Reviews

Neue Zurcher Zeitung, Monday, January 10th, 2000

Dancing suitcases: European Travelling Project: Paper bags are noisily lifted up, suitcases are carried across the stage, and people are hugged with emphasis and are emotionally saying good-bye.

...The presentation of this weekend at Tanzhaus Zurich was amusing and varied. The performance was enriched with the very different qualities of the dancers: The two men's movement, Rossen Mihailov from Bulgaria and Zoltan Nagy from Hungary, was powerful and sometimes acrobatic. Fiona Millward from Great Britain impacted with a distinctive archness. Olga Zitluhina from Latvia showed expressive suppleness and the host Bettina Holzhausen combined her gestures and folksy elements in her dancing. Five personalities were collaborating around a personal theme of travelling and came up with a coherent collective work. During the journey of the dance paper bags are transformed into tutus, suitcases into dance partners and greetings on postcards into orders for an improvisation.

Christina Thurner

Holiday greetings European Travelling Project: a multinational choreography at Tanzhaus Zürich

...After Riga it was Zurich's turn, the home of the choreographer Bettina Holzhausen. Not like the typical workshop kind of brainstorming presentation, the team of choreographers, three women, two men, showed a series of resolved and well built scenes. The collective work, centred around the theme of travelling, was varied and humorous. The resulting visual elements were surprising - like a dress of empty paper bags resembling a tuft of feathers. It seemed like a picture puzzle, expressing the burden and pleasure of travelling. The five choreographic signatures are respectfully completed. In particular, their ability to be ironic enabled them to bring together artists coming from different cultures. Shown in the solo of Rossen Mihailov from Bulgaria. Breathless, he tries to translate holiday greetings into dance. A wonderful caricature of the absurd character that wording on postcards can have.