one by one

Melissa Ugolini, Evrim Akyay

coreography & performance

An intense journey through the dynamics of two bodies in the space and two people in life.

s y n o p s i s


‘One by One’ is the result of an intense creative process that saw the choreographers and
performers Melissa Ugolini and Evrim Akyay involved in an introspective journey,
exploring the sometimes playful, at times difficult relationship between two bodies
sharing the same context. The piece evolves in three different parts that space from high-
energy, explosive movement material, to moments of intimacy and reflection, to then
conclude in a funny and engaging finale in which the use of spoken word brings out a
new flavour and an unseen honesty to the performers.
 The choice of no musical background and of a bare
stage with very simple lighting enhances the
individual and collective journey of these two
charachters, who do not have a specific setting in
space nor time, but live in each and everyone of us.
The relationship between the performers on stage
evolves from a friend-like complicity rendered by an
instinctual physicality, to a playful final part in which
the game of two different egos unravels after a long
and intense exposure to one another.
The raw physicality of the choreography brings out a
sense of animalistic and instinctual beheaviour, as
the performers provoke each other on a playful yet
very serious game. The audience is an integral part
of this process and is also provoked and the
provoker at the same time. 





The choreographic process started off from a very physical point of view reaching for
almost a bestiality in the way human beings relate with each other. This bestiality lies in
the violence with which two identities and two realities affirm themselves in front of each
other; the instinctual defence of the self bursts out in unexpected moments, when our
existence is questioned by a totally different individual and our compulsive and primal
desires reveal themselves in the subconscious reality of a dream-like situation.
The power of this work lies in the primal, unequivocal way that two connecting bodies
react when they touch each other or in the chemical tension of their proximity.

r e q u i r e m e n t s


In the making of this piece the choreographers paid particular attention to preparing a
format that would be adaptable to many different situations, wether indoors, outdoors, on
stages, black boxes or unconventional spaces. Therefore there is no specific requirement
and the piece is open to the adaptation and connection with the new space and its
energy, to its characteristics and vibes and to be freely influenced by it.

p r e m i é r e & p e r f o r m a n c e s

premiere on 25/04/2017 at Akbank Sanat, 8 Istiklal Caddesi, Istanbul (Turkey)


peformed at Fulya Sanat Merkezi, Istanbul (Turkey) - 21/05/2017,

Moda Sahnesi, Istanbul (Turkey) - 31/05/2017

Akbank Sanat, Istanbul (Turkey) - 26/04/2017, 16/03/2018

Sahne Saint Pulchérie, Istanbul (Turkey) - 17/03/2018 

Kadırhas Üniversitesi, Istanbul (Turkey) - 10/04/2018

Hangartfest 2018, Pesaro (Italy) - 16/09/2018


v i d e o 



full piece



https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=NtB968_NAWU

trailer



https://vimeo.com/290126442

duration 46:00 min

c r e d i t s

Akbank Sanat Merkezi · Canan Aydoğan 


Alper Marangoz · Gizem Erdem · Korhan Başaran
m e l i s s a u g o l i n i

was born in Pesaro in 1989 and moved to Florence (Italy) at an early age to begin her
professional training in Ballet at the Accademia Internazionale Coreutica under the
direction of Elisabetta Hertel and eventually decided to further her training at the
Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds (UK), from where she graduated in
2011 with a First Class Honours Degree, winning the Award for Outsanding
Achievement. After graduation, Melissa worked with numerous international choreo-
graphers like Akram Khan, Andonis Foniadakis, Aakash Odedra, Nicholas Cantillon and
Laurence Yadi, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Barak Marshall, İtzik Galili, İhsan Rüstem,

Michael Popper, Bruno Caverna amongst others, besides performing both new creations
and repertoire works with Companhia Instavel (Portugal), LamatDance Company (Spain),
James Wilton Dance Company (UK) and with the Turkish National Company Modern

Dance Theatre Istanbul (MDTIstanbul) touring worldwide. In 2017 she begins to
collaborate with fellow dancer Evrim Akyay for ‘One by One’ and ‘Tak’, presented as part
of the 2017 Moving Vishagrad Festival. Beside sharing her practice through workshops in
Italy, UK and Turkey, Melissa is currently a member of Aakash Odedra Company (UK) and
of Compagnie 7273 (Switzerland). In 2012 Melissa also performed at the Opening
Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games with the Akram Khan Company.

e v r i m a k y a y 

was born in 1980 in Istanbul. He started his career with traditional dance and performed
with "Sultans of the Dance" and "Hürrem Sultan Dance Project", both

traditional dance based big productions. In 2003 he started his training at the Modern
Dance Program at Yıldız Technical University and the following year continued his
artistic enrollments at CRR Dance Theater. In 2008 he was awarded the JFK Performing
Arts Exchange Scholarship and the Martha Graham Summer Intensive Scholarship and
visited NYC and Washington DC. Between 2006 - 2012 he was a member of Zeynep
Tanbay’s Dance Project, where in 2010 became the assistant choreographer for the
company’s piece "Araz". In 2013 he pursued his career abroad, performing with
Jerusalem Dance Theater for two seasons. His collaboration "Heva" with Korhan Başaran
was one of the finalists of the Copenhagen Choreography Competition in 2014. The same
year at BAM, NYC he performed "Unsettled", a collaboration between American,
Armenian and Turkish artists as part of DanceMotion USA program. He is a faculty
member of the Contemporary Dance Department at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University.
His creations include Don (2009), Routine (2010), Cage'd (in collaboration with Korhan
Başaran, 2015), Simple Present (2016), One by One (2017). He also choreographed "Joan
of Arc" (2016) for Izmit City Theater and "Ahmet Yesevi the Hodja" (2017) for Bursa State
Theater, “Tak” for the 2017 Moving Vishagrad Festival and “Salı” for the company Modern

Dance Theatre Istanbul.