Orestis Kalampalikis

Danse crétoise

Cretan Dance Once you’ve attended a popular festival in Crete, you can never forget the atmosphere: Sea view. Frantic rhythms, Dionysian melodies, and dancers trying to defy the laws of gravity. All this with just a lyra, a kind of primitive violin, accompanied by two lutes. Versailles. A city synonymous with Louis IVX, under whose reign the arts, particularly music and dance, flourished. An era synonymous with refinement, complexity, and beauty. In this piece, commissioned by the Versailles Conservatory and as a tribute to Greek traditional music, I attempted to combine these two radically different cultures. I borrowed motifs from the Cretan lyre, the kondylies, and arranged them in sonata form. It’s a bit like serving raki in a crystal cup, like taking a mountain goat for a walk through the glorious Hall of Mirrors.