The Nicosia International Festival 2025 presents the innovative group Bodyterranean, founded by Simone Mongelli, in collaboration with Giannis Haroulis.
The performance, titled “Bodies and Narratives”, is a music–movement act, music without instruments, which brings once again to the forefront the most primal musical instrument: the human body itself. For one show only, on Saturday, 25 October 2025 (20:30), a
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e Nicosia Municipal Theatre.
Mediterranean musical heritage meets the current day, songs by Giannis Haroulis transform into movement and rhythm, a poetic narrativity is born through polyrhythm, polyphony, and captivating atmospheres. The performance blurs the boundaries between music, song, dance, and theatre, speaking the universal language of the body’s rhythm, expressed through voice and movement. Bodies and voices recount stories of love, exile, motherhood, diversity, joys and sorrows, emotions and states of life before which all humans and all peoples are the same. Tradition provides the spark for hidden emotions to unfold and becomes a starting point for a collective affirmation or a personal questioning of social values.
Macedonian melodies that seem to emerge directly from antiquity intertwine with African dances, exorcising ancestral fears. A Thracian song gives women the strength to claim their timeless right to self-determination and freedom, while the sorrow of unrequited love or death becomes dance and sacred stage rituals. The contemporary artist expresses themselves through the words of the Cretan folk poet in exile or the Greek-speaking villages of Southern Italy, while rebetiko songs by Asia Minor composers are transformed into theatrical action and movement.
The songs of the performance stripped bare and disarmed, in their most substantial form, tell stories that erase differences and cry out for equality and peace. Together, they form a ritualistic stage experience, and express themselves in the present moment, through the most ancient and yet most contemporary means: Only through the body.
What they said about the performance
“Simone Mongelli has created one of the most exceptional body music recordings ever made. He manages to capture not only the energy of the art form but also its range, subtlety, and tonal nuances that the body can produce: qualities that are difficult and almost impossible to reproduce in body music recordings. The music is beautiful, dynamic, rich, and multidimensional – a satisfying new standard in body music recording.” – Keith Terry, founder & artistic director, International Body Music Festival
“Bodyterranean conveys a vast knowledge of Greek musical tradition while maintaining a playful lightness in the creative approach of this music material, where the joy of song, the communal movement, and rhythmic synchrony takes centre stage. […] The atmospheric warmth of Bodyterranean deeply touched the hearts of the audience.” – Sylvia Mograbi, internationally acclaimed dancer and body music performer
“In Mongelli’s production, the theatrical stage expands conceptually, transcending spatial boundaries. […] Bodyterranean – The Show evokes the atmosphere of a shared musical memory that moves us and reminds us that truth lies in simplicity.” – Maria Stella Binikou, Journalist, Artic.gr
“You took us a thousand years back and a thousand years forward.” – Andreas Sokos, Astrophysicist, after the show
“During one of the songs, I closed my eyes, and it felt as though I was dreaming: it was a magnificent dream…” – An audience member
Credits
Concept, direction, arrangements, kinesiology, body percussion, vocals: Simone Mongelli
Vocals, performance: Giannis Haroulis
Body percussion, vocals, dance, choreography consultant: Sissy Pintela
Body percussion, vocals: Fotis Fotopoulos
Vocals, body percussion, vocals: Spyridoula Baka
Body percussion, vocals: Danai Stergiou
Body percussion, vocals: Zoe Kousana
Vocals, body percussion, vocals: Danae Politi
Vocal trainer: Vasoula Delli
Lighting design: Alexandros Lykouras
Sound: Panagiotis Rizopoulos
Assistant director: Stefanos Zymbravoudakis
Costumes: Asimina Liarmakopoulou
Production office: Novel Vox
Duration: 75΄
Ages: Suitable for all ages
Tickets:
Available online via more.com:
http://bit.ly/4grNxB8 and the Nicosia Municipal Theatre box office (Monday - Friday 10:00-13:00).
Ticket prices:
VIP: €33/ €36
ZONE A: €30/ €32
ZONE B: €28/ €30
ZONE C: €26/ €28
ZONE D: €24/ €26
Reduced tickets are valid for: Children, students, soldiers, pensioners, large families, unemployed, actors, people with disabilities (free) with presentation of relevant ID.
Information: 22797979 (Monday - Friday 10:00-13:00) &
http://bit.ly/3VjZ0ZG
Festival identity
Organisers: Nicosia Municipality, Nicosia For Art
Festival sponsors: OPAP Cyprus, more.com, Italian Embassy, Cyprus Public Transport, Travelhouse, UCLan Cyprus, WINECORE, Gate Twenty Two Boutique Hotel, Classic Hotel Nicosia
Media sponsors: DIAS Publishing & SIGMA TV, DIESI 101,1, and “KATHIMERINi” newspaper