Onassis

In "Faded," acclaimed Greek choreographer Ioannis Mandafounis tackles the uncomfortable subject of the final curtain through the prism of a dancer's ability or proclivity to deal with his or her inevitable physical decline. His humorous approach to the subject takes the audience behind the scenes to underscore that dance is not a sprint, but a marathon.

Margaret Thatcher, Aristotle Onassis, Jimmy Carter, John F. Kennedy, Frank Sinatra, Brigitte Bardot, John Wayne, The Beatles, Isabella Rossellini, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin. What do they all have in common? They have all spent time at the Astir Palace hotel. Indeed the list of all the famous figures who have stayed here is much longer than this, and it's bound to get longer soon.

In its ninth year, the Onassis Cultural Center's Borderline Festival continues to explore the avant-garde, where the music of East and West unite. The international event, which features bands, DJs and solo artists, has teamed up this year with Beirut's Irtijal Festival of experimental music to bring Athenian audiences into contact with new sounds from the Middle East and beyond.

The Onassis Cultural Center is hosting an open day on Sunday, March 17, inviting the public to enjoy a rich program of free concerts, screenings and other events on the theme of avant-garde music from the East, featuring dozens of performers from different parts of the world representing a cross-section of genres ranging from electronica to opera. Doors open at 4 p.m.

Five up-and-coming choreographers and groups make up the program of the 6th Young Choreographers Festival, an annual showcase and incubator for local talent put together by the Onassis Cultural Center. This high-energy event not only allows young artists to make their stage debuts but also establishes new trends and points to where the local dance scene is headed.

Dimitris Papadimitriou's 14 new "Symphonic Miniatures" are to be performed as a suite titled "Dream Peddlers" in an interactive concert by the ERT National Symphony Orchestra at the Onassis Cultural Center on February 15 and 16.

A photograph taken in late March 1953 shows Aristotle Onassis and West Germany's then minister of finance, Ludwig Erhard, just before the launch of the Olympic Cloud tanker, the first ship built by AG Weser in Bremen after World War II.

In "Sweat," part of the ongoing Athens Biennale, Royal College of Art graduate and designer Alice Potts explores the "poetry of body fluids" in an interactive exhibition of garments and sportswear that transforms the wearer's perspiration into a striking crystalline accessory. The show at the Onassis Cultural Center is curated by Stavros Karelis and opening hours are 6 to 10 p.m. daily.

In "New Piece 1: Since She," at the Onassis Cultural Center, acclaimed Greek choreographer Dimitris Papaioannou pays tribute to Pina Bausch nine years after her death, with a series of wonderful tableux vivants referencing landmark works by the German dance legend, accompanied by music by Verdi, Mahler, Wagner, Prokofiev and Tom Waits.

In "Crowd," French-Austrian choreographer Gisele Vienne explores the dark side within every person and their need for violence in a 15-dancer piece about a rave party that gets out of hand. Vienne will be making her first appearances at the Onassis Cultural Center in Athens with the piece on November 17 and 18.