Fabrice Mazliah, Ioannis Mandafounis Eifo Efi

In Eifo Efi, Fabrice Mazliah and Ioannis Mandafounis, both collaborators with the Forsythe Company, pursue their research into the tension that exists between the image and its perception, following on from their creations P.A.D. (2007), HUE (2008), Z.E.R.O. (2009), Cover Up (2011) and The Nikel Project (2012). The apparent simplicity of their costumes, movement vocabulary and words is deceiving, such is the duo’s use of the juxtaposition and superimposing of movement and language-based themes. These themes, however, blend into the unrelenting movement and constantly modify the spectator’s perception.

The reflective floor heightens this mirror-like impression, multiplying their reflections and giving rise to a visual representation of the concept of multiplicity. “We want to create a virtual environment of multiple impressions which awaken the senses, in order that our presence can reveal a multitude of other presences. Using Alain Badiou’s postulate as a starting point, “that nothing exists by itself, we are always in a situation of some sort, the elements of something which cannot be reduced to ourselves”, we asked ourselves: how can an individuality be multiple?” In a space saturated with the echoes of what is being played out on-stage, the dancers use humour and minimalism in their movement and textual vocabulary to produce an interweaving of signs. These signs then resonate amongst themselves and become modified through the infinite reverberations of their reflections.