The performative piece One One One is originally an experiment for performers and spectators, conceived by dancer and choreographer Ioannis Mandafounis. Two chairs are waiting for two spectators, inviting them to experience a unique moment during which two performers will be dancing for them. The dancers take the spectators to an exceptional, yet awakening experience. They translate and transform the feelings of the audience, proposing a new dance experience.

During the summer of 2021, One One One took the form of project,  a cathartic journey into the dreamy land of Greece. Four dancers and three filmmakers attempted to develop a dance experiment in seven settlements of the Greek periphery, following an imaginary water route: from the harbour of Spetses, to the slopes of Dimitsana, the lake of Stymphalia, the mountainous villages of Vyzitsa and Vovousa, the lagoon of Messolonghi and the waters of Tinos island. 

Performing alongside a visible and invisible water vein became the touchstone of the project.  Water constitutes an integral part of every cultural identity and, at the same time, an element that determines the viability of human communities, since it has been integrated into the economic, intellectual, and artistic life of every society. Water signifies movement, energy, feeling. 

The performance happened ‘out there’. With the people. With the residents, the travelers, the visitors, who were asked to sit on a chair, to be present, living in the ‘now’, fully connected with their bodies and minds.  Through a performative practice occurring in nature, the project draws upon the need to challenge the notion of attention, particularly in an era characterized by saturation and sensory overload. In the form of an experiment, One One One dives into the discourse of the “ecology of attention”, reminding us of the natural body rhythms that technology and accelerated life have taught us to abandon. 

The camerawork resulted in a series of experimental documentaries on the performance procedure, interweaving the dance movement and the dancing bodies, with the bodies of the spectators – participants and their landscapes.