Cops and Robbers

Research title: The choreographic potential of classical games

Manolis Saridakis & Medie Megas

September – December 2025

The first phase of our choreographic research workshop has been completed! This phase is part of a longer process that will ultimately lead to the production of a performance entitled Cops and Robbers, based on the well-known children’s game of the same name.

Along with Saridakis and Megas, four additional dancers, a musician, a researcher/pedagogue, and a videographer participated in the three-month research workshop. In addition to our internal research, we organized two presentations of the work: one for members of the European program SEED and one open to the public. We also offered two workshops—one for children aged 9–11 at Trianemi Primary School and one for dancers.

Saridakis, the first learning disabled and autistic choreographer in Greece, and Medie Megas, choreographer, dramaturge and dancer, have collaborated for many years in a very special creative partnership, the first fruit of which was the performance “Do Robots have emotions?”, which was produced by the Onassis Cultural Center and has since traveled to festivals and venues in Athens, Syros, Serbia and Cyprus.

In this partnership Saridakis always brings the idea and the title of the piece and then the two of them, in collaboration with the rest of the creative team, conduct the research and gradually construct the performance. Medie Megas facilitates the research and rehearsal process and oversees the dramaturgy of the work.

Note by Manolis Saridakis “I am interested in the ‘Cops and Robbers’ game for two reasons: first because my sister and I used to play it when we were children and secondly because when I watch television and I see robbers and policemen on the news , I feel afraid.”

Note by Medie Megas “Saridakis’s new idea is closely linked to his personal experience of playing ‘Cops and Robbers’ as a child with his sister and other children outside, in the streets of his neighbourhood. As in “Do Robots Have Emotions?” his personal experience collides with the emotions caused by the complex world that surrounds him. Increasing violence and aggression in public and private spaces and the inescapable reality of wars in Europe and the Middle East, cause emotions in Manolis which he comes to manage through the classic game “Cops and Robbers”. In the end, it is Saridakis’s need to connect with other people through play and the joy sparked by the game, which prevail.

The first phase of this work has been funded by the Greek Ministry of Culture Creative Greece 2025 program in the category of “Funding for actions and programs that promote full accessibility to disabled people in 2025”.

Participating in this first research phase are:

Concept: Manolis Saridakis

Choreographic research: Medie Megas and Manolis Saridakis in collaboration with the dancers

Dancers: Irini Kourouvani, Isimini Slijper, Olympia Antonena, Christos Christakopoulos, Manolis Saridakis, Medie Mega

Observer / writer: Maria Papadopoulou

Sound / music: Chrysanthos Christodoulou

Video / photo documentation: Gkikas Melachrinos

Production: Shared Productions

Executive production: Liminal