souffle

Swiss Dance Award 2015 as « an outstanding current dance work » of the period 2013-2015

"A striking, exquisitely composed choreographic work that embodies both the lightness and transience of being and the existential awareness of a great shared movement in breath, voice and dance. A captivating magic runs through this choreographic and musical production, imbued with a sensitive dance quality. ‘souffle’ perhaps symbolises and stands for the many years Brigitte Meuwly and Antonio Bühler have spent working together, for their inexhaustibility. DA MOTUS! is highly admired internationally as a company that again and again opens up new and original gateways to dance, especially with its outdoor projects."

(Brigitta Luisa Merki, member of the Swiss federal Dance Jury, Swiss Dance Awards 2015)

Dance and music work together in osmosis, counterpoint and complicity. Thus, bodies and voices are attracted and repelled, stimulating exchanges and emotions to reach the ephemeral realms, where everything is dissolved, where breath leaves its earthly form to regain its unknowable origin.

Brigitte Meuwly and Antonio Bühler were invited by Philippe Savoy, director of the Chamber Chorus Zeugma, to create an artistic collaboration, inspired by the local (Fribourg), choral tradition. They have risen to the challenge of uniting contemporary choreography and vocal creation based on an original score, composed by Caroline Charrière, around the fundamental role that breath represents for both modes of expression : dance and song.

The dancers start to move their bodies into a symbolic journey of life, brought alive by their breathing, the essence of our existence. Breath is incarnated into the dancers and finds its resonance and vitality as it courses through their bodies.

Spontaneous harmonies and orchestrated tensions emerge, generating bizarre images and sometimes provoking ambiguous sensations. The ethereal and celestial quality of the singing essentially clashes with the carnal and sensual character of the dance. « souffle » suggests to us through certain of its movements, that it is through the sexual union that the spirit is able to incarnate.

"Gelungen ist auch die enorme Symbolkraft zum Schluss der ausdrucksstarken Tanzdarbietung... Das Publikum ist beeindruckt und spendet als Dank langanhaltenden Beifall." (Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, 06.02.2018, Hans-Werner Kemmling)

"Faszinierend an dieser durchkomponierten Choreografie ist besonders die Spannung, die zwischen individuellen und synchronosierten Bewegungen herrscht, vor allem wenn die durcheinanderfliessenden und rollenden Körper sich zu einem lebendigen Organismus vereinen. (...). Eine abwechslungsreiche von Witz und Action geprägte Choreografie..." (Der Landbote, 08.05.2017, Helmut Dworschak)

"Die Vorführung entwickelte mit jedem Augenblick eine immer stärker werdende Dynamik, die einen wie ein Strudel in das Geschehen, dem dargestellten Leben hineinzog. Die Fusion zwischen der rythmischen Atmung, der Stimmen sowie, die sich dazu im Einklang bewegenden Körper, faszinierten … Die Performance von Da Motus ! ist mit Sicherheit eine, die mir noch lange im Gedächtnis bleiben wird." (Esther Marie Merz, attachée culturelle de l'Ambassade de Suisse à Lima et critique d'art, 12.08.2014)

"The concert was just wonderful! I was deeply touched by the powerful display of technique and creativity (…). Local audiences are not very outgoing in terms of appreciation but last night they simply gave up to recognize with enthusiasm and sincerity the virtues of souffle." (Fernando Torres, Directeur de l'Instituto Cultural Peruano Norteamericano ICPNA, 21.06.2014)

"Un movimiento que te deja sin aliento." (El Comercio, 20.06.2014, Adriana Garavito)

"La beauté de la chorégraphie tient beaucoup aux déplacements subtils, aux petits ensembles, aux entrées et sorties, au va-et-vient entre le groupe et le solo, entre le contact et la séparation. Quand les mouvements deviennent plus énergiques et endurants, ce procédé de va-et-vient confine au rituel fascinant." (La Liberté, 15.01.2013, Elisabeth Haas)