Butchers: Gloria Dorliguzzo and Lucia Amara on Butcher Dance at Athens Epidaurus Festival
Choreographer Gloria Dorliguzzo (Milan, 1984) and theater theorist Lucia Amara (Bologna) created 'Butchers', a performance exploring the etymology of 'hasapiko' (butcher's dance). Presented at the Athens Epidaurus Festival on July 12 and 13, the work strips the butcher's gesture of knife, animal, and blood, leaving only pure movement. Professional butchers and a traditional Greek dance specialist perform the sequences. Amara's research, based on Jesper Svenbro's study, links the vocabulary of meat cutting in ancient Greek sacrifice to poetic meter. The performance replaces the animal with poetry, referencing Pindar's anecdote of offering a paean at Delphi. The piece aims to evoke the memory of ritual without material violence, transforming technical repetition into rhythm and form.
Key facts
- Gloria Dorliguzzo (born 1984, Milan) and Lucia Amara (Bologna) collaborated on 'Butchers'.
- The performance was presented at the Athens Epidaurus Festival on July 12 and 13.
- 'Butchers' derives from the Greek word 'hasapiko', meaning butcher's dance.
- The performance involves professional butchers and a specialist in traditional Greek dance.
- Amara's research draws on Jesper Svenbro's study linking sacrificial meat cutting to poetic meter.
- The choreography isolates the butcher's gesture, removing knife, animal, and blood.
- The work replaces the animal with poetry, referencing Pindar's offering of a paean at Delphi.
- The performance explores how repeated technical gestures become rhythm, memory, and ritual.
Entities
Artists
- Gloria Dorliguzzo
- Lucia Amara
- Jesper Svenbro
- Pindar
Institutions
- Athens Epidaurus Festival
- Artribune
Locations
- Athens
- Greece
- Milan
- Italy
- Bologna
- Delphi