cie. toula limnaios

»pas de deux in destiny’s dress… to see tosca and forget tosca: this is how one could describe the paradox situation in which the choreographer toula limnaios brings the bregenz festspielhaus audience. (…) the music-theater piece shimmers as through a scrim curtain, especially since the performance is set in front of the bregenz indoor opera stage. but it is precisely this doubling that defines a part of the observers’ fascination the seven excellent dancers evoke. it is as though one had seen an opera, to then dream of it afterwards. it is a danced nightmare. ralf r. ollertz wrote a nightmarish new composition from the recording of a bregenz performance from last year, to one part with edited elements, to another with passages in which the original is clearly identifiable. also… the music seems to come from another dimension: contorted like a face in a mirror that scarpia holds while two dancers force themselves into the same dress, intertwined… and they don’t manage to escape one another. toula limnaios has found strong images for hopelessness and brutality as well as the completely disturbed relationships the characters have. … what the 19th century music can manage to cover up is unveiled without compromise by cie. toula limnaios from berlin; a world in which no one trusts each other and a game in which the players are both perpetrator and victim. the strongest image in this game is tosca’s blood-red velvet robe, an oversized dress of destiny that the actors alternately slip into. finally the whole stage is drowned in velvet that the dancers throw in waves to allow new character constellations to appear in its midst. it is an optically impressive finale after 75 minutes of fatalistic, exciting dance theater. in its core the creators have come closer to the opera than they may have intended. or the opera is more modern than one had thought.« (südkurier, bettina schröm, 2008)

»toula limnaios leads her wonderfully secure dancers through the space in a polyphonic whirlpool of atmospheric images and lets insanity free reign. scenes intertwine or exist in parallel. … ralf ollertz’s music, based on a tosca recording, amplifies this. together with dance it develops a suggestive effect with its fractured and (new composition of) orchestral sounds and voices.« (allgäuer zeitung, klaus-peter mayr, 2008)

»the theme from «e lucevan le stelle» drifts quietly through the space, a dog is barking, four women and three men are standing equidistant on stage. they then collapse. the atmosphere is full of tension, menacing… when the people search for their clothes and high-heeled shoes and quickly cross the stage in straight and diagonal lines. the question «who is who» in the opera roles appears to have been nullified. meetings occur in a steady stream that progressively intensify. the greek choreographer’s body language is incredibly expressive, modern… numerous gestures of oppression and submission but also of symbiosis and reflection sketch a shifting pattern of relationships. one can associate this with the opera, but one doesn’t have to.
highly effective, alongside the colorful clothes from daily life, is the glowing red dress with an enormous train that can be spread out like a tent. everyone can put it on and hide in it. the japanese dancer slips into it to the «te deum» while another two slowly rotating dancers threaten the four female dancers with long sticks. blood, passion, eroticism and despair are all caught up in this dress.
the strong images are supported and intensified by ralf ollertz’s music. he prepared and sampled the recording of the lake performance and redistributed it to numerous speakers, altered it… extended it with electronic means. … motifs and arias suddenly appear, but still the vicinity to the opera is existent. for 70 minutes one is involved in a disturbing world of expression that allows for many interpretations and associations and whose effect continues to resonate.« (schwäbische zeitung & neue vorarlberger tageszeitung, katharina von glasenapp, 2008)

»a distant echo of great opera still rings in «reading tosca»… (the piece) examines images of women’s roles and is thus as timeless and contemporary as «tosca» can be.« (orf, v1 am abend (news and cultural show), report by ingrid bertel, camera: götz wagner, 2008)

»toula limnaios, the far-known choreographer from berlin, is a guest in the tafelhalle, daring to take an equally daring and ingenious look at puccini’s opera ›tosca‹. with ›reading tosca‹ she creates a sensitive simile with strict stylistic elements… discomfort and fascination alternate. figures are under the spell of a strange power. and above all,there is the outstanding dance septet, which with this dance performance has certainly left a lasting memory in the tafelhalle. everything is imprinted:… the central prop of ›reading tosca‹ is an oversized red, velvet dress that runs throughout the performance like a trail of blood. the mysterious female bearer of the opulent final punch may be the symbol of all stage action. bravo!« (nürnberger zeitung, 2009)

»drama, passion, death: what surprises and impresses is the overall dramaturgy with unusual visual and acoustic ideas. the visual also emanates a special radiance. seldom can the suffering be so beautiful..« (www.tanzpresse.de, 2008)