Reflection on ‘Songs of My Neighbors’ Convening in Limmasol, Cyprus
April 2015
By Dijana Milošević
“I was invited by Diomedes Koufteros and Mytos Theatre to come to Cyprus, to Limassol, for the final presentation of the project ‘Songs of my Neighbors,’ in April this year. I met Diomedes last August in Istanbul, during the IPRA conference, where we both presented our work as a part of the Art and Peace commission. We both realized that the work we are doing has a lot in common. I really loved the core idea of the project-if people from divided parts of the community could sing each other songs, maybe they would simply realize that they share something more important than conflict. Or at least this is my understanding of the project.
From the beginning of my stay with artists from the project I felt like I met the part of my theatre family- their warm and personal and at the same time highly professional approach towards the project, each other and each of us, created the sense of community, of common purpose and shared vision- that through our work we can make our communities and world better. Simple and naive and necessary task- in the world where we are slowly forgetting the power of the singing voice, the warmth of shared food, the beauty of the silence in the language we do not understand. All of this was present during the symposium and presentation of the Songs of my Neighbors and it simply inspired me deeply.
To see the movie ‘Acting Together on the World Stage,’ with the short introduction by Lee Perlman, made me think how incredible it is that we can share this documentary, in which years of work, passion and love were invested over the years, with the new community in Limassol. It was incredible to know that our circle of peace builders is growing through time and space.
During the fantastic walking tour of the Turkish neighborhood of Limmasol by architect Sevina Floridou, while hearing a lot about the history and politics of the place through looking at its architecture, we came to the part of the town where beautiful old Orthodox Church and Mosque were beside each other. Sevina's perspective was something that will stay with me- that the place knew the centuries of peaceful and harmonious coexistence and that the conflict lasts maybe for the last 50-60 years, very short in comparison with long time of previous peaceful period. That maybe we can look at it from this bigger perspective, thinking that what would follow would be another several centuries of peace.”
Dijana Milošević
Director, Dah Teatar Centar /Dah Theatre Research Centre -
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