The symbolic weight of walking: Christos Papadopoulos’ My Fierce Ignorant Step at REF40
Christos Papadopoulos, one of the most internationally well-known and beloved Greek choreographers, returned to Rome for the closing week of the fortieth edition of the Roma Europa Festival. The audience treated his latest work, My Fierce Ignorant Step, to an extended standing ovation, demonstrating a steady appreciation for the artist’s oeuvre, which, in this instance, headed in a new direction while maintaining the distinctiveness of his choreographic language.
My Fierce Ignorant Step. Photo: Pinelopi Gerasimou for Onassis Stegi.
The climax of a choreographic matrix refined over a decade
Over the past ten years, the Roma Europa Festival (REF) audience has been fortunate enough to witness the artistic growth of Christos Papadopoulos – winner of the first edition of the Sadler’s Wells Rose International Dance Prize 2025 – from his first formal choreographic work Elvedon (2016) to the most recent, My Fierce Ignorant Step (2025). Pieces such as Opus (2017), Larsen C (2021), Mellowing (2023), and Mycelium (2023) have all been featured in the festival’s past editions, confirming REF’s strong curatorial admiration and ongoing support for the artist. Papadopoulos’ minimal approach to movement – often expressed through a physical chorus “magnetically” held together, pulsating collectively in spatial patterns while moving through subtle transformations – has shaped a choreographic style that has, over time, won over even the most sceptical spectator. My Fierce Ignorant Step is, once again, a compelling choreographic work for an ensemble in near-total synchronicity; yet, the work explosively expands the creative possibilities that may emerge from a well-crafted choreographic matrix, mastered through years of practice. In contrast to Papadopoulos’ previous pieces, which are often characterised by a calmness in the transition of the performers towards a collective body, My Fierce Ignorant Step, surprisingly, introduces a linear climax in its form as well as in its emotional intensity.
A leap into a lost sensation
My Fierce Ignorant Step is a deeply personal piece reflecting Papadopoulos’ own development as an artist. Far from being autobiographical, the work originates from a need to reproduce a sensation from his teenage years that made him believe that anything is possible – think of this exhilarating feeling of joy and optimism rooted in the ignorance of the unknown! Achieving a congruence between the choreographic intention and its artistic outcome, My Fierce Ignorant Step stands as a tribute to the innocence that gradually fades with maturity and the pressure of professionalism.
As the result of a series of choreographic systems rigorously interlaced with each other, My Fierce Ignorant Step unfolds through collective flockings in space; walking closely in various directions serves as a base from which to initiate this collective step towards the lost sensation of hope. The dancers’casual sensuality is combined with precision, intensified by a mesmerising gaze. Each one of them moves in the same fragmented manner – their individual bodies contract as if being shot in different areas. Yet, the unison of the ensemble magnifies the density of the movement. The proximity and synchronicity between them paradoxically allows each performer to emerge and shine as an individual in their own unique way, with Georgios Kotsifakis and Ioanna Paraskevopoulou standing out as exemplary interpreters of Papadopoulos’ movement language. Little by little, the dancers become more human, earthy, and warrior-like. Walking, waving their bodies, galloping and pulsating, altogether they embody and transmit the drive of youth, the thirst for life, and the experience of the unknown, the audacity to be seen and claim space. In this way, the choreography becomes an emotional journey; a gentle transition from Papadopoulos’ original style towards a less timid, freer, lighter, and playful outcome.
Essential to this process is the music by Kornilios Selamsis, which supports this slow-reaching exaltation and uplift. Beginning with a persistent beat and a mechanical soundscape, the musical composition progressively threads fragments from The Axion Esti (1964) , a “popular oratory”, emblematic of Greek contemporary culture, composed by Mikis Theodorakis and based on the homonymous poem published in 1959 by Greek Nobel laureate for literature Odysseus Elytis. The Axion Esti is a piece composed between the end of the civil war and the beginning of the dictatorship in Greece and, since roughly the 1980s, it has been sung incessantly during national anti-war commemorations. Stemming from the musical memories of Papadopoulos’ childhood, which align so dearly and significantly with the collective memory of Greeks, this musical reference is a device that quietly reveals an aspect of the choreographer’s national identity, usually hidden in his oeuvre beneath objective, yet imaginative movement choices. In this spirit, music and choreography are in maximum alignment, reinforcing each other in the pursuit of a shared climax. Responding with endurance and fuelled energy, the dancers slowly liberate their breath to rhythmically enliven the empowering musical composition.
Nostalgic and heroic
In My Fierce Ignorant Step, Papadopoulos both refines and transcends his own choreographic writing, consolidated through years of practice. Culminating in a celebratory and heroic expression of youth, he transmits an emotional state that recalls the lost teenager within each of us, the teenager who wanted to conquer life, ignorant of the challenges that hinder the pursuit of grand ambitions. Making a bold leap into the unknown, My Fierce Ignorant Step invites the audience to rediscover the ashes of that youthful flame and the courage to realise the dreams that once felt possible, but never came true.
Written from the performance of 14 November 2025 at Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome.
My Fierce Ignorant Step
Concept & Choreography: Christos Papadopoulos
Dancing and Collaborating: Themis Andreoulaki, Maria Bregianni, Amalia Kosma, Georgios Kotsifakis, Sotiria Koutsopetrou, Tasos Nikas, Spyros Ntogas, Ioanna Paraskevopoulou, Danae Pazirgiannidi, Adonis Vais
Dramaturgy Consultant: Alexandros Mistriotis
Original Music: Kornilios Selamsis
Associate Composer: Jeph Vanger
Set Design: Clio Boboti
Costume Design: Maria Panourgia
Lighting Design: Stefanos Drousiotis
Vocal Training: Apostolis Psichramis
