams do come true.  

 And when they do, that's the beautiful thing about them.

Well, what about me?   If I can dream it, I can do it, I just have to believe in myself.

My name is Aria or Ariadni Skokos and all I can say about myself is that I dance to live and live to dance. I have been blessed to be born into a creatively gifted and artistic family. My family has instilled in me a love of the arts and given me the drive to search for my own individual creative self - expression. My Russian mother is a professional ballet dancer and my Greek father is a professional musician and composer. And now I, Myself am a professional dancer.

At a very young age I started with rhythmic gymnastics and this tolerated me and gave me all the strength to start ballet when I was ten years old. This was the time when I fell in love with dance...  

Dance Training:

Ballet, Partnering.

Contemporary style, Graham, Horton, Release, Limon and Cunningham Technique.

Jazz, Hip - Hop, Musical Theatre, Tap and High Heels.

Singing and Acting is another major part of my life as crucial as dance is. 

Work Experience:

AKTINA Professional Dance School 2016 - 2019.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre - Professional Division Scholarship Program 2016.

Amita Motion Greece - 2016.

Amita Motion Greece - 2015.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre - Professional Division Scholarship Summer Intensive 2015.

MAD Awards Greece - 2015

MAD awards Greece - 2014

Exhibition 

    As a task for the choreography course as a collaborative practice we had to visit the Benaki museum, which is located in Athens/Greece. When I arrived to the museum, before even entering the exhibition room, I was fascinated by the huge and outrageous general entrance. It was this second, when I knew where I was gonna perform my piece of work. 

    Entering the exhibition room, which is called (OUT)TOPIAS the first thing I observed was a great number of televisions that consisted of meaningful and unique videos based on the greek performance in public places and areas. A lot of pieces caught my attention, but there was only one that actually inspired me and I fell in love with. There was a book which was called “dance the walk”. Only by reading the tittle of the book, I knew immediately what I was gonna create and the message I was gonna share with my audience.

"Dance The Walk"

The main reason why I chose this simple, but full of meanings quotation was because for me dance is like walking. I walk in order to live. In the same way I survive through dancing.

People always walk, right? For me I always have to dance. I was really inspired by every word of this quotation. 

EXHIBITION

    As a task for the choreography course as a collaborative practice we had to visit the Benaki museum, which is located in Athens/Greece. When I arrived to the museum, before even entering the exhibition room, I was fascinated by the huge and outrageous general entrance. It was this second, when I knew where I was gonna perform my piece of work.

    Entering the exhibition room, which is called (OUT)TOPIAS the first thing I observed was a great number of televisions that consisted of meaningful and unique videos based on the greek performance in public places and areas. A lot of pieces caught my attention, but there was only one that actually inspired me and I fell in love with. There was a book which was called “dance the walk”. Only by reading the tittle of the book, I knew immediately what I was gonna create and the message I was gonna share with my audience.

"Dance The Walk"

The main reason why I chose this simple, but full of meanings quotation was because for me dance is like walking. I walk in order to live. In the same way I survive through dancing.

People always walk, right? For me I always have to dance. I was really inspired by every word of this quotation.

(OUT)TOPIAS

The name of the exhibition itself triggered me the most.

Greek origin :      out= away from

                             topos = place

Often utopia is an ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political and moral aspects. In the particular exhibition, a new approach to outdoor and public spaces is presented, focusing on the principle that every space is potentially descriptive

When we revisited the museum I had already thought that the place I was gonna perform my piece would be the general entrance. A big and empty space, where I am going to create a story. I personally believe that space shapes body, and body shapes space. 

From my point of view, it is not only a collaboration with myself, but with the museum itself as well. More specifically it is both a creative and a collaboration that enters into the detail of curatorship. 

FINDING SPACE IN THE MUSEUM

When we revisited the museum I had already thought that the place I was gonna perform my piece would be the general entrance. A big and empty space, where I am going to create a story. I personally believe that space shapes body, and body shapes space.

