#update in europe

[nima-project]

The Bulgarian team building democratic citizens

[nima-project]

Our Update in Europe project was not only fun but also a great learning experience! You can read an account of what we learned here.

[nima-project]

Erasmus+

[nima-project]

Get to know us better: A video prepared by the team from Bulgaria

[nima-project]

It’s important to work hard, but it’s also important to take a break and a selfie (or two)!

The team from Bulgary, after building their ultimate citizen. 

[nima-project]

Saturday June 3: Body Percussion - Body Music with Simone Mongelli

[nima-project]

May 24: The role of theatre in the establishment of Democracy lecture

The “Celebration” is a universal social phenomenon. Α celebration full of splendour and spectacle serves to showcase the will to live, the moral and spiritual appearance, the consciousness that supports this struggle that maintains, grounds, and evolves through the social convenience that we call a “Celebration”.

Everywhere and anywhere on the world, Celebration has taken many shapes and followed all of human activity. We have national, religious, even work related rituals that are mysterious and magical, orgasmic and terrible, all ending in a orgiastic feast. Myth is their common denominator.

Ever since humans began to exist in societies we’ve had primitive forms of celebrations. We see them in the cavemen of the stone age, not even fully human yet. Likewise, the remnants of rituals remain in today’s civilized societies. The Greek “anastenaria” (fire ritual that involves a barefoot dance on smouldering embers performed by nestinari, in Bulgarian language: “nestinarstvo”), to name but one small example, or carnival, May Day, all the celebrations centered on winemaking. However, by far the most representative of those kinds of celebrations and the prevailing one in all civilized people and different societies is Theatre.

Theatre is a celebration of Democracy. Born with the world’s first democratic city which was established in Athens after the victory in the Persian wars and, because of that first Theatre we are now happy to have the invaluable heritage of ancient theatres all over Greece like the Dionysian theatre in Athens, Epidaurus etc, but also plants surviving by the time of the Great Tragic Poets like Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and the comic Aristophanes.

Theatre is neither a school of philosophy, nor a music hall, it’s not a speculation nor a soiree noir, it’s not a nervous irritation, nor a mental lewdness, it’s neither outrageousness nor orgy. In the Theatre what is shown off is the cultural heritage, the metaphorical armory of a state, the social virtue of a people. The face of the age, such as it is, is presented and controlled by the presence of the common people. This is why Theatre and spectacles have always been the food for the people. Here the people watch, listen, judge. This spiritual diet -Theatre- along with all other means of education that it completes and overcomes in effectiveness can shape, cultivate, and educate the social conscience, clear the citizens from their selfish drive and make them worthy of the whole. Theatre affects a large number of adult citizens at the same time, a characteristic that prompted Aristophanes to call it “Grown up school”.  

The social role Theatre plays

…The plays performed present a high level struggle. With speech and counterspeech they try to convince us of something truly great, something that interests the entire city state and all its values. We see the trials, the judgement and catharsis of morals, of traditions, of the law of the city state and the entire system of civilization. In the time of Aeschylus -father of theatre- that struggle, and that judgment was done without any restrictions.  The appointed judges had their ears tuned to the voices of the people, and the citizens where the one who had the last word, with their approval or disapproval. Anyone who has watched a performance in an ancient theatre can attest to the feeling of awe caused by the grandeur of it all, the satisfaction brought by listening to a brave speech done well upon the stage, especially when that satisfaction is shared by the entire audience.

It is undeniable that in order for the Theatre to flourish it needs the presence of an audience of citizens, to watch and judge and controls, and as such it cannot exist under any other system of government but democracy. Today, when we unearth an ancient theatre we can say with certainty: here, then, stood a democratic nation. Democracy and tis byproduct, Theatre, was shared with other countries of the world and along with the traditions themselves passed the vocabulary. Democracy. Theatre. Drama. Tragedy. Comedy. Chorus. Orchestra. Scene. Those words and all their derivatives traveled everywhere and since then mean the same thing in any language.

But that amazing celebration of democracy is born and dies with it. It acts like a barometer of how democratic a regime is at certain times and places. Does the system flourish? Are the people in power, acting as creators? Do they shape the face of their culture? Then this is a golden age for theatre. Is democracy threatened? Are the people hunted? Pushed to the side? In the Middle Ages, the darkest time for democracy and the people, theatre is pushed to the sidelines, actors are burned to the stake for heresy and they’re not protected or granted any rights under law. Anyone could kill them like dogs on the side of the street until  the Renaissance which brings the dawn of a golden age, human nature is again winged and full of hope, and Theatre, headed by Shakespeare, finds its place and is again a mirror to its society.

