"Kolliva" - Accessible performance by ATLAS E.P.

July 23rd 2026 at 22: 30

Pireos 260 - Entrance on Spyrou Polykrati Street

"Koliva" by Christiana Kosiari is a dance performance bringing together Greek ritual tradition and contemporary stage language, focusing on the fragile threshold between life and death. At its core lies a paradoxical rite: every year, five women over the age of sixty gather to prepare their own koliva while they are still alive.

ATLAS E.P. will render the dance performance universally accessible on the 23rd of July 2026 as part of the Athens Epidaurus Festival. Greek Sign Language Interpreting, CAPS Surtitling with depiction of music and Audio Description will be offered for equal access purposes. A tactile tour will take place right after the performance.

Photo: Stephie Grape

INFORMATION ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE

The stage evokes a domestic setting, a space of shared intimacy. The women laugh, gossip, reminisce, and tease one another as they prepare this special offering. A symbol of remembrance and parting, koliva takes on a double meaning: it becomes both a memorial to lost youth – a gesture to bodies that once were otherwise, to choices made, and to all those that never happened – and a celebration of the enduring desire for life. They stir the wheat, dust it with sugar, and garnish it with pomegranate seeds. The cycle of preparation repeats itself, becoming rhythm, becoming synchrony, gradually transforming into dance. At the same time, an underlying irony runs beneath the surface: koliva must be consumed quickly, before it spoils and turns harmful. Its almost voracious consumption becomes a metaphor for existence itself: the urgency to live life to the fullest before the inevitable decay. As time unfolds, life and death begin to share a common substance, and the figures on stage emerge as presences slipping between the two realms.

Koliva is a celebration that gently dismantles death with humour, reconciling it with the cycle of life. It is a gathering that honours what has been lost without losing sight of what remains – reminding us that memory, companionship, and joy are forces that continue to resonate beyond the end. You can read more on the performance on the following link: https://aefestival.gr/festival_events/ta-kollyva/

ACCESSIBILITY IDENTITY

Audio description, music depiction, curation of services and accessibility production management: Emmanouela Patiniotaki

Surtitling:

Ilias Katsigiannis, Emmanouela Patiniotaki

Greek Sign Language Interpreting

Dialechti Tzanoulinou

Accessibility Services Reservation

Audience members who wish to make use of the accessibility services are kindly requested to purchase their tickets via email at the Festival’s Ticket Office at tameia@aefestival.gr or by calling +30 2104834913, Monday to Friday from 10:00 to 17:00.