REVIEWS AND PRESS |
"Nadine Helstroffer is one of dance's treasures -- a poetic, luminous performer whose choreography reflects her insight into life, nature and spirituality."
Eva Yaa Asantewaa, Artistic Director and host of Great Dance Podcast at greatdance.com/podcast
"Nadine Helstroffer—From France, a performer and choreographer of fierce concentration and focus."
Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times
MIGRATION
"Nadine Helstroffer's "Migration," sent white-clad dancers on a journey across a mysterious terrain. Miss Helstroffer, a member of Sin Cha-Hong's Laughing Stone company, is a French choreographer who has worked in New York since 1981. She has her own dreamlike way of creating atmosphere, and there was plenty of that in "Migration." ..."Migration" was a compelling evening of theater and dance."
Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times
ABSENCE, PRESENCE
"She began moving, imperceptly at first, rather butoh-like. Accelerating to slow, the dancer began to shed the layers of gauze she had previously untangled, like a tree drops its leaves... Her arms now seemed weightless and extraordinarily fluid as she slowly opened her eyes. We had witnessed a startling transformation, akin to the birth of a dancer or of a dancing form of spirit or substance… Helstroffer is a magnetic, compelling performer."
Philip W. Sandstrom, The Dance Insider
RIPPLE
"Glimpses of a Secret World. If one watched intently, these meticulously detailed works did give up some of their secrets. Both visible and unseen forces bound people in two older dances. In "Clock Lock," one wondered if Ms. Helstroffer represented someone who felt imprisoned by or yearned to transcend the passage of time. Ambiguities like these made Ms. Helstroffer's choreographic miniatures rich in implications."
Jack Anderson, The New York Times
EARTHBOUND
"The movements of Earth and Water. Ms. Helstroffer's "Earthbound" opened with a solo for Ms. Heilman that was magical ... Ms. Heilman looked like a carefully chosen ornamental rock in a Japanese garden and at others like a series of shifting Calderesque shapes."
Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times
THRESHOLD
"Nadine Helstroffer's fascinating "Threshold" hints at mysterious rituals. Poignant. Every gesture with intensity... We watch a small crowd in rumpled white clothes roll very gradually toward the edge of the stage. Some slide inertly down a steep ramp; others simply drop. We watch and wait; who is next? Plop. Inevitable as water sliding off a roof..."
Deborah Jowitt, Village Voice
"Interesting for its dreamlike images. Pictorial beauty. Excellent trapeze artists. In addition to the scenes of love and introspection on the trapeze, the production's striking effects included episodes in which dancers slid down a ramp, dangled from ropes and posed against a construction resembling a giant web. Three people on chairs featured as if they were the monkeys whose hand positions indicate that they see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil. And "Threshold" came to an eerie conclusion as dancers stood humming and sighing on the shadowy stage while their faces glowed with luminescent mask like makeup."
Jack Anderson, The New York Times
DOUBLE SPIRAL
"Born in France, Helstroffer has long been noted for her interest in Buddhism and the connection between dance and meditation. Slender, with an infinitely sensitive face--hints of Marlene Dietrich when concentrating in performance--she's given to a fictile, poetic expressionism. This well suited her collaboration with (David) Hykes and FoolsLight in Double Spiral. Dressed In a cranberry-red leotard and soft pants, she stood in a gentle plie, arms curled in front of her face. As Hykes' vocalization evoked shushing wind, she unfurled her arms and began to unfold a Himalayan landscape--clouds billowing and drifting, eagles surveying high peaks, a forest of prayer flags rippling, incense swirling from a temple's altar."
Eva Yaa Ansetawaa © 2005 http://home.mindspring.com/~magickal1/
CLOCK LOCK
"Helstroffer is a fiercely concentrated performer, pulling all motion into the heated center of herself."
Sally Sommer, Village Voice
"Ms. Helstroffer stood with heels touching and knees slightly bent in a pose that recalled a characteristic stance of Indian dance. She resembled an exquisite clockwork figure."
Jack Anderson, The New York Times
SANDDIAL
"A fluid study in serenity. One had time to savor even the slightest movement. Sanddial resembled a set of choreographic meditations. Watching Sanddial was like attending a service in a house of worship with a totally unfamiliar liturgy."
Jack Anderson, The New York Times
TIDE
"Motion of the elements. Nadine Helstroffer's appears to be inspired by winds and waves. The dances were filled with gusts and eddies of movement."
Jack Anderson, The New York Times
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