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The Secret Supper

The Chinese public got a chance to see one of the most significant Greek contemporary dance companies in performances in beginning January 18 Beijing. The performance was part of the Cultural Year of Greece in China.

SineQuaNon, the dance company, was at the forefront of the contemporary dance movement that flourished in Greece in the mid-1990s and is considered one of the foremost contemporary dance troupes in Europe. Its members include Greek dancers that have represented Greece in major international events. The Secret Supper has been enthusiastically received by public and dance critics wherever it has been presented, and Beijing was no exception.

The main source of inspiration in creating dance pieces is a fascination with the body in motion and how it interacts with space and time and with other moving bodies. The way dancers move is influenced by contemporary dance techniques such as release, contact improvisation and methods based on the study of the anatomy of the human body.

Secret Supper dates from 2004 and was first presented in Athens as part of the Athens 2004 Culture Paralympic Games’ Programme. It went on to presentations at various festivals in Greece and Europe.

Secret Supper featured eight dancers and five musicians in a dance piece that revolved around a table. While the table served as a pretext for the company’s dancers to come into contact with each other, it ultimately served as a source of energy, stimulating and organising how the action flowed around it. The performance explored concepts such as sacrifice, betrayal, male vs. female, solitude, and angst; yet, spectators were free to interpret the works on their own, creating their own “story.”

Live music on stage created a soundscape within which the dancers interacted; sometimes creating their own atmosphere, sometimes commenting on what was happening around them, and at other times, stimulating and provoking the action onstage.

Music, scenery, movement and light combined to create a different take on the Last Supper, SineQuaNon’s Secret Supper.