Lack of theatrical education

Light theatre. This way of measuring worth: lightness. It sells in these days and brings in mind the old greek proverb “when there are little merchants in the streets there is a lot of poverty in the homes”. This merchandise, lightness (the lightness of song, of melody, or plays) has taken an undeserved spot right next to the worthy and worthless alike, and what's more, it gets praise and credit for it. But all of these light, easy shows are simply bad poetry and bad art. They are the small “values” that roam around because these are all the world can accept, while real values get buried away.

Modern Greece is a so called democratic nation, but that democracy has just as much to do with the democracy that gave birth to theatre as the National Theatre on Agiou Konstantinou street has to do with the Epidaurus theatre, or the Hilton with the Parthenon.

According to the spirit of that system, Theatre is the people’s celebration, when the people are in power, when the power comes from the voters and not their lords. The theatre has its throne. A throne of the glory of freedom and justice. There, brought before it to be judged, come Virtue and Vice, the spirit of hard work and the spirit of resistance, the fighting spirit and the spirit of conformity, of conservatism. There the People, sitting in their throne, dressed in all their glory, watch the game, judge and are judged in turn, their conscience cleared, the rules of society formed. The requisite is Democracy. Not a new or an old Democracy but Democracy in itself. Pure, self sufficient and real.

Questions/Themes for discussion stemming from the lecture

1. What is the relationship between the ancient Theatres and plays with the new?

2. What’s the relationship between the European youth and theatre today?

3. What themes do the plays put on today explore? Do they seem like gossip, something that will placate the passing fashion of each season, or do they truly work on exploring ideas that are worth it?

4. Do the great ideas behind modern plays have anything to do with the foundations of the European Union? (tolerance, understanding the other, teamwork and cooperation, intercultural dialogue, solidarity, justice, honesty, meritocracy, equality, respect for human rights…

5. What about ancient works? Based on your answer do you believe in the aesthetic and educational work that theatre does, how it strives towards the refinement of its audience, especially the young, and their introduction to the timeless values it discusses?

6. Imagine that next to every church and football field -things that even the smallest villages has these days- is a theatre, a place for the citizens to meet and watch a mental kind of game,a spectacle that would shape its political conscience. Is that a bridge between democracy and theatre? Give more examples.

7. Generally do you agree or disagree with the text and why?

Text by Vassilis Rotas (1889 – 1977), greek author, critic, and translator (his translation of Aristophanes’ “The Birds” is a classic, especially since it was used for the 1961 production of the comedy by Karolos Koun’s Theatre of the Arts). V. Rotas was a very important personality with a great number of works for theatre, poetry, and literature, starting from the time of the German occupation as an answer to the request of the revolutionaries for theatre. They ended up forming a troupe that included professional actors and amateur revolutionaries alike.

V. Rotas was not greatly influenced by the aesthetic trends of his time, although he was deeply moved by folklore and folk songs, as well as traditional fairytales and Karagiozis. That attitude supports his view that the creator, instigator, deciding force and receptor of everything were the people.

Another great influence to his work were the works of Shakespeare as well as ancient greek tragedies. In many of his plays he followed the form and “feel” of greek tragedies, Shakespeare’s histories, and shadow puppet theatre (Karagiozis).

The text came from an introduction to a seminar by the Marxist Research Centre on 28/2/1977, titled “Theatre and Democracy”.

[nima-project]

Ismini taking us on a tour through time and space, using the unique architecture of Athens as a guide. 

[nima-project]

Simone Mongelli and the Update in Europe teams from Greece, Italy and Bulgaria making music together. 

Simone Mongelli’s webpage: http://www.simonemongelli.eu

[nima-project]

11 short stops to map a city? Inconceivable! 

[nima-project]

The adventure continues with an architecture centred walk around the centre of Athens, guided by Nima’s very own budding architect Ismini. 

We explored the different faces of Athens over the years, the way the city was planned and the plans were ignored, the way it was eventually built, contrary to all expectations, and the way it still stands today. 

[nima-project]

That day was so hot and exhausted but SO MUCH FUN. 

Song: Jorm - It's all good (Vlog No Copyright Music) Music provided by Vlog No Copyright Music. Video Link: https://youtu.be/INXbyIAkGHM

[nima-project]

What happens when people from Italy, Bulgaria and Greece come together? Crazy things. Erasmus+ program here we are. Song: Simon More - Emotions (Vlog No Copyright Music) Music provided by Vlog No Copyright Music. Video Link: https://youtu.be/War_TD-pSFg

[nima-project]

Visiting "sweet Europe" and then we the ADAF (Athens digital arts festival) that’s happening here in Greece.

[nima-project]

Nima - The voting improvisation

[nima-project]

Introducing: Nima arts and drama group