Contemporary dance is the name that is given to a group of dances of the 20th century. It’s a collection of methods and systems that begins from modern dance. Modern dance actually started in the latest 19th century and many of the items that characterize contemporary art and architecture appear in its forms. In Greece the history of contemporary dance starts in the early 20th century, with the Isadora Duncan’s arrival, who dances and teaches dances inspired from ancient Greece.
A characteristic of contemporary dance is to experience the space that the choreography is in. Often the choreographer doesn’t want to reproduce the usual way that is followed in designing theatres. A place that is characterized by the flexibility of setting the stage and the extroversion by its shape, that in the same time will be a pole of attraction for Greek and foreign groups, is missing from Greece. This work’s aim is to design an architectural proposal like this, which is going to be named as ‘Center of Contemporary Dance’.
The spot that this proposal is taking place is in “Gazi” area and is surrounded by Piraios, Orfeos and Iakhou roads, that provides easy access, visibility and transversality.
My research about body in contemporary dance started with a collection of videos with choreographies. After seeing these videos some cares have been taken apart and a file with freezed movements and positions has been created. This prosedure created three categories: contacts, extreme body positions and movements with body’s center of weight out of its axis. From some of this examples some sketches and 3D models have been created so as to begin a deduction of information and a discodification of elements. Traslating body to a lineal element (it’s axis) had as a result a new model. According to the needs of a Center of Contemporary Dance which has the aim to offer hospitality to performances, festivals and videodances’ projections has been conceived a schedule that contents a free space for dance performances, a videodance- record office, a room for rehearsals and videodance projection rooms.
The Center of Contemporary Dance consists of three buildings, and the combination of them creates an, optically and functionally, continual
proposal.