The association Cie Projet 11 was created by Ioannis Mandafounis and Fabrice Mazliah together with May Zarhy in 2009 and became Cie Ioannis Mandafounis in 2015.
All three had met at the Forsythe company, from which they inherited a specific taste for research. Their creations are characterised by the tension between images created through dance and the physical feelings they trigger in the viewer. The choreographers constantly searched for new opportunities to acquaint spectators with dance, cultivating “a way of seeing”, that makes the spectator responsible for his or her experience as a viewer inviting him or her to invest in what they are seeing in order to live a real experience.
Ioannis receives commissions from international theaters and companies to create original works: In-Formation (2011) and Howl (2012) for the Ballet Junior de Genève, Viel|leicht for the Theater Junge Generation in Dresden (2016), HA for La Manufacture in Lausanne (2017), MayaBuff - a delirium from Mayakovsky for the National Theater of Greece in Athens (2018) and Fearful Symmetries for the Grand Théâtre de Genève (2019).
In 2011-2012, the members of the Cie Projet 11 were named associated artists of the deSingel theater in Antwerp (Belgium). In 2012, Ioannis Mandafounis was supported by RESO Swiss as well as the Module Dance Program for Dance from the European Union with the project Pausing, which was commissioned by the Théâtre de l’Usine in Geneva. The dance pieces Twisted Pair (2013) and ApersonA (2014) were co-produced by the program Prairie – Pour-cent culture Migros. The Cie Ioannis Mandafounis is co-produced by the program Prairie – Pour-cent culture Migros for 2015-2017 seasons. In 2015, Ioannis Mandafounis received the Swiss Dance Awards in category Outstanding Male Dancer.
The Cie Ioannis Mandafounis benefited from a joint support from the City of Geneva, the State of Geneva and Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council for 2018-2020.
Photo: Gregory-Batardon