VERITAS

Veritas

Ioanna Portolou & Griffón Dance Co.

The Griffón dance company and choreographer Ioanna Portolou present their new production Veritas, an insightful and timely work that explores the concept of truth. The performance will be staged at the PLYFA Theatre in Votanikos from November 9th, 2024, for fourteen performances, running until December 8th, 2024 (every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 21:30). Following the sold-out success of their production Amazing, Griffón returns with a dynamic piece that delves into the truth—what is unseen, unspoken, hidden, and untold.

What is truth? Does it exist? And if so, who knows it? Truth is what is presented as reality. However, beliefs and subjectivity are its greatest adversaries, as they employ a multitude of metaphors, pronouns, and anthropomorphisms, ultimately misinterpreting the true event. On this topic, German philosopher Martin Heidegger argued that the truth represented by aletheia (which essentially means “unconcealment”) differs from veritas, which is tied to a Roman notion of correctness and, ultimately, a Nietzschean sense of justice and will to power.

Can one truth be more true than another? In the new work Veritas, Ioanna Portolou choreographs Griffón’s dancers—Ioanna Apostolou, Cécile Mikroutsikou, Giannis Nikolaidis, and Theano Xydia—under the imposing electronic sounds of Antonis Palaskas, creating a universe of dense, associative images, political and historical references, and an eerie atmosphere. The performance Veritas confronts the audience with their own personal truth and the frailty of the human body.