Accelerando: BJMD (Feb 2016)
THE SINGLE AND ETERNAL GREECE OF RALLOU MANOU: A SURVEY OF HER WORK FROM A SLAV STANDPOINT
Abstract
In 2015, the Greeks were celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of their talented and in many ways incomparable artist Rallou Manou (1915-1988). Year 2013 marked the 25th anniversary of her death. The current paper is depicting extraordinary personality of this many faceted woman which deserves continued research and new discoveries. Working for 45 years for the Greek theater, actually from 1938 until 1988 (excluding three war years), Rallou Manou realized over 70 stage works, spreading her art all over Greece and abroad, performing both with her ensemble and with her school. Being an offspring of foreign dancing trends, German and American, Manou has chosen to follow her own style in performing and choreographing, combining the opulent heritage of Greek ancient and folk tradition with the modern and contemporary dance. The goal of Manou’s art was to present her homeland as an unity, with the motto that there is no question of an ancient or a modern Greece, but one - single and eternal. Aim of this paper is also to keep from oblivion ideas and work of Rallou Manou, focusing actual researchеs on her links with the Slavonic world of dance.
