Chimera
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Chimera choreography and performance- Melissa Lohman light design- Melissa Lohman, Flavio Arcangeli Rialto Sant'Ambrogio, Rome 2015 The New York Butoh Institute Festival, NYC 2018 A figure of infinite transformation, death-less, searches for forms, bodies, impossible incarnations. Chimera lives on dreams, desires and the follies of human thought: from the poorest of imaginations to shimmering dreams, to the incarnations she endures. She transforms into infinite imagined forms, into infinite images. I thought of Chimera re-searching, recalling what I had dreamt, desired, loved and lost; everything faded and vanished, savored or regretted. The need to rediscover the will-o'-the-wisps of life brought me to Her, demon and mirage, ineffable figure of a thousand bodies, body-less. (Marcello Sambati) |
Chimera coreografia e performance- Melissa Lohman disegno luce- Melissa Lohman, Flavio Arcangeli Rialto Sant'Ambrogio, Roma 2015 The New York Butoh Institute Festival, NYC 2018 Figura dalle infinite trasformazioni, senza morte, cerca forme, corpi, incarnazioni impossibili. Chimera vive dei sogni, dei desideri e dalle follie del pensiero umano: dalle infime immaginazioni, ai sogni cangianti, alle incorporazioni che subisce. Si trasforma nelle infinite forme immaginate, in immagini infinite. Ho pensato a Chimera ri-cercando, rammemorando ciò che ho sognato, desiderato, amato e perduto; ogni cosa sfiorita e svanita, goduta o rimpianta. Il bisogno di ritrovare i fuochi fatui della vita mi hanno portato a Lei, demone e miraggio, ineffabile figura dai mille corpi, senza corpo. (Marcello Sambati) |
Review
Broadway World
BWW Feature: The New York Butoh Institute Festival Showcases Women and International Artists
by Cindy Sibilsky, November 6, 2018
... a fascinating solo piece, Chimera, by Melissa Lohman hailing from Italy and performing around the world. In the near darkness and silence (save occasional soft crackling or animal sounds one might find in the deep woods or recesses of the subconscious) a figure appears -- but as to what is almost impossible to tell. One realizes later on that the main moving mass is actually her back, a signature element in butoh practice -- acting with the back, but for the majority of the performance the creature (and artist) appear completely headless. The whole thing is so alien and unusual that it is utterly mesmerizing to watch it unfold, like discovering a new species of flora or fauna that one can't quite tell which end is up. It's something out of a myth, dream or perhaps the imaginative world of Dr. Seuss. Indeed, this piece is devoted to a mythical magical creature that the artist describes as: "The impossible demon, graceful and fractured, forgetful and melancholic" who resides in "the dry, silty, still landscape of implausible dreams and unrealizable desires." This was one of the simplest pieces in the entire festival and one of the most effective, not reliant on props, partners or multimedia aides, that Lohman created which established a truly engrossing otherworldly atmosphere.
Broadway World
BWW Feature: The New York Butoh Institute Festival Showcases Women and International Artists
by Cindy Sibilsky, November 6, 2018
... a fascinating solo piece, Chimera, by Melissa Lohman hailing from Italy and performing around the world. In the near darkness and silence (save occasional soft crackling or animal sounds one might find in the deep woods or recesses of the subconscious) a figure appears -- but as to what is almost impossible to tell. One realizes later on that the main moving mass is actually her back, a signature element in butoh practice -- acting with the back, but for the majority of the performance the creature (and artist) appear completely headless. The whole thing is so alien and unusual that it is utterly mesmerizing to watch it unfold, like discovering a new species of flora or fauna that one can't quite tell which end is up. It's something out of a myth, dream or perhaps the imaginative world of Dr. Seuss. Indeed, this piece is devoted to a mythical magical creature that the artist describes as: "The impossible demon, graceful and fractured, forgetful and melancholic" who resides in "the dry, silty, still landscape of implausible dreams and unrealizable desires." This was one of the simplest pieces in the entire festival and one of the most effective, not reliant on props, partners or multimedia aides, that Lohman created which established a truly engrossing otherworldly atmosphere.
