BODHI PROJECT – AUSTRIA | Newtopia by Patricia Apergi
In those yet-to-be-identified societies, world citizens hear the last sounds of familiar things and learn how to accept the organic presence of chaos. They are confronted with an urgent demand; to invent new sounds, new images, and other languages to reveal the future reality.

Newtopia. A discovery of a new land, where defeat transforms into triumph in a stunning show of failures. Newtopia, a new place of justice, balance and beauty that reinvents new ways to fight and resist, to fall and stand up.
Newtopia explores the concept of utopia, drawing from and responding to the societal crisis today. How does it feel to be a citizen of a society that is in decline? Can one emerge a hero from failure? 

BODHI PROJECT is considered one of the most profiled contemporary companies for professional dancers in Europe. Founded by Susan Quinn in 2008, BODHI PROJECT is part of the blackmountain non-profit organization, an association to promote contemporary dance and performance in Austria and abroad. Its “home base” and production address is SEAD – Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance. 

Guided by the artistic visionary Susan Quinn, BODHI PROJECT’s repertory is stylistically diversified and tours internationally. It showcases the artistic and technical excellence of the dancers’ complex movement repertory, demanding theatrical elements and a strong stage presence. All works have been uniquely created for the company. BODHI PROJECT is a platform for new choreographic voices in the international contemporary dance scene and focuses on the avantgarde. 

Patricia Apergi completed her education in the disciplines of dance, theatre and choreography at the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, the Niki Kotaxaki Dance School, the Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis and the Middlesex University London. She is the founder of Aerites Dance Company and her works have been toured in various dance festivals around the world. She is a co-writer of the book “History of Theatre and Theatrical Education” and a member of the International Festival of Emerging Artists (London, 2008). She also teaches dance, theatre and choreography and has given lectures on choreography in various universities in Greece and abroad. In 2021, she established the first Academy of Choreography in Greece, in the frame of the wider artistic vision of Aerites. 

Concept & Choreography: Patricia Apergi
Performance:Alessandro Sollima, Andréa Givanovitch, Dylan Brahim Labiod, Jaeger Wilkinson, Jeanne Procureur, Luisa Heilbron, Paola Taddeo

Rehearsal director: Maja Poturovic

Light design: Frank Lischka
Costume design: Patricia Apergi, Birke van Maartens

Costume assistance: Celina Mayr

Music by: Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Marihiko Hara and Hildur Guðnadóttir with Hauschka, Sam Slater, Jóhann Jóhannsson, BJ Nilsen & Stilluppsteypa

Music editing: Clelia Patrono 

Duration: 60min

Production management: Maja Poturovic
Production: blackmountain/BODHI PROJECT, SEAD

Residencies: SQFARM./DE, SZENE/AUT
Supported by: Stadt Salzburg, Land Salzburg, Bundesministerium für Kunst, Kultur, öffentlichen Dienst und Sport
Tour in Tel Aviv supported by Austrian Cultural Forum

Photo: Bernhard Mueller