toula

cie. toula limnaios

ysteres 2000

reviews

»this wait hollows out the time of mimicry, which can no longer be called an “as if,” but an as if . . . as if, a wavering. the hollowed out répétition of a drama, the mysterious wait, sometimes the expectation of the howling haste of a mystery, or insinuated haste, or haste enveloped in irony or a cloud of merriment and horror. this indecision did indeed become, at some propitious moment, a hatred of the image. it was the hatred of all that held, resisted, and returned as the real in hysterical images, poses, attitudes, and deliria.« (georges didi-huberman, »invention of hysteria by jean-martin charcot«)

»… the crescendo is mastered, from the minimalistic rolling of the eyes and the arm movement in slow motion, to the furiously sweeping head-sway causing the mane of hair to whip the face and neck. the diagonal arm swings appear picturesque, the reclining pose in profile with an outstretched floating leg is refined, technically almost as tricky as the arabesque in classical ballet. but limnaios doesn’t need striking jumps or rapid pirouettes in order to impress.« (westfälische zeitung, marieluise jeitschko, 2002)

production: cie. toula limnaios in co-production with the theater am halleschen ufer
guest performances: münster, dresden, academy of the arts, bauhaus dessau

concept/choreography

toula limnaios

music

ralf r. ollertz

dance/creation

monica muñoz marin, evelin stadler

lightdesign

klaus dust

public relation

silke wiethe

costumes

toula limnaios

videoprojections

cyan

fotos

dieter hartwig, cyan

reviews

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»the stiletto in your back /// for their current production »ysteres«, which has now had its premiere in the theater am halleschen ufer, they chose as the central subject one of the key themes of modernity: hysteria. one point of reference is the famous photographic documentation of the clinical picture of hysteria put together around 1880 by the parisian psychiatrist jean-martin charcot. the cie.toula limnaios searches for ways of translating onto the stage perhaps the most mysterious psychopathological phenomena of the 19th century, not only the almost clown-like sense of being lost but also the kinetic and affective force of hysteria. rapidly changing video clips at first show florid little screen-saver balls, then plastic masks and grimaces as well as ballerina barbie dolls and similar cheap visual surrogates.
the two dancers set their arsenal of compulsive, defamiliarized and ‘insane’ motion against the artificiality of this plastic world and of the stale. they are furiously driven or ponder contemplatively, are absorbed or harassed. most of the time they don’t even notice each other.
the power of »ysteres« (consists) in the hybrid overlayering of video image, sound, dance and iconography.« (frankfurter allgemeine zeitung, franz anton cramer, 2000)

>toula limnaios inspires at the 5th international dance weeks in münster /// the two young dancers show no trace of hysteria apart from gruesome grimaces with which monica m. marin distorts her face. otherwise: a trip into the world of contemporary dance theater at the start of the dance weeks. »… the crescendo is mastered, from the minimalistic rolling of the eyes and the arm movement in slow motion, to the furiously sweeping head-sway causing the mane of hair to whip the face and neck. the diagonal arm swings appear picturesque, the reclining pose in profile with an outstretched floating leg is refined, technically almost as tricky as the arabesque in classical ballet. but limnaios doesn’t need striking jumps or rapid pirouettes in order to impress. she mainly relies on classical music as the backbone of her compositions.
the video screen becomes an interface and a partner with particularly sophisticated optical effects when the moving patterns become a light costume or the screen captures the dancers’ silhouette like a shear cutting. at the beginning of the dance weeks limnaios introduced herself as an impressive dancer and imaginative choreographer – as a master of spatial composition. « (westfälische zeitung, marieluise jeitschko, 2002)