toula

cie. toula limnaios

secrets perdus 2010

reviews

»secrets perdus«, intimately staged as a chamber piece, is a reflection on the sensual perception and frontier experience in a space of silence and darkness. it leads the way into magically hermetic miniatures. Subdued and floating, fragmentary images full of mysteries with hidden connections are created. The performers and the audience are in a void, as if they were in an opaque darkness, the space unveils itself in a milky fog, revealing people in a state between presence and absence. The piece depicts situations of human alienation, provoked by visible or imagined interventions of power. The characters, lost in specific actions, move along a fine line between the recognizable reality of daily life and a bizarre dream world immersed in ethereal timelessness.

clinging to the light won’t make the actions clearer. Just a small moment is needed to adapt to the darkness. Bit by bit, it becomes almost transparent, so that the gaze can tentatively penetrate the space step by step. Silently it follows the performers through the black shimmering web: quietly and softly vibrating, thoughts wander off in all directions – through time.

veils rise and fall like curtains, scattering the breath of the performers: secrets are as if enveloped in shadows, in a fragile, quivering zone, glowing in subdued, iridescent colors, drifting past like fog, like something that although it is hidden from view from time to time, is always present: passion and magic, clarity and enigma, brutality and depth – relationships, immersed in the web of darkness, light up like phantasmagoria – an oscillation in space, as if a door to another world is slightly ajar…

»a choreographic language that touches our innermost feelings and that which is deeply hidden. according to toula limnaios, ›a whisper, little gestures and surreal stories‹ are the bridge to the ›lost secrets‹.« (berlin poche, théâtre, dance, florence freitag, 2010)

a cie. toula limnaios production, with the kind support by the cultural department of the city of berlin. and the conceptual funding of the performing arts fund e.v. from the federal means.

concept/choreography

toula limnaios

music

ralf r. ollertz

dance/creation

mercedes appugliese, ioannis avakoumidis, fleur conlon, kayoko minami, ute pliestermann

lightdesign

jan langebartels

public relation

silke wiethe

costumes

antonia limnaios, toula limnaios

fotos

cyan

reviews

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»the stage never gets bright during this choreographic nocturnal. when the flashes light up the gloom, the movements are chopped up into fragments. this creates ghostly snapshots of women who rebel, who want to break out – but who are repeatedly haunted and captured by their obsessions. these women are like phantoms in a darkroom. they are beautiful somnambulists who harass the man like a recurring painful memory. the composition by ralf r. ollertz, which sounds like a radio play, also contributes to the mysterious atmosphere. yet, violence and compulsion can only be perceived as an echo – as an oppressive resonance in the body. the dancers move towards each other or re-enact love positions. when a dancer loosens his grip, a hollow form of passion remains. toula limnaios shows bodies that were held up in their fall into oblivion. ›secrets perdus‹ displays a suction, which is difficult to escape. a big thank to the dancers, as well. ute pliestermann, fleur conlon, kayoko minami and mercedes appugliese are well-versed border crossers, they drag into a world of desire and madness. without revealing their dark secrets.« (tagesspiegel, kultur-redaktion, sandra luzina, 2010)

»in her new production ›secrets perdus‹, toula limnaios has joined the thriller writers. what`s needed for it: a dead body and a lot of fog. figures peel out from the confusing shimmer, as someone lits the darkness with a flashlight. the woman in the red coat and the only man find each other in the kiss, dreamily dance forward to the music of a string quartet. they do this for a long time, a beautiful image. then they roll on the floor, from the old radio receiver comes sound in english: a dead couple has been discovered. what happens over the remaining 60 minutes is puzzling, but seems to revolve around the investigation of the murder. the dead are being redeployed. four female dancers and one male dancer create different couple positions, which freeze and from which one gets detached, and the other keeps the form. unstably sitting, crouching, bent – the individual sculptures stand so in the darkness of the room for a few seconds. again such a beautiful image. a woman in a long, yellow (dress) and with a miner’s lamp wanders around, others follow her, there is a fight between the couple. that could lead to the motive for the crime. earlier dance motifs are cited again; at the end the crowd slowly moves to the front of the room, someone lights it up with violent flickering. as is sometimes the case in real thriller: nothing dissolves, the choreography and the music by ralf r. ollertz only lead the dancers and the audience through illusive situations that are reminiscent of the wandering visions of the english mystic william blake. one can enjoy that.« (www.tanznetz.de, neues deutschland, volkmar draeger, 2010)

»armed with a flashlight, a dancer storms onto the night-black stage. the contours of several women emerge vaguely. he casts the dazzling light on the luring night creatures. he wants to bring the light into the darkness, he wants to look into the hidden corners of their soul. but maybe he’s just moving through a dream with open eyes. when the flashes light up the gloom, the movements are broken down into fragments, creating distorted and ghostly images. toula limnaios proves to be a soul researcher, with a foible for the abysmal, inexplicable. the stories in ›secrets perdus‹ appear enigmatic, interlaced and fragmented. so the piece challenges the audience’s imagination. it draws them into the emotional world of the performers. limnaios encircles their longings and desires in pictures of enigmatic beauty.« (tagesspiegel, spielzeit, s. luzina, 2010)

»it is obscure in a timeless and dark space between nothing and infinity, dream and reality. in ›secrets perdus‹ the choreographer toula limnaios, who loves to explore the human depths, has woven a web of fragmented and intimate images, experiences and reflections, in order to make something completely aesthetic – a world of its own. one has barely got used to the foggy room, when the audience perceives the performers and wonders whether the different situations reflect reality or imaginations. the cie. toula limnaios has gained an international reputation and the halle tanzbühne berlin has become their own space of creation. this is where the works that has been created in the rehearsals, enters the musical creations of ralf r. ollertz and the dance of toula limnaios: a choreographic language that touches our innermost feelings and that which is deeply hidden. according to toula limnaios, ›a whisper, little gestures and surreal stories‹ are the bridge to the ›lost secrets‹.« (berlin poche, théâtre, dance, florence freitag, 2010)