Serpentine and Sadler’s Wells will feature the UK debut of Αγρίμι (Fauve), a performance by Greek artist, choreographer and dancer Lenio Kaklea. Co-commissioned by Serpentine, the UK premiere will be presented in partnership with and at Sadler’s Wells on 31 October & 1 November 2024.

In Αγρίμι (Fauve), Lenio Kaklea meticulously choreographs a ‘rewilding of bodies’. Three dancers on stage, including Kaklea, explore conditions of human exchange, the interconnectivity of all organisms, as well as the need to reclaim wildness. Αγρίμι (Fauve) boldly investigates themes of ecofeminism, queer identities, and the refusal of domestication. Through on-stage dances, exercises, and rituals, the choreographer imagines the forest as a place where identities and bodies are in a constant state of metamorphosis. Linking Kaklea’s choreography to the geographical, environmental, and poetic richness of the forests, Αγρίμι (Fauve) positions dance as another wild zone to defend.

In Αγρίμι (Fauve) Kaklea dives into human affiliation with nature. Refusing traditional interpretations of ‘wildness’ that are limiting in their meaning, she draws on literary references to choreograph bodies intrinsically connected to their environments. The forest becomes a place where imaginary beings live, encounters between humans and animals take place, and emotions from wonder to terror come to the fore. Dance becomes a means to interrogate Westernised relationships with the natural world. It embraces untamed desires, revealing the forest as a poetic, powerful and dangerous force where one must reclaim wildness to survive.

Image: Lenio Kaklea, Αγρίμι (Fauve), 2023, performance still. Photo by Maria Toultsa. Courtesy of the artist.