TEMPUS FUGIT | cie. toula limnaios

In »tempus fugit« seven dancers continually move as a group, as a flowing unit. Propelled forward by an inner unison, they produce an allembracing tide. A round dance like a single shared movement nevertheless at moments revealing the individual.

Nothing lasts forever - the flow of time cannot be detained. But how do we really live in it? Has the hustle and bustle of daily life consumed us all? Compared to the breathlessness of our lives, the horde resembles a muscle, brimming with vitality and solidarity. Mass and identity, power and momentum are its central phenomena - the group as a microcosm that frees us from the prison of isolation and unleashes new strength.

«Toula Limnaios' associative visual worlds reveal disturbing and simultaneously intense as well as precise movement details... The striking strength of this choreographer lies in her ability to stage a scenic plurality of opposing events that culminate in a pensive final metaphor. This is what leaves its mark in the audience's memory.»
(Neues Deutschland/ tanznetz)

Tours: Germany, Armenia, Trinidad&Tobago, Nicaragua, Spain, Romania, Greece, Italy
A cie. toula limnaios production in cooperation with the HALLE TANZBάHNE BERLIN and with the kind support of
the Cultural Department of the City of Berlin.

Toula Limnaios elicits fervent feelings
An incredible creative power is ascribed to almost every true artist; yet there are two kinds of artists - those kissed by the muse every few years and those Toula Limnaios belongs to. The Berlin-based choreographer never ceases to evolve, regenerate, and scrutinize in order to bestow upon the audience new and challenging experiences that go under the skin. Her newest production «tempus fugit» can be best described as a concentrate of harrowing and powerful emotions: Toula spares nobody here! Just as in her poetic «minute papillon» (December 2015), the human herd behaviour and the consequent peer pressure stand in the middle of Toula´s narrative interest. Her piece tackles the shallow depths of present times and penetrates into the spaces in which one sweats out their emotions. The intertwining and divisive lines of the seven dancers (Daniel Afonso, Leonardo D'Aquino, Daeho Lee, Katja Scholz, Hironori Sugata, Karolina Wyrwal, Inhee Yu), merge to seize the entire space with a hectic performance. A strong gestural intensity emerges between uplifts and tormented glances.

On a stage covered by a sea of dead leaves, a dance of automatons commences andexposes one or two black sheep on the horizon. The poignant Katja Scholz is one of them.The virtuous dancer attempts to stand out, yet she quickly returns on the planned track, likea small obedient robot roughly guided by one of her 'master-like' colleagues. An additionalstrong image: each protagonist strives to imitate the movements of an infant or a doll that iscontinuously abused by the others. An all-too-effective metaphor that touches with its cold(and perhaps truthful?) perversity.

Resembling puppets, the bodies (covered with dry clay) swirl, intersect, crash against the wall and stumble over each other. Like time, they go backwards and forwards in entanglement which simultaneously constructs and collapses them. Hearts are also short of breath with the rhythm of this destructive, frantic life on the edge of the madness. The flesh is accentuated and the faces are tense. As the lines are dispersed, they nevertheless fuse together in a common and cacophonic roar.

In combination with the unusual musical soundtrack (Haydn, Mahler and Ralf R. Ollertz), the power of the form fluctutates between attraction and aversion. This newly arranged score undeniably fits the circumstances and is in perfect tune with the oppression manifested. A glimmer of hope ? Not really. The last scene, in which Leonardo D Aquino tramples over the bodies laughing, leaves everyone in the audience pensive.
http://cccdanse.com, reviews, Léa Chalmont