Lenio Kaklea
The Birds
Athens-born, Paris-based choreographer Lenio Kaklea deepens her inquiry into ecology and humanity’s impact on our environment with The Birds. Drawing on the vivid plumage, songs, and movements of birds, this striking new work reflects on what it means to be seen and heard.
Seven dancers shift between dynamic individuality and the cohesion of a migratory flock, navigating the tensions of predator and prey. Referencing mating rituals and territorial defense, Kaklea’s choreography probes a society where freedom and subjugation exist in an increasingly precarious balance.
The Birds was presented in November at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles after its premiere at Montpellier Danse in July 2025. Kaklea’s works have been performed at Centre Pompidou, the National Theatre of Chaillot, Sadler’s Wells, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Festival d’Automne, the Serpentine, Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection, Palazzo Grassi – Pinault Collection, New York Live Arts, ImPulsTanz International Dance Festival, Athens and Epidaurus Festival, the National Greek Opera, and Les presses du réel.
Lenio Kaklea is a dancer, choreographer, director, and artist born in Athens and based in Paris.
She trained at the National Conservatory of Contemporary Dance in Athens, where she studied classical ballet alongside American modern techniques and repertories, including those of Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, and José Limón. In 2005, she was awarded the Pratsika Foundation Prize and relocated to France, joining the CNDC in Angers under the direction of Emmanuelle Huynh. After her graduation, she collaborated with prominent figures of the European dance scene, including Alexandra Bachzetsis, Boris Charmatz, Claudia Triozzi, François Chaignaud, and Cecilia Bengolea. In 2011, she completed the SPEAP program at Sciences Po Paris, a master in experimentation in arts and politics led by the philosopher Bruno Latour.
Since 2009, Kaklea’s artistic practice has encompassed choreography, text, and video, informed by feminist and postcolonial thought. Her work investigates the production of subjectivity and reveals the intimate spaces in which identity is formed.
Her work have been presented across Europe and the United States at institutions and festivals including the Centre Pompidou, the National Theatre of Chaillot, MOCA – Museum of contemporary art in Los Angeles, Sadler’s Wells, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Festival d’Automne, the Serpentine, Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection, Palazzo Grassi – Pinault Collection, New York Live Arts, ImPulsTanz International Dance Festival, Montpellier Dance Festival, Athens and Epidaurus Festival, the National Greek Opera, and Les presses du réel. Her performances are included in public and private collections such as the MNAM – Musée national d’Art moderne, CNAP – National Centre for Visual Arts, and KADIST Foundation.
Alongside her personal choreographic projects, Kaklea collaborates widely. In 2013, the American choreographer Lucinda Childs created a solo for her on a music composition by Ryoji Ikeda. In 2022, she collaborated with the Italian fashion house Bottega Veneta, performing at Punta della Dogana in costumes designed by Matthieu Blazy.
Recent years have seen Kaklea receive major commissions. In 2019, she was awarded the Dance Prize from the Hermès Italia Foundation and the Triennale di Milano, creating the autobiographical solo Ballad. In 2021, she choreographed Age of Crime, a piece for nine performers, for the bicentenary of the Greek Revolution at the Athens and Epidaurus Festival, as well as Sonatas and Interludes, John Cage’s seminal work for prepared piano, performed with pianist Orlando Bass.
In 2024, Kaklea received the 25th Pernod Ricard Award and created the film An Alphabet for the Camera. That same year, she premiered Chemical Joy, a stage work for five dancers of the BODHI PROJECT Ensemble, a Salzburg-based contemporary dance company founded by former Merce Cunningham Company member Susan Quinn. In 2025, she choreographed Craft is our Language, a campaign celebrating the 50th anniversary of Bottega Veneta’s iconic leather weave, Intrecciato. The campaign features artists from film, music, literature, and sport, including Julianne Moore, Dario Argento, Troy Kotsur, Tyler, the Creator, Zadie Smith, and Lorenzo Musetti.
Nefeli Asteriou
Liza Baliasnaja
Amanda Barrio Charmelo
Luisa Heilbron
Louis Nam Le Van Ho
Dimitri Mytilinaios
Jaeger Wilkinson
Direction and Choreography: Lenio Kaklea
Performed by and Developed With: Nefeli Asteriou, Liza Baliasnaja, Amanda Barrio Charmelo, Luisa Heilbron, Louis Nam Le Van Ho, Dimitri Mytilinaios, Jaeger Wilkinson
Text: Lou Forster according to Les Guérilleres by Monique Wittig and Les chimères by Gérard de Nerval
Sound Composition and Technical Direction: Eric Yvelin
Set: Clio Boboti
Lights: Jean-Marc Ségalen
Costumes: Olivier Mulin
Assistant Set Designer: Angeliki Vassilopoulou-Kampitsi
Set Seamstress: Angeliki Baltsaki
Scientific Interlocutor: Thierry Aubin, Director Acoustic Communication Team CNRS, Paris-Saclay University
Trapeze Instructor: Christina Sougioultzi
Administration and Production Management: Olivier Poujol
Distribution: Fanny Virelizier
Production: abd
Co-production: Biennale of Charleroi Dance/Choreographic Center of Wallonie and Bruxelles (BE), The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Los Angeles (US), Le festival d’automne (FR), CCN/Ballet de Lorraine (FR), Théâtre de la Vignette (FR), NEXT Festival (BE), CCN/Ballet National de Marseille (FR)
Thanks to the scientific committee of La Pop (Paris)
abd receives structural subsidies from the DRAC/Île de France, and the support of the 2025 Consultation of the Convention French Institut-City of Paris.
With the support of the Montpellier Danse Festival, the CDNC/Atelier de Paris and the Carreau du Temple.
