The Return of Dionysus: An Anthropology of Destruction

• Chaired by – Monika Blige

The internationally acclaimed theatre director Theodoros Terzopoulos is one of the most significant European directors, having staged more than 2000 performances throughout the world (from Beijing and Taiwan to New York and Colombia). His Method is published in many European languages under the title The Return of Dionysus, and is broadly used as a means of actors’ training, enriching thereby a lively European tradition. Terzopoulos’ Method is neither culture-specific nor culture-restrictive. It is an anthropological method founded on the basic laws of both the omission and the dilation of the daily body in order for a new acting self to be created. Not surprisingly, Dionysus, the God of Destruction and Rebirth, was always a great inspiration for the director, proving the fact that the Dionysian is both an artistic impulse and a form-creating force.

• During the meeting, for which the starting point is the Polish edition of the Theodoros Terzopoulos’ book The Return of Dionysus (Polish edition by The Grotowski Institute, Wrocław 2016), presentations will be given by the following persons:
• Theodoros Terzopoulos – Chairman of the International Committee of Theatre Olympics, Theatre Director,
• Prof. Em. Freddy Decreus – Ghent University; with the speech: Rituals in a World of Bioenergetics,
• Jae Kyoung Kim – Teaching Professor, Chung-ang University, Seoul; with the speech: Terzopoulos’ Method: Its Mythical Origin and Application,
• Savvas Stroumpos – actor and director; with the speech: Bodies in Revolt,
• Georgios Sampatakakis (M.Phil., Cambridge; Ph.D., London) – Assistant Professor of Theatre Studies at the University of Patras; with the speech: The return of Dionysus: An Anthropology of Destruction.