George Rallis: Savanoma
PLACE: Tehdas Teatteri, Itäinen Rantakatu 64b
DATE & TIME: Thu 4.9 at 18–22:30.
DURATION: 3 h + 1,5 h. The durational part, 18-21, does not require pre-booking. However, advance registration is required for the performance segment from 21–22:30. Pre-registration
LANGUAGE: English
Information about accecibility here
Savanoma (σαβάνωμαν) designates in Cypriot the process of dressing up and preparing a body for burial. Having as its main axes non-assimilation, militant queerness, anti-white supremacy and anti-colonialism, this durational performance works both with things unspoken and with words overtly used. By conversing through dance, black metal, and physical transformation, the work explores different possibilities of becoming. It is a ritual based on a state of personal in-between-ness, where Rallis explores how healing of trauma unfolds in time but is non-linear, and how ancestral pain remains present in oppressed, non-conforming bodies, even as it is not disclosed.
Content note: the performance includes blood, nudity, explicit/violent language, loud noises, flashing lights.
Artistic Direction, Concept, Performing: George Rallis
Set Design: Anna Pietila
Sound Design: Miika Keränen
Voice: Snowdrop Áine-Fae Belmont, Emmi Länsman, George Rallis,
Instruments: Miika Keränen, Adonis Kilonis, Anna Pietila,
Songs: Frozen Winds
Costume Design: Linda Kokkonen
George Rallis (they/them) is a performance artist and researcher from Cyprus whose main interests lie in queer embodiment, ritual and transitory stages of becoming. They have a BA in English Literature and Cultural Studies from the University of Cyprus and a MA in Cultural Analysis from the University of Amsterdam. They have curated performance-based music events and fundraisers parallel to hosting radio podcasts in Amsterdam, Nicosia and Manchester. They have worked at the Fine Arts department of the Cyprus University of Technology, and have been twice part of the residency of the MITOS Center of Performing Arts (2022, 2023), as well as the Research and Writing residencies for Und. Athens and the studio of Amsterdam-based sculptor Aurelien Lepetit. For the last 2 years, they have been living and performing for various initiatives around Finland while completing their second MA in Live Art and Performance Studies at University of the Arts Helsinki.