Empty Canvas

“What will become of all these notes with ideas for performances and artworks? Will they stay there, hidden in the notebook and no one will ever know about them? A song that becomes a picture, a painting that becomes a stage set, a rope you climb up and find another place much closer to the one you had dreamed of, a universal rite of care that unites instead of divides?”

Using the aerial acrobatic rope and the space around it as a key narrative tool, Empty Canvas is an audiovisual tribute to the creative artistic process itself and the magical way it connects images, sounds, ideas and emotions to tell short stories.

The two dancers who share the stage treat it as a blank canvas. The kinesiology is inspired by medieval illustrations, religious rituals, traditional dances, as well as films and paintings with similar content.

Dance: Eva Vlachou, Maria Sotiropoulou

Music-Sounds: Nefeli Liuta, Hala Strana, Ioannis Belegrinis, traditional rhythms

Direction-Scenography: Maria Sotiropoulou

Photos: Katerina Trichia

Eva Vlachou is a teacher of Special Education, plays the accordion and is involved in contemporary artistic circus. She teaches aerial dance to children and adults at the School of Aerial Acrobatics and Dance. She is proficient in sign language, continues her training as an interpreter and attends dance and music workshops for children with disabilities. In 2018, with the group BEMF, she participated in the dance video “Messaritikos” selected by the Athens Video Dance Project and took part with the same group in TEDXLesvos (2019). In 2023, she participated in the performance “This” by Eugenia Galerakis at the Athens Conservatory.

Maria Sotiropoulou is an illustrator, visual communication designer, director and performer of acrobatic performances. In 2017, she created Metagrunge in which she develops her creative practices and knowledge, helping artists and businesses to creatively communicate their work. She has participated in dance and acrobatic performances (“Encounters” by Ermira Goro, “Madren Vol3” by OO, “On Two Axes” by BEMF) and in 2019 she presented her first solo performances of her own at KET (“Keryx”, “Capital”). “Empty Canvas” is the 3rd full-length work she has directed.

Instagram: @metagrunge / www.metagrunge.com