The Kalamata Dance Festival will be held in the city of Kalamata, in Peloponnese, from July 17 to 24. In its 21st edition, the festival remains faithful to its goals: the promotion and support of Greek creativity as well as the introduction of foreign talents in the field of contemporary dance. This year’s programme includes awarded dancers such as Taiwanese Wen- Chi Su, the male duo Igor Urzelai and Moreno Solinas, African dancer and choreographer Dada Massilo, Greek artists Euripedes Laskarides and Medie Megas and RootlessRoot performing W Memorabilia.

Heading up a stellar cast and crew, director Vangelis Theodoropoulos stages Sophocles’ Ajax, at the ancient theatre of Epidaurus, on July 17 and 18. In this tragedy, set during the tenth year of the Trojan War, Ajax, the greatest warrior of the Greek camp following the death of Achilles, lays claim to the dead hero’s armor, but the Greek leaders decide to award it to Odysseus. Deeply offended, Ajax wants to take revenge, but instead Athena turns his rage against the Greek flocks, slaughtering them. When he realizes what he has done, he commits suicide. As often is the case in history, the politicians – represented here by Odysseus – prevail over warriors, who are overridden by the new order of things. The performance will be in Greek with English subtitles.

For the 13th continuous year, the Folktales Festival of Greece will be held on the island of Kea from July 17-26. The heroes of fairy tales will pop up on beaches, squares, the cobbled paths of Kea and narrate tales to children and adults. This year’s event will host the Federation for European Storytelling (FEST), as well as narrators from twenty countries, from Europe to Canada and South Korea. They will meet in Kea, tell stories and celebrate together the universality of stories, folk wisdom and oral tradition. There will also be parallel events: a workshop on storytelling and music for children and adults and shadow theatre performances.

Prominent Greek artists who have a long-standing collaboration with Zoumboulakis Galleries will exhibit their work at the annual summer exhibition of the gallery, running from July 18 to September 4. Among the participating artists are Yiannis Adamakis, Diamantis Aidinis, Vanessa Anastassopoulou, Miltos Golemas, Stella Kapezanou, Marina Karella, Maria Filopoulou and Marina Vernicos. At the opening night (July 18) the gallery will serve the wine White Swan.