Thomas Ostermeier, Christopher Rüping and Ulises Alvarez from Maguy Marin’s dance company

Long Weekends is a series of meetings with major international theatre and dance artists. These three-days masterclasses (held Friday to Sunday) are aimed exclusively to professionals of the performing arts, offering an invaluable channel of communication between the Greek and international international community. This creative exchange will cater to the need and longing of artists (directors, dancers, actors, choreographers, musicians, dramaturges) to be active again in this year’s difficult circumstances and hone their tools.

All guest artists who are invited to give a masterclass as part of Long Weekends had been originally set to present performances at the 2020 Athens Festival, which have now been re-scheduled for the 2021 edition. The first workshop will be run by the young, award-winning director Christopher Rüping, followed by the German director Thomas Ostermeier, a favourite of Greek audiences. Finally, there will be a Long Weekend workshop run by the established dancer Ulises Alvarez, from Maguy Marin’s dance company.

This year, for the first time in its history, the Athens & Epidaurus Festival expands its activities throughout the autumn and winter season, introducing a series of research initiatives and collaborations, named after the well-known architectural term Open Plan; a term carrying connotations of open space, flow, freedom of thought and movement. As with open plan spaces, this set of initiatives launched by the Festival suggests a new way of being together, of breaking down boundaries and barriers.

Watch a promo video of Long Weekends and Open Plan below.