»vertige – dizziness. the sensation of all objects around us being in motion. this sensation is caused either by an over-rapid change of sensory impressions or by abnormal internal processes. sensory dizziness that passes quickly requires no treatment, nor does dizziness caused by physical excitement. the head of the person affected by congestion should be raised, cold compresses should be applied and the person should be given lemonade powder or soda water.« (»the golden book for practical housewives, daughters and fiancées«, berlin, 1900)

once you’re sucked into the undertow, everything seems to elude one’s grasp, the ground under one’s feet threatens to loose itself in the whirling images: clamoring battle and empty repetition, silenced expectation or quiet irony, smoldering anxiety, persistent powerlessness and the tension piling up inside the body alternate with emotion breaking onto the surface.

»…you long for the video recorder’s rewind function, so that you can simply wind back and later watch it all again.« (frankfurter allgemeine zeitung, tilmann billing 2000)

»…limnaios proved herself to be an impressive dancer and imaginative choreographer – and as a master of spatial composition.« (westfälische zeitung, marieluise jeitschko, 2002)

cie. toula limnaios in coproduction with the theater am halleschen ufer
tours: münster, dresden, akademie der künste, dortmund, bauhaus dessau

concept/choreography

toula limnaios

music

ralf r. ollertz

dance

toula limnaios

musician

walfriede schmitt (sprecherin)

lightdesign

michel delvigne

costumes

toula limnaios

videoprojections

cyan

fotos

dieter hartwig, cyan

reviews

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»the confused waitress /// the evening lives from three levels of representation: the presence of the dancers, the acoustic stimuli and the video screen that holds centre stage. … after the social mask (of the waitress) has fallen, the blackest depths of the human soul become visible. repressed feelings break through, the character of the woman gains contours, her personality a face. the greek limnaios, who studied at the folkwangschule in essen and was a guest with pina bausch, relies on a strict canon of ever-repeating movements. she bends and twists as if in spiritual torment, shudders and shivers, flails her arms with her mouth wide open, tries to hit an imaginary enemy and finally sets into her own wax image, watched by the overpowering video eye at rest on the screen. in her introverted solo toula limnaios searches frantically for footing and for orientation. like an autistic child she clutches onto compulsive patterns and hammers on her palm with her fist. the berlin choreographer shows, as the title »vertige« (french: dizziness, frenzy) suggests, spiritual states of confusion which come close to insanity. as in hitchcock’s film classic »vertigo« the ground is in danger of being lost from under the observer’s feet. the video artist group cyan bombards the audience with a sustained burst of furious images. … «vertige« sets loose a frenzy that lets the audience eagerly absorb the dance and video images. you zap about, between the living woman’s body and the screen. … you long for the video recorder’s rewind function, so that you can simply wind back and later watch it all again.« (frankfurter allgemeine zeitung, tilmann billing, 2000)

»toula limnaios in the tumult of tormenting images /// then the tumult that gives the work its title seizes hold of her, spews out her threats and torments by giving them expressive form. tormenting memories appear,… on the screen, images pass in lightning tempo ….all of this makes the soul of the shape roll from side to side and throws her body into turmoil. she twitches like a fury, shivers in the thunder of the clattering machines, falls, lies stiff. hanging in states of suspense she searches for holds on a rope with a grip, and falls to the floor again. «i’m in heaven» hums a hollywood song. the legs of the woman doing a shoulder stand coo around each other like lovers. the figure only finds peace at the end as it returns to the initial constellation of waiting, which has an even more intense effect on the viewer.« (berliner morgenpost, volkmar draeger, 2000)

»sophisticated poses in a light-costume /// toula limnaios inspires at the 5th international dance weeks. the enthusiastic audience in the fully occupied pumpenhaus was able to see a fascinating complete work of art made of concentrated movement patterns to video compositions that increase in speed and use of space, of geometric art and diverse moments in close-ups, family photos, landscapes, funny kitsch objects and fashion figures. all this was projected in fast motion, with an addition of music that consisted of romantic strings and the chirping of birds, motorized factory machinery and heartbeat, rustling and swooshing, as well as female and male voices reciting senseless instructions and threatening dialogues with satanic eeriness.
limnaios´ ›journey into the inner world of thoughts and feelings‹ in this solo becomes a nightmare of memories.« (westfälische zeitung, marieluise jeitschko, 2002)

»as if everything moved. /// in front of the video screen or to the side of it, the dancer in jerky, constantly repeating movements. in »vertige« limnaios has invented a kind of individual sign language, one which includes the whole body and which is characterised by the effort of making oneself understandable. in the course of the evening it becomes clear that »vertige« is an attempt to turn things inside out. the processes which would otherwise be played out internally are turned to the outside.«(berliner zeitung, michaela schlagenwerth, 2000)