Golden Age

Lead Donor of the GNO

Ballet sponsor

A year after the introduction of Golden Age, Konstantinos Rigos is inviting us once again to his wild party on the stage of the Stavros Niarchos Hall. Following its world premiere at the Belgrade Dance Festival in April of 2025 and a series of successful performances at the SNFCC in May 2025, this remarkable production by the GNO Ballet will return to the Greek National Opera in May 2026 –after a tour to Thessaloniki, Cyprus, and Italy– for all those who were moved and inspired by it, felt nostalgic, and danced in their seats, as well as for those who have not yet had the chance to experience this grand celebration. This international tour is made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) to enhance the Greek National Opera’s artistic outreach.

Golden Age aims to speak about the present and future of dance, in the form of an unexpected mixtape reflecting Rigos’ 35-year-long journey, in which the concepts of irony and nostalgia appear as identical. From his time at the National School of Dance (KSOT), the spring of Greek dance in the 1990s, and the Dance Theatre Company OKTANA, to his work at the Art Theatre, the National Theatre of Northern Greece, the National Theatre of Greece, the Athens Festival, and the Greek National Opera, Konstantinos Rigos’ iconoclastic imprint transcends the boundaries of dance and converses with the art forms surrounding it. Golden Age is a combative manifesto about the unknown tomorrow; it encompasses Konstantinos Rigos' profound beliefs and enduring obsessions, set in a breathtaking club atmosphere featuring electronic music and dazzling lighting.

Through golden reflections, vertical screens, mottos, and a grand chandelier created by visual artist Petros Touloudis, the dance performance Golden Age signs the declaration of a new faith that places its beliefs not in God but in humans, not “in the heavens” but “on earth” – a declaration that, although it may not promise salvation, does ensure an exit from hell. Sixteen dancers –sometimes resembling a strange mass that survives in the frenzied rhythms, and at other times acting like clockwork soldiers performing rigid choreography, or even forming unexpected duets that blend romanticism with despair– encapsulate Rigos’ subversive journey from dance theater to the neoclassical strictness of the GNO Ballet. With Konstantinos Rigos’ musical selections and the original music score composed by his collaborator Ted Regklis, Golden Age features the vibrant sounds of a wild dance party, showcasing pieces that range from “reworked” melancholic compositions by Verdi and Bizet to Greek songs by Hiotis, Loizos, and Mamangakis, as well as rock and jazz hits from the 1960s and 1970s. From the aria “Addio del passato” and the line from Hotel California “Some dance to remember, some dance to forget” to texts and songs performed by Rigos’ special guests, Golden Age aspires to remind us that, since we cannot escape who we are, we ought to continue dancing to affirm our existence.