| San Francisco Chronicle 10.26. 2002, by Octavio Roca, Chronicle Dance Critic Magic and mirroring in Kunst-Stoff program With not a lot of fanfare, some of the most original dance or drama in town is happening at ODC Theater with what amounts to a birthday party for Kunst-Stoff. This stuff is hard to categorize, but it makes for one impressive spectacle. Kunst-Stoff is a fascinating company, and five years after its birth, it is in better shape than ever. It was founded by two young veterans of Alonzo King's Lines Ballet, Yannis Adoniou and Tomi Paasonen, beautiful dancers with a taste for the eclectic. Their latest program is a triple bill of two pieces by Adoniou, "Numerous aXidents per(formed)" and "Yia Yia," with Paasonen's "PRESENTATION" at the center. All three were striking, and "W" was devastating. Paasonen describes his "W" in the program as "a play with you, me, four eyes, two lenses, all of you and the beam in between." It was danced by Adoniou and Kevin Cregan, a guest from the Dutch National Ballet, with stark video projections by Katy Kavanaugh and aggressive use of a live camera by Perry Hallinan. Mika Vainio's electronic score seemed to echo Cregan's racing heartbeat in the opening solo. Cregan's deliberate progress downstage made him look both puzzled and vulnerable as his own image was projected onto his body. There was syncopation in the matches, not quite an equivalence in the live and mechanical pictures. At times, he was on the verge of folding himself into the figure of a sleeping child, only to be awakened into a desperate, soaring flight. The tension only grew when, as if out of nowhere, Adoniou appeared as some kind of dark shadow of Cregan's moves. The two, dressed only in white cotton shirts, were never quite mirror images of each other: There was something in the phrases of Paasonen's deceptively plain choreography that spoke of each man's desires, of each man's particular vision. The two touched, and the moment was gentle and true. But the two also seemed alone by the end, and that also rang true. Publication date: 10/29/2002, by Rachel Howard, Examiner Dancer Critic Depth was supplied by Kunst-Stoff's globetrotting co-director, Tomi Paasonen, with the San Francisco premiere of his "PRESENTATION." The deliciously enigmatic Kevin Cregan withdrew to a brick corner as real-time video of him rolled across his body. A high-velocity duet with Adoniou shattered the solipsism. Arresting stuff. critical dance.org 10.28. 2002 , by toba singer Kunst-Stoff’s Fifth Anniversary Home Season, October 24, 25, 26 and 27, 2002, ODC Theater Kunst-Stoff is eclectic and so are the dancers who have collected around it over the past five years. In part, a spin-off from Lines Contemporary Ballet Company, and in part, having grown a bit like a pick-up company, there is now a solid core of tested cadre who dance the works of its artistic directors Yannis Adoniou and Tomi Paasonen. They show an impassioned commitment to experimentation and exploration. Thursday evening’s program included three works, all of them dark, introspective and demanding. Directed by Tomi Passonen, “PRESENTATION” is narrower, yet more ambitious, in that it is almost a clinical exploration of narcissistic projection—literally and figuratively. Guest performer, Kevin Cregan, of Dutch National Ballet Company, paces his way downstage, and thanks to screened images and superimposed live video projection of Cregan, a montage of his personae becomes the set. The medium is not only the message here: It is the performer, the set and marks the music for the dancer. The program says, “Your perception of me is a projection of yourself on me as I see myself in you seeing yourself in the reflection of my eye, so who’s looking at whom here and what do you see as we look, or is it just me being you double me? A play with you, me, four eyes, two lenses, all of you and the beam in between.” And most dancers can just manage to remember their own roles, and maybe their partner’s! Imagine the challenge of not knowing for certain which of the images is the one the audience takes in as you dance! Adoniou joins Cregan and they dance a duet that adds to the solid geometry. The work they do invites a warm response from the audience. There is lots of inscape and no escape in this program, and so the feeling at the end is like the feeling at the end of a heavy meal: So much to like, but then, so much also to digest. This is a small company that can have a big impact. |
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