CHAMPIONS
by Himherandit Company

CHAMPIONS is an emotionally impactive performance that deals with universal issues of parent-child relations, loneliness and individual resilience. The performance features the interview recordings of the artist’s father, mother and himself in conversation with his therapist.

During this 30 minute performance Andreas Constantinou challenges himself to do nothing in front of a live audience. Gradually a personal story is revealed. A story of a strained relationship between a gay man, his homophobic father, a stern mother, and a lonely individual who is facing his deepest vulnerabilities.

The set comes to life, the walls erupt into sudden action as video projections spill across the room. A full blown wrestling match fills the walls as two men throw each other between different landscapes.

Violence and intimacy become ambiguous as their bodies entwine with each others. The images tell of a subconscious battle within the self. The videos switch on and off in rhythmic intervals between the silent room where the performer endures sitting with himself and the audience.

CHAMPIONS was nominated for a Danish National Theatre award (Reumert award) in 2020 in the category of best performance.

HIMHERANDIT are an award winning performance company led by the artistic vision of Andreas Constantinou and are one of the leading Queer Art Companies in Denmark.

HIMHERANDIT’S artistry fluctuates between genres of performance art, physical theater, immersive theater, dance and large-scale video installations. The company develops projects that push, provoke, and engage audience into discourse around often difficult to approach social subjects.

Over the course of the last ten years the company has supported the development of queer art in Denmark with professional productions, community engagement projects, The GENDER HOUSE Queer Art Festivals and most recently the opening of Q&A Studios – Queer Art Studios Aarhus, which is both home to the company and a residency center that supports local, national and international queer art makers.

“This is unflashy, deeply felt, and contemplative work. It bides its time. It refuses to be hurried, and it is all the better for it. It deals with rejection head-on and recognizes that however much we find ourselves at odds with our parents and find alternative families, we can still find ourselves tugged by love and the need to be accepted for what and who we are by the people who brought us into the world.” – Lyn Gardner, Stage Door

★★★★★
“Will not fail to utterly astonish”
A Younger Theatre

★★★★
“Highly compelling piece of art”
The Wee Review

★★★★
“visually stunning and deeply affecting”
The Spy in the Stalls

★★★★
“Ingeneous”
THE SCOTSMAN

★★★★
“Deeply intimate exchange”
The List

★★★★
“Uncompromisingly brave”
The Stage

CREDITS

Artistic Director/Choreographer/Concept&Creation: Andreas Constantinou

Collaborating artist: Dagmara Bilon

Performers: Andreas Constantinou, Aris Papadopoulos, Jesper Holm Hermansen

Video design: Christoffer Brekne, Andreas Constantinou

Video editing: Christoffer Brekne

Installation design: Jeppe Cohrt, Andreas Constantinou

Technical Manager: Jeppe Cohrt

Sound Design: Jeppe Cohrt, Andreas Constantinou, Christoffer Brekne

Music Samples: Ghosteen by Nick Cave, Pluto by Bjork

Psychologist/Dramaturg: Kristine Graugaard

Wrestling Coach: Mikkel Wind

Artist Assistant: Rita Maria Munoz Farias

Co-Producers: Bora Bora – dans og visuelt teater

Funded and Supported by: Statens Kunstfond, Aarhus Kommune, Ceres Park & Arena, Teatret Svalegangen