PRESS - articles and reviews for "Lux Etaerna I & II"

About "Lux Etaerna"
9-20-02
By STEPHANIE NELSON, Special to the News & Record

"...Lux Eterna bagan with two dancers (Luttringhaus and Andrea Lieske) veiled by a diaphonous screen, projecting an image of the action behind the screen.

Using a sparse yet punctuated musical backdrop, "Lux Eterna" was a dream that oscillated between hypnotic and chaotic.

Luttringhaus's choreography is aflame with intensity - an outstanding performance..."

10-23-02
TRIAD STYLE MAGAZINE
By Jeri Rowe

"Arts Ignite: An Artistic & Financial Success"

"...Winston-Salem's 16-day multi-arts festival wrapped up Oct. 12, and so far, preliminary numbers show that ArtsIgnite sold more tickets than they expected and could expect to break even - good news for any first-time festival.

... Every performance yielded some sort of mind-expanding surprise.'Take the Oct. 9 chamber music series at Project Space 211 that married Mozart with modern dance. Karola Luttringhaus, director of Winston-Salem's alban elved dance company, slipped into a $10 suit she bought at a local thrift store and performed "Lux Eterna", or Variations on Reality. At one point during their hour long performance, she and her dance partner, Andrea Lieske, climbed into rock climbing harnesses attached to the 9-foot ceiling, curled their bare feet around the rope and defied gravity as they danced on air.

Meanwhile, the crowd at PS211-mostly older, all white- craned their enecks to see what Luttringhaus and Lieske would do next. They weren't dissappointed. As inductrial noise created by sound artist Rhan Small poured from the speakers, Lieske walked onto the wooden floor wrapped in Christmas lights.

"This has been fantastic," Susan Carson, a Winston-Salem resident since 1973, said minutes after the Wednesday night performance."It gets people involved who hadn't been involved before." ...

...Chumbley (head of the W-S arts council), his 25 member arts council staff and the festival's fleet of volunteers pulled it off and created a festival that should make the entire Triad proud.

I mean, after alban elved performance's last week at PS211, it was a nice surprise to hear someone say, "Oh my God, is this Winston-Salem?" Believe it. It is. Hallelujah."

10-10-02
Winston-Salem, Journal
review (excerpt) by Susan Gilmor

"...In one of the most mezmerizing segments, Karola Luttringhaus conveys the frightening and confusion of a schozoid episode, wrapping her limbs around her torso until she forms a knot with her body.

Luttringhaus, the founder of the company and choreographer of lux eterna, takes on a distinctly masculine role here, with Andrea Lieske as her female counterpart.

The two dance with incedible athleticism, balancing on each others bodies and contorting themselves as they dangle from ropes and bounce on bungie cords.

At one point, Lieske assumes the air of a caged jungle cat- wary, reacting sharply to noises around her. She prowls with a sensual grace, her hips suspended from a rope that holds her back as she takes menacing leaps towards the audience. From time to time the audience hears poetry being read aloud as Luttringhaus, clad in a man's suit and tie, scribbles on a piece of paper...

Could this be a comment on the maddening frustrations of the creative process? Whatever it is, lux eterna is unsettling stuff. Abstract in the extreme, but very compelling. And always hypnotically beautiful."

About "Lux Eterna II"
05-30-03
By Ken Keuffel, Journal Arts Reporter Winston-Salem Journal
(excerpts)

" Schizophrenia isn't exactly the easiest subject to explore on stage. But LUX ETERNA II ,...,illuminates a disturbing, complex and mysterious condition with grace, insight and imagination. In LUX, these (delusions and hallucinations) take a multitude of forms that forcefully confront the eye and the ear.

...oddly beautiful.

LUX showcases a masterful synthesis of many media,..."

08-13-03
By Michael Huie, Artview Editor Winston-Salem Journal
(excerpts)

The alban elved dance company has been known to defy description. They've also been known to defy gravity. Perhaps the company's niche is the lack of one. Alban elved does have signatures in it's content use of technology and the dancers' use of ropes and flying equipment. But the subject matter for each piece is strikingly different from the last one.

The condition of schizophrenia can be difficult to grasp, but Luttringhaus did extensive research and created a piece that presents a schizophrenics alternate view of reality. The result offers imagery that is at times startling, funny and even beautiful.