NEAR MISSES

Fotini Stamatelopoulou

Live performance

40 minutes
Gare Saint Sauveur, Lille
Free
French premiere

Week-end FIESTA at Gare Saint Sauveur

“Near misses”: unexpected incidents that could have caused a risk but were narrowly avoided. With this new piece, Fotini Stamatelopoulou summons a series of protective rituals that come to life in the in-between.

Greek choreographer and performer Fotini Stamatelopoulou presents the French premiere of her latest work at Latitudes Contemporaines: a collection of embodied acts that explore the points of oscillation between silence and rage, vulnerability and power, persistence and submission. Infused with medieval archives, balkan traditions, and intimate narratives, NEAR MISSES is the imprint of over a year of artistic research, brought to life through the gestures of performer Despina Sanida Crezia. Through a series of intense physical states and spoken words, clad in an armor of protective metallic wearables, the performer generates a sonic and vocal altar that gradually reveals an overexposed gesture of obtaining freedom and resilience in chaos. Fotini Stamatelopoulou immerses us in a gripping world, intertwining medieval aesthetics and protective codes in a powerful celebration of collective strength, fury, and perseverance.

Accessibility infos :

Text spoken in English, surtitled in French
High sound intensity
Use of strobe lights
Use of smoke generators

Within the framework of FIESTA – lille3000

Biography(s)

Fotini Stamatelopoulou (she/her) works in the fields of choreography and performance making. She has studied dance and performance psychology. She explores connections between performance, sound practices, and text that are connected to the body image, the function of emotion, and symbolisms seeking modes of shifting the experience of the spectators. She has presented the performance works ‘optimal soft’ (Onassis Stegi), ‘too.much’ (MIRfestival). She collaborates as a movement director and assistant choreographer in performing and visuals arts, and film productions.
Fotini was an Onassis AiR Fellow for 2023/24 within the framework of the Grand Luxe Network (2023-2024) participating in a series of residencies at Theatre Freiburg, Trois CL/Luxembourg, Grand Studio/Brussels, L’Abri/Geneva and Pôle-Sud/Strasbourg. She co-curates the podcasts ‘patches’, a series on sound and choreography, while she has participated in Radio (non-) Conference#2_Athens broadcasted live on Stegi.Radio (Athens) and reboot.fm (Berlin Potsdam). She has been awarded with the EFFEA (European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists) Springboard Residency (2025) scheme with the support of Latitudes Contemporaines, SPRING Performing Arts Festival, and MIRfestival.

Credits

Concept, choreography, artistic direction: Fotini Stamatelopoulou
Performance: Despina Sanida Crezia
Music / Sound Design: Panos Alexiadis
Metallic wearables, sculptural elements: Dimitris Tampakis
Lighting design: Nysos Vasilopoulos
Texts: Fotini Stamatelopoulou
Dramaturgical support: Elena Novakovits
Production management: Alex Papasimakopoulou
Produced by Onassis Stegi
Co-produced by Latitudes Contemporaines, SPRING Performing Arts Festival, MIRfestival
Supported by the European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists – EFFEA
First performed at ONASSIS STEGI, Athens, April 2025
This performance is supported by the Onassis Stegi Touring Program
Research supported by the Grand Luxe Network choreographic platform and Onassis AiR/Athens, L’Abri/Geneva, Trois C-L/Luxembourg, Pôle-Sud/Strasbourg, Grand Studio/Brussels and Theater Freiburg.
Warm thanks to Aliki Leftherioti, Alessandra Mattana, Christiana Galanopoulou, Christina Karagianni, Ioanna Gerakidi, Karis Zidore, Konstantinos Papanikolaou, Lydia and Grigoris Alexiadis, Marianna Serveta, the Onassis AiR team, Stavros Kariotoglou + many more dear friends and family along the way.