Women inmates perform at a prison in Thebes, northwest of Athens, Greece, on June 10, 2018. The show performed by prisoners inside Eleonas Thebes Women's Prison was part of a dance workshop of the Alternative Stage of the Greek National Opera. (Xinhua/Gerasimos Domenikos)
THEBES, Greece, June 11 (Xinhua) -- It has a different significance and importance the "Freedom, Freedom" prompting in Aretha Franklin's "Think", when you hear it inside Eleonas Thebes Women's Prison and see nine prisoners in front of you, dancing to it ecstatically.
The thrill and the joy were manifested in the faces of the audience and the participants on Sunday evening in this prison complex an hour drive northwest of Athens.
The last ones holding flowers in their hands were embraced by their relatives who came to enjoy the event, and by their teachers, Katerina Spyropoulou and Hara Kotsali, who run the dance workshop of the Alternative Stage of the Greek National Opera.
On stage, nine women presented the greatest moments of the evolution of modern dance, from Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham to Pina Bausch and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. They touched the audience with texts that included their own personal thoughts and feelings.
The smiles of satisfaction on their faces and the tears of joy in the eyes of the visitors were a tangible proof of the success of the program.
"Just consider that a few days before the event, they were doing extra rehearsals without us," Spyropoulou told Xinhua.
They worked with the team twice a week since last January. "This is the second year of the program. Previously, we have been doing a similar workshop in Korydallos Prison for three years."
"The meetings with our teachers were something we expected every week. They took away the burdens of the soul. Dance is freedom and in here this has a double significance. We sail away dancing and it's as if we are not in prison," Athena, one of the nine women, told Xinhua.
"My grandson came to see me. He was born and he is becoming a little man while I'm in here," said Athena, who has already served three years in prison. "I have no complaints. The prison management and staff treat us very well. They stand on our side."
"When my son left for the non profit organisation Smile of the Child, I kept calling him on the phone every half an hour. It was difficult for him to adapt. He did not even know how the sea looks like. He had never seen it until he was three years old," said Eve, another woman, who has three children -- all living in the Smile of the Child.
She has already been detained for eight years and has recently begun to take leaves.
"I wanted to go to the sea. And I did. I'm giving an exam now. I am at the fourth grade of High School and I read ancient Greek history... I want to become a child psychologist to help children who grow up in prison with their mothers," she said.
That is the goal of the effort.
"Our satisfaction is to see these women evolve. During the meetings, we saw them slowly becoming a team and that was amazing," said Kotsali, expressing hope that the program will continue next year.
