"The DREAMS performance inaugurates the “XVII Agency” in Yerevan" by Carlo Coppola

On July 25, at 7:00 p.m., the WOODS Center in Yerevan — along the road to Garni, on the edge of Jrvezh State Forest Park — hosted "DREAMS" an immersive, site-specific contemporary dance performance followed by a DJ set. 

This new cultural event in Armenia's capital is quickly drawing attention as one of the country's most distinctive contemporary dance productions of the summer.

The event was conceived and organized by The XVII Agency, whose director and co-founder is Haik Vardanyan. The other founder are Sevag Davidian and Stephanie Asatryan.

The agency's mission is to promote and showcase Armenian talent across the performing arts — dance, music, and performance art — through original productions staged in unconventional venues rather than traditional theaters.

On stage, choreography and performance were entrusted to Nina Hayrapetyan, joined by dancer Vlad Hakhumyan. The evening's musical set, following the performance, was curated by DJ Nawar, with a welcome drink for guests and ticketing handled through Fast Ticket.

The site-specific format places DREAMS within a precise lineage of international contemporary dance-theater — one that, through the experiments of Pina Bausch, moved beyond the conventional stage to restore the body's direct relationship with real space, emotion, and memory, and that continued through the work of Carolyn Carlson, among the choreographers who most insisted on the osmosis between movement, natural light, and landscape.

Seen in this light, the poster image — two backlit figures against a sunset sky — is more than a graphic choice: it anticipates the performance's stylistic signature. A body that does not perform against the valley, but rises and emancipates itself from the noble folkloric and national-popular tradition, reclaiming instead a more universal language of gesture.

For Armenia's cultural scene, still consolidating its presence in contemporary dance, initiatives like DREAMS — uniting auteur choreographic language, a non-theatrical space, and the social dimension of celebration — mark an attempt to broaden the audience and place Yerevan within an international circuit of immersive dance performances.

Keywords: DREAMS Yerevan, contemporary dance Armenia, WODS Center, The XVII Agency, site-specific performance