These Greek laments or mourning songs are called miroloi. They express deep feelings of grief and loss and are performed during funerals but as well when somebody leaves the family to marry or to emigrate. The miroloi relate to a collective context of loss and saying farewell. They are sung to accept the loss and release the emotions of grief. Torres Guerrero and Augustijnen are intrigued by the emotional and physical impact of the miroloi. They apply the potential of the miroloi in a different context, that of contemporary dance, integrating and dialoguing with the traditional forms.

Tradition and contemporary

are not in opposition

Every living tradition has contemporary expressions. Koen Augustijnen and Rosalba Torres Guerrero draw a parallel between the process of the miroloi and the process of transforming a traditional dance form. The miroloi help to facilitate the process of accepting loss. By letting go, a transformation happens. In order to transform and re- explore traditional dance forms one has to accept to leave behind certain elements from the past. By doing this, a renewed contemporary dance vocabulary can emerge.

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To what extent is traditional dance permeable to other influences? How do we relate to the past? How do we relate to tradition? How can it be represented on stage today and become of interest for contemporary audiences? How is it possible to question and update tradition without losing its soul? Can we unlock traditional codes from the past to explore new cultural pathways?

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Greece is a country were the traditional dance and music are still present and part of society. The next generations will decide if they will keep these traditions alive; preserve them in museums or worst-case scenario, let them disappear and assimilate completely in the mainstream western culture. As such a re-appropriated traditional dance can have a social dimension and be a political statement. Do we choose to turn our back on rooted traditions and rituals? Do we let traditions drift to solely be an affirmation of identity or do we use their intrinsic strength in today's reality? Can we use the best of both worlds (traditional and contemporary dance) into an intercultural performance?

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Lamenta reinvests in the intuitive, physical and fundamental forces of Greek traditional dance, with its energizing, earthy and transcendental qualities, to unfold and nourish a contemporary creation. It considers the body as a crossing between the intuitive and the intellect, the irrational and control, as a conversation between Dionysos and Apollo on their way to a present, relevant and revealing synthesis.

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The re-exploration and research of the Greek traditional dance and music will go beyond the copying of forms. Nine Greek contemporary dancers (Lamprini Gkolia, Christiana Kosiari, Konstantinos Chairetis, Petrina Giannakou, Dafni Stathatou, Athina Kyrousi, Taxiarchis Vasilakos, Alexandros Stavropoulos & Spyridon ‘Stak’ Christakis) with a background of Greek traditional dance from their region, come together with Siamese Cie and re-explore elements of the miroloi and the Greek traditional dance through a contemporary prism. The traditional dance, being the energetic and popular expression of belonging to a collective body, is infused, questioned, deconstructed and recomposed through applying a task- based process.

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This process is supported by the Greek dramaturge Georgina Kakoudaki and the Belgian dance dramaturge Guy Cools, who bring in their complimentary knowledge of the intricacies of the tradition, the traces of history and mythology. Parallel to the creation process of Lamenta, Cools published his new book: Performing Mourning. Laments in Contemporary Art (Valiz, 2021).