ATTACHMENTS IN VIVO

ATTACHMENTS IN VIVO
A work by IOANNA TOLIOU
Corpus Lingua Dance Company

The new work by IOANNA TOLIOU and the dance company Corpus Lingua maps the mother-child connection and the freedom of being, illustrating how early bonds influence personality and relationships in adult life.

The performance highlights the importance of an unconditional relationship built on trust and security. This foundation strengthens self-esteem and equips individuals with the resilience to face life’s challenges with stability and emotional endurance.

Through choreography, music, and the use of materials, the production depicts the transition from dependence to independence, demonstrating how early maternal care serves as a cornerstone for shaping adult personality and self-confidence. The piece illuminates the interplay between early emotional bonds and the relationships individuals develop later in life.

Will trust prevail, allowing a secure bond to form, or will the fear of rejection and insecurity dominate?

“The nature of the emotional bond, as it forms in the early stages of a child’s development, crucially affects the image reflected within them regarding the worthiness of receiving love, and consequently influences their social development positively or negatively.” — John Bowlby, 1930

Through a scenography of materials and bodies, the work unfolds the stages of the mother-child relationship as well as the transition to subsequent emotional connections, based on Bowlby’s Attachment Theory. The materials create a shared environment of coexistence and interaction among the performers. Movement within this space is executed as a unified body, with minimal differentiation between bodies and environment, akin to the maternal body during fetal development.

As the choreography progresses, the performers begin to separate as individual entities, while maintaining an unbroken connection that prevents them from fully detaching from the whole. When the bond ruptures, each performer embarks on a journey of self-discovery and exploration of individuality.

Through the anxiety of separation and the need for reconnection, different types of bonds emerge: bonds of trust, security, and love, but also those of possessiveness, indifference, overprotectiveness, or intrusion. These connections are built through non-verbal communication, interpreted uniquely by each performer, who responds kinetically in their own way. This process of forming relationships and connections also gives rise to new bonds, informed by previous experiences.

About the Choreographer and the Company

Ioanna Toliou began her choreographic work in 2017, presenting her own creations at festivals in Athens (Endless Time (2017), The Mystery of the Horizon (2018), Meeting Points (2019)).

In 2022, she founded the dance company Corpus Lingua and premiered the company’s first production, Autopilot…off, at the Young Artists Festival in Athens. The work was also presented at the Zante Dance Festival the same year.

In 2023, she launched the company’s second production, Seven to Infinity, supported by the organization EKTOS ORION. The piece premiered in March 2024 and was selected for the Kythnos Arts Festival and the Kolonos Festival. It continued with a new cycle of performances in Athens (Plyfa Theatre) and at the Theatrical Sympaignia in Ioannina, featuring a renewed cast and updated material.

In this production, Toliou turns to a new theme, drawing on personal experiences to highlight the contemporary crisis of institutions and values.

Duration: 50’