From my point of view, it is not only a collaboration with myself, but with the museum itself as well. More specifically it is both a creative and a collaboration that enters into the detail of curatorship.

MY PIECE/ INSPIRATION POINT

Everything starts with a very first step...

The most important in one's journey....

This is the step that will dedicate the direction and the rhythm of the walk. The walk of each person's life. It is our intention, our commitment, our passion and motivation that will transform our walk into a harmonious and energetic dance.

'' Walk The Dance''

My journey started...

REVISITING THE MUSEUM

Unfortunately the space I chose did not work for me as I wanted to, because it was more of a “stage” production/performance rather than an inner relationship to the museum.

This was my biggest concern and issue, during the Choreography course, as it was difficult and harsh for me to think out of the box and act in a more abstract way.  I have learned to act and dance on ‘particular stages’ with particular seated audience watching me. Hence, for me this whole idea and project was of great challenge.

After rethinking the space I was going to use, the space that drew my attention was the ramp on the right that leads to the entrance of the building. I did not want to use only the ramp as it is, but the space under and near the ramp as well. 

READINGS

These are some parts of the readings that struck my attention and interest:

Muriel Maffre

  ''Dance is not only about movement, but about space and writing and thinking. What we've tried to show is how dance is not just a footnote or sporadic event but an art form contained in itself''' Muriel Maffre (p.92).

Diane Madden

“People go to a dance performance expecting to be entertained, but people go to an art museum expecting to put thought and time into what they're seeing." (p.92)

 “Dancers used to performing  in theaters  have to get  used to  people staring them  in the face.” (p.94)

o   Stuart, Elaine. Jackson Pollock Meet Trisha Brown. 2014, January.

Tara Munjee

 “Choreographers and dancers actively respond to spaces in the performance of site-specific dance. Their performance and compositional choices highlight aspects of a site that are most fertile for artistic exploration.”

Reading this particular article named “Embodied Place”, made me think clearly and realize that by choosing a specific space, inspiration and imagination can be created by it. This will make the choreography even more interesting and personal.

o   Munjee, Tara. Embodied Place: Variations of Spatial Engagement in Site- Specific Contemporary Dance Choreography. 2012.

 A quote I also wanted to add by Francois Delsarte:

MY PIECE/ MATERIAL USED

From the very first day, I wanted my piece to be simple, but at the same time trigger everyone’s interest and attention.

I was thinking of wearing the less clothes I could for simplicity.

Clothing Used:

o   Tan Undergarments

o   White Bandage

                                                WHITE POWDER.

A Black platform, which I will put on the floor in order to make a difference with the White powder I will have on my body. The reason I wanted to use this powder was because of its texture and the way it was applied on my body and my hair.

I personally had on my mind that I was an unreal creature from an unreal world. From the way I moved on the platform, my body was creating different shapes. I stood up and noticed that the ‘real art’ was on the platform, as the prints of my body were left on that platform through the motion of my body on it.

TITLE OF MY PIECE

Before even creating the piece I was going to perform, I already knew the title I wanted for it. I broke down the phrase I had thought and combined two words that are totally opposite in reality. The word lie, was represented not only as not revealing the truth, but as something unreal that does not exist.

WHITE   LIE

 

White is associated with light,                                     Not reality = OUTTOPIA

goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity.

 It is considered to be the color of perfection.

White means safety, purity, and cleanliness.

.

PERFORMANCE DAY/ REFLECTION

19^th November

The performance day, the big great day arrived really quickly. I believe everything went more than great. I was not that anxious about my piece, but mostly about people watching me and criticizing. However, I was so focused on the now and my piece that nothing else mattered. The whole show-on time lasted about 8 hours. My piece worked as on the run through. Overall this was an extraordinary magical experience that will help me a lot in my life as a choreographer and as a dancer as well, but most importantly as a human being.