Cultivating Roots: A Tensional-Hybrid Investigation of Embodied Resources through Traditional Cretan Folkloric and Contemporary Dance Practices

In Cultivating Roots, emerging dance artist Nikolaos Markakis investigates choreographic creations through his two embodied resources of Cretan folkloric and Contemporary dance practices. These two embodied resources were questioned and challenged through the lenses of tradition and tensional-hybrid art, a term he has been exploring through his three case studies: Ithaka, Ariadne, and Metaxy. In these case studies Markakis delves into his embodied resources, and investigates influences through the folkloric and contemporary themes of costume, music, and dance. Furthermore, this extended essay questions the role that cultural traditions can play within a contemporary choreography for the Toronto dance scene. Playing with the emotional, political and aesthetic tensions between Markakis embodied resources; he researched the possibility of a successful and organic approach to marry these two worlds for the stage.