Animal Lost
by Yossi Berg and Oded Graf
From the press:
"It is so deeply vital and tragicomic…Six dancers wiggle into extreme technical
perfection broken, beaten, kissing and flirt, longing for love gasping for something as
wilting flowers for water…and there seems to be sadness, joy, laughter and crying
underway. It is precisely the great force in ANIMAL LOST that dance shows how
close the emotions are to each other. Are we really going back in evolution? See
ANIMAL LOST, get entertained uplifted and find the answer"
Marie Brakchi, TerpsiChore
"Remarkable dancing, this bold and bizarre work offers both nonsense and
sensuality, ridiculous situations and undeniable truth. Berg and Graf have developed
an international reputation for creating dances that are provocative and powerful.
“Animal Lost,” is no exception. It takes risks - and most of them work - as it tackles
the loaded subjects with humor and a focused intensity…"
"The partnering is brilliantly odd. Their urgency seems infused by a sort of animal
desire - raw and blind and confused…there is room for a strange beauty in the reality
that is revealed about the way they - we - come together"
Anne Morris, World Dance Reviews U.S.A
"A gripping dance piece…the speech is wacky yet astute, and as intricately
choreographed as the strikingly original movement, by turn brutal, then diaphanous,
but always gorgeous…Yossi and Oded remind us of the unique possibilities of
dance...a gem like Animal Lost makes every effort worthwhile…"
Jemma Bicknell and Jennifer Teale, Londonist
"Animal Lost with its expansive gestures and energetic movements is a thoughtprovoking piece that serves as a big step forward for the choreographers. In this
piece they introduce an innovative language with deep and meaningful nuances...
Excellent solo performance... Moving, even painful singing...they have a long and
promising future" Zvi Goren, Habama
"Oded and Yossi aim to bring real life into their dance performances, and with this
one they have already succeeded…go and buy your ticket for this performance
because it will trigger something in you. Whether it is good or bad, happy or sad, and
whether you leave the theatre annoyed or overjoyed and enlightened, I am sure this
will be money well spent; and you can say that you’ve seen two of the most
promising young choreographers in contemporary dance today"
Mette Windberg Baarup, The Copenhagen Post
"Their amazing and surprising technique have been known and recognized
worldwide. What they have to say, they say it bluntly, frankly, in a very physical, with
an original language, colorful, unusual and dynamic. And when they affect our
society, it can be bad, very bad. But it's also what makes their strength"
J. M. Gourreau, Critiphotodanse Paris
"The opening night is explosive…the energy is crazy, it can switch at any time on the
side of the touch or brutality" Smaranda Olcese, Toutleculture
"Like in their previous works they create a minimalist, rockiest dance theater
exploring personal and unique movement vocabulary. The subject is presented in an
original and impressive way including intelligence and witty use of text. This is indeed
a refreshing and well executed show…" Shelly Kling, Globes
"The performance is full of astonishing dance technique, pop music mixed with sad
longing songs, sadness mixed with happiness ,screams with laughter and most of all
coupled with powerful dance. Animal Lost turned out to be a powerful and
provocative performance, it made me think about most of all human needs, one of
them being longing for love…" Olga Macz, Time Out London
"Bizarrely entertaining and energetically performed by the talented dancers, each
with individuality and personality in their style. Relationships are physically explored,
challenged, developed and broken with reflections of urban and pop culture…"
Bjarke Gunslev, KultuNaut
"A truly refreshing insightful creative evening that will make you question your very
own values. The dark humor evoked strong messages of alternate identities of what
we choose to reveal to others. This struck me as an extremely honest and thoughtprovoking concept. A strong movement vocabulary complimented both the idea and
the dancers. The work was full of vigor and force, at times provocative and at others
poignant. This simply justifies the company's successful reputation, having performed
throughout the world. Finally Londoners have been luckily enough to experience the
successful work too…" Jessica Wilson TheatreFix
"One of the most outstanding performances…This dance performance provokes to
doubt on the authenticity and importance of human identity...The performance is full
of contrast of grotesque, dynamics, reality and illusion"
Kristina Poskute, 7md / Cultural weekly
"Most painful and challenging performance…rough dance, music and texts were
embraced by a surrealistic style…definitely complex performance"
Audrone Meskauskaite, Bernardinai.lt
"Especially this year caught the eye of the festival participants, without exception,
very high level of mastery…and the message the dance sent touches everyone"
" Enrika Striogaitė kulturpolis.lt
"Graf and Berg are a refreshing breath of the dance scene with their dynamic and
imaginative dance...The technical level of dancers is high and they all were extremely
well chosen…" Vibeke Wern, Berlingske
"Yossi and Oded always surprise with their personal dance language…you always
find something special, not conventional in their show, creative ideas and performed
excellent…" The Marker
"The choreography of Yossi and Oded as elegantly exploits the mesh alienation to
create almost surreal and sensual images…and they are good and precise, these
dancers…" Henrik Lyding, Dansehallerne, København
"If there is a team that can make an animal striptease simultaneously sexy, scary,
and meaningful, it’s these guys. Outrageous, bizarre but with plenty of wit and
poignant moments of insight…" Brian Schaefer, My Two Left Feet
"Animal Lost is filled with unexpected actions, striking images and some really
gorgeous dancing" Kate Dobbs Ariail, CVNC
"A dynamic team of two choreographers have been collected…It has brought a
colorful, imaginative and above all crazy humorous piece out of…it consists of a
variety of beautiful, entertaining and sometimes crazy meetings between the
dancers. Yet you will be maintained by the hypnotic gravity as the dancers'
monotonous hip twist. Crazy good invented. Just sit back and be overwhelmed by the
beautiful choreography and talented dancers..."
Benjamin Enzenberg, Byenkalder.dk
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