The biggest cultural institution in modern Crete opens its curtain! The Carnival of Rethymno 2019 invites you to the official Opening Ceremony on Thursday 21 February with Toni Sfino giving the cue for... "Dance in Space and Time!"
From the afternoon we start with the children Our first appointment is with our little friends at 5:30 in the afternoon, at Porta Guora, the... Big Door of Rethymnon, where they will enjoy the children's events curated by the KEDIR structures. A little later, at 6:30 in the afternoon, the children who participated in the events will accompany the... adult carnivalists, starting a special... procession, our Little... Carnival! We continue with a carnival ride in the old town They will go through the entire Agora of Rethymnon with its picturesque images, to the Alvise Rimondi Fountain, turn to reach Arkadi Street, the most commercial street of the city with the Venetian Loggia of Rethymnon and arrive around 7:30 in the evening at the square of the Unknown Soldier, at the other side gate of Ammos, in the heart of the beach of Rethymnon.
The Opening Ceremony will be held at the Unknown Soldier Square! There, however, from 6:30 in the afternoon, dance schools will have already warmed up the atmosphere and the main stage of the Opening Ceremony, which will put us in the mood of the Rethymno Carnival 2019 - "Dance in space and time"! We shouldn't have to reveal much to you, only a few that we managed to elicit from the orchestrators of the evening, our... Nikos! Nikos Markantonis and Nikos Michalas who feel the need to thank the team of volunteers-carnivalists, but also the volunteers of the Opening Ceremony who help in every way for the result that will charm, win and travel through the dance in space and time with many innovations! As for the dialogues between the King Carnival and the surprise interlocutor, poignancy and interpretation are guaranteed by the duo: Thomas Kantife - Vivi Hatzikotoula.
The dances will be impressive and with a huge participation of schools! With OKA ARKADI and the Department of Gymnastics, the school of the distinguished Yannis Tsimpidis, the group of Katerina Kyrianitaki from Atsipopoulo, the Bailando Fuerte School of Dance, the Arabesque School of Dance, the School of Dance of Elina Panaretaki with her group, the Dance Vibes School of Dance and the Rock Four Group! And how we are looking forward to this Opening Ceremony! To see the official first of the Groups' uniforms, to light up the sky with joyful fireworks and to welcome the man-persona that has already captivated the carnivalists on the social media of the Rethymnon Carnival!
Tonis Sfinos also knows... Rethymnon Carnival! Ladies and gentlemen, the prince of passion, the explosive adventurer, the international Tonis Sfinos is coming to Rethymno with a subversive show to entertain and impress! For the start of the most cheerful and colourful season, on Thursday 21 February, he arrives to stir up the waters of entertainment and offer fun, laughter and unique moments to everyone! At the most dynamic Carnival in the country, Tony and with him on stage Lola, Barbie and his legendary band, the Playmates, will, as always, lift your spirits! An uncompromising and endless party that you will never forget! Triple distinction for Rethymno!
At the same time, this year's Opening Ceremony of the Rethymno Carnival 2019 will take us on a journey through Space and Time with Dance and for a happy coincidence and a huge success of Rethymno, which won the Golden Greek Travel Award for Culture and two bronze awards as the best destination for the city and the family in Stockholm, Sweden. The message of the Mayor of Rethymno - George Marinakis: To the Carnival that you know, love, participate, support, embrace. To the Carnival of Rethymno, of Crete, of your memories, of your future experiences. In this year's event, dance takes the lead: as an expression of our innermost emotions, as a reflection of our unspoken expectations, as a field of interaction, as an opportunity to merge matter with spirit, as an occasion for communication and giving. And all of you, as bearers of an important heritage and as worthy successors, are invited to walk in the steps of dance as you know them, as you have been taught by your own people to tread firmly on the earth and as your imagination commands, in your daring escapades to places where the unattainable becomes possible. So we invite you to this spatio-temporal transgression that the Carnival of Rethymnon attempts to overcome, in order to demolish together the borders that separate people and, following the safe paths of dance, to build bridges of solidarity and co-creation." Marinakis Mayor of Rethymnon.
The artist Stelios Kalogerakis who is responsible for the poster and all the graphics of the event: Dance in Space and Time - Rethymnon Carnival 2019 "Dance is one of the oldest art forms, it is an autonomous language of communication, understood by all cultures. Our time is not particularly friendly to dance, it may have placed it in schools as an object of learning, but it has marginalized the primary use of dance as a free expression, a means for improvisation and social interaction. Carnival is, perhaps, the only opportunity for decontextualized physical expression and communication through the movement of bodies. The visual theme, inspired by the geometric themes of Carte Postale and interwar posters, tries to depict pictorially the concept of dance through historical continuity, but also the basic parameter of physical expression, communication and its recreational dimension. Dance, as an erotic element, through tradition, was the only opportunity for physical contact, but with the necessary respect for distance. The visual, illustrates the first approach of two dancers, who, while swirling in rhythm, become almost one body, time freezes and their forms seem as if they become one big hourglass. At the same time, their costumes, decorated with traditional Cretan decorative motifs, and with elements of local tradition and geography, give the local character, but also the multicultural origins, which are a basic building block of the Carnival of Rethymnon. The message of the illustration is that dance unites people, places and cultures as a common and timeless language of communication" Stelios Kalogerakis.
The Organizing Committee of the Carnival of Rethymnon 2019: Pepi Birliraki, Poppi Diniakou-Kryovrysanaki, Elena Patsahaki, Kostas Moschakis, Manos Palafoutis, Katerina Manetaki, Rafael Manousakis and Nikos Markantonis.
Stay tuned!
Big Sponsor: Beer Alpha
Sponsors: Atlantis, The VW Mobile Bar
TV Sponsors: CRETAN TV & STAR
Under the auspices of: Greek Tourism Organisation (Greece AllTime Classic), Region of Crete - Regional Unit of Rethymnon, Rethymnon Chamber of Commerce
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