IT’S THE END OF THE AMUSEMENT PHASE
Chara Kotsali
In a dance marathon that spans the historical continuum, three women regress between personal and collective history.
Focusing on the dancing body and using sound and poetry as materials, the piece grapples with the notion of progress as the most exhausting linear narrative. In the wake of a technological and social revolution that ultimately did not happen, ΙT’S THE END OF THE AMUSEMENT PHASE attempts to speak of the present’s emotional history.
Three female dancers interact on stage with the past that lies ahead of us and the future we have left behind. They engage in a dance that exhausts their emotional and physical resources. It is a choreography about the ambivalent relationship of the individual and collective body with history, about the link between progress and destruction, about dances of fun, pleasure, and propaganda.
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Chara Kotsali is a dance maker, performer, and teacher based in Greece. She graduated from Rallou Manou Professional School of Dance, where she currently works as a teacher of contemporary dance, along with Marmarinou Professional Dance School, while she has been a guest teacher and choreographer at Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD) and several venues across Europe. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Theater Studies and a master’s degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology, as well as professional drums training in Modern Music School.
She explores choreography and performance through an expanded approach, attempting to involve methodologies from anthropology, documentary art, music, and other performing languages while being particularly concerned with the politics of sound and movement. Her practice includes writing, field recordings, and DIY sound composition. Her work has been presented in venues in Greece and abroad, and she has been selected as one of the Twenty24 and Twenty26 Aerowaves artists. -
Chara Kotsali’s It’s the end of the amusement phase could unapologetically be called a noise manifesto, in the same trajectory as her previous work, creating the kind of whirling nausea that’s so typical of our devastating times. Anastasio Koukoutas - Springback Magazine
A bitter and sarcastic commentary on the flimsiness of Western culture and capitalism. […] A performance that has all the guarantees to find its way to stages abroad, especially at this time of global chaos. Stella Charami - Monopoli
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Concept – Choreography – Text – Video editing Chara Kotsali
Performance – Material Co-creation Sofia Pouchtou, Christina Skoutela, Chara Kotsali
Assistant Choreographer Vassia Zorbali
2nd Assistant Choreographer Clara Aguilar
Sound Design & Music Anna Maria Rammou, Chara Kotsali
Set & Costume Design Periklis Pravitas
Lighting Design Eliza Alexandropoulou
Dramaturgy Consultant Dimitra Mitropoulou
External Eye Κοnstantina Georgelou
Line Production and Tour Production Chara Kotsali & TooFarEast
Photos Pinelopi Gerasimou for Onassis Stegi
Trailer Apostolis Koutsianikoulis
Warm thanks to Evangelia Chatzitzanou, Katerina Spyropoulou, Spiros Papadopoulos, Stathis Ioannou, Aliki Kazouri, Giorgos Kotsalis, Aspa Aroni, Dimitris Mpourzoukos, and all the ‘unknown’ and ‘renowned’ choreographers and musicians that gave us inspiration during the creative process.
The research for “IT’S THE END OF THE AMUSEMENT PHASE” was supported by Onassis AiR and Réseau Grand Luxe. Special thanks to TROIS C-L Luxembourg, CAMPUS Paulo Cunha e Silva (Porto), Grand Studio Brussels, and L’Abri Geneva.
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2025
3–6 April 2025: Onassis Dance Days, Athens, Greece
22 July 2025: Dance Days Chania, Chania, Greece
2026
6–7 February 2026: Maillon, Théâtre de Strasbourg - Scène européenne, Strasbourg, France
9 May 2026: Springforward 2026, Guimarães, Portugal
16 May 2026: Moving Balkans 2026 Showcase, Novi Sad, Serbia
19 May 2026: Španski Borci, Ljubljana, Slovenia
21 May 2026: Dance Week Festival, Zagreb, Croatia
27-28 May 2026: Globe Festival (Théâtre Paris-Villette), Paris, France
6 June 2026: One Dance Festival, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
3-4 July 2026: Julidans Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands
20 July 2026: Kalamata International Dance Festival, Kalamata, Greece
30 July – 01 August 2026: ImPulsTanz, Vienna, Austria
14–16 August 2026: Tanz im August, Berlin, Germany
12–13 September 2026: Tanzhaus NRW, Düsseldorf, Germany
05 October 2026: Sirenos Festival, Vilnius, Lithuania
8 October 2026: Romaeuropa, Rome, Italy
21 November 2026: Theater Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
2027
29 & 30 January 2027: Sadler’s Well, London, UK
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For more information, check availability, please contact Eckhard Thiemann at eckhard@eckhardthiemann.com.