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VOILÀ ! - Press
20-21.01.2007 KÖLNER STADTANZEIGER (Nicole Strecker: A life summed up in dance)
(...) In the best sequence of the evening Olza shows the body as a decrepit machine, creaking and groaning. Amazing how Olza’s every movement manages to create a self-deprecating distance: He imitates classical ballet as woodenly as any layperson, only to take us by surprise with his sudden virtuosity. He would appear to be quoting from his own past in his dance sequences caricaturing e.g. the pathos of his years with Maurice Béjart, the great theatrical choreographer of modern dance: Voilà!, Olza takes stock of his life in dance to date creating many great, and very personal moments.
19.01.2007 RHEINISCHE POST (Regine Müller: Voilà! An evening on aging)
(...) While the guests are involved in a witty and clever discussion performer Philippe Olza sneaks in and undermines the intellectual debate. He crawls sideways under the carpet and remains almost still. Then he lets rip with his own virtuoso dance commentary on the subject of aging – absurd humour, acute observation. Struggling with the red carpet and a vacuum cleaner, Olza speaks of infirmity. Joint pains and desire to be active, loneliness and obstinacy: An absolute must.
August 2006 OKINAWA NEWS (Sumiko Kobayashi: A Swiss performer, a carpet and a vacuum cleaner land in Okinawa)
(...) Dancer Philippe Olza arrived from the opposite end of the world with his vacuum cleaner and red carpet to perform VOILÀ ! [trans. "Sôjiki-Otoko" (the man with the vacuum cleaner)] in Okinawa. Unusual dance-theatre combining talk show and a humorous, insightful and surprising portrayal of the life of a slightly eccentric man. (...) Olza’s contemporary dance captures the audience transporting us with clever clumsiness to a strange, tragi-comic world while all the while displaying an attitude of enthusiasm and sincerity towards life. Following a breathtaking run the dancer breaks for coffee; Cup in hand he addresses the audience in perfect Japanese which is immediately greeted by involuntary laughter and amazement. Olza achieves subtle effects with a minimum of props and his dance, sensitive and powerful in one, moves us deeply. A little jewel.
June 2006 SCÈNES MAGAZINE des arts du spectacle/ Brussels (Antoine Pickels: One whole Sunday)
(...) Philippe Olza appears towards the end of the discussion, well built, although showing signs of aging. He slides gently under the red carpet, where the discussion had taken place and … waits. A 300 strong audience seemed to silently raise its voice "Are we finally going to see some dance ?" Olza was ready with his answer: His moving performance probed the physical limits of his body in every respect; with a burlesque efficiency all too rarely seen in dance where quality so rarely occurs hand in hand with humour. Above all, however, this performance, an interplay of indolence, exhaustion, complex characterisation and the neurotic wish to be liked and to seduce finally expresses something which is also of significance to those over 40.
13.02.2006 GIORNALE DEL POPOLO (MAN.B.: Thoughts on aging – positive irony from Olza)
(...) In mid-life Philippe Olza finds himself on a red carpet wondering during a short coffee break whether he should bemoan his lost youth or continue on his way with a smile. The Swiss dancer and choreographer performed his latest creation "Voilà !" in the Teatro Nuovstudiofoce last Friday evening. A performance dealing in ambiguity whose quite special structure coupled with the dancer’s expressiveness captures the audience’s attention.
26.09.2005 BASLER ZEITUNG (David Wohnlich: Eloquent Aging and Danced Time)
(...) Philippe Olza stages the issue of aging in the form of a podium discussion and dance performance. A surprisingly good combination. (...) Olza’s dance lends form and profundity to assumed commonplaces. As an ageing man himself he knows quite well what the preceding discussion was about. He immerses himself in its deeper meaning. Olza’s spectrum of scenes on ageing is charged with humour and gentle wisdom - from the difficulty of finding a comfortable position to dealing with aching joints and finally, infirmity which Olza depicts with well-nigh acrobatic measures when he develops ways for those strong body parts to help their weakened counterparts. Thus "Voilà !" astutely delivers a pleasant shock, demonstrating that dance as an art form can express something which language can only imply.
05.07.2005 L'EXPRESS (Yvonne Tissot: The body ages, voilà !)
(...) Swiss choreographer, Philippe Olza, who is over 40… invited M.P. and local councillor for Neuchatel Valérie Garbani and sports physician Gilbert Villard to a podium discussion chaired by Alexandre Caldara, journalist with "L’Express" and "L’Impartial". The 3 well known and respected personalities spend around 40 minutes in a discussion on the aging body, in the background a blazing red carpet. Then the dancer dressed in a dinner jacket sneaks in slowly on tiptoe sliding under the carpet as if he were in bed : With a cheeky gesture he makes it clear that it is time the guests made way for the dancer’s personal opinion on the issue. Olza, once a dancer with Béjart, who also trained with Dimitri reemerges from under the carpet dressed casually in shorts and check shirt. Vacuum cleaner in hand Olza engages in a passionate struggle with the immense red carpet, a struggle which alternates between tenderness, meditativeness, viciousness and despair. This continues until the vacuum cleaner (which doubles as coffeemaker), a symbol for all those anti-aging remedies, is cast aside and the artist accepts his new skin, monstrous wrinkles and all. Olza’s performance, uniting theatre, pantomime and contemporary dance is breathtakingly virtuose. The music drawing on various vacuum cleaner sounds creates an atmosphere which is both nostalgic and frightening. Olza’s universe is as rich as it is absurd. A courageous undertaking.
August 2004 L'AIR D'AVIGNON (Marie Dulcamara: Philippe Olza back in Avignon for the "twenty fifth hour")
(...) The Avignon festival has once more enlivened the city with its rich programme of theatre, dance and music events. New festival directors Hortense Archambault and Vincent Baudriller may well be pleased. (...) Philippe Olza, the Swiss-Belgian dancer, actor and choreographer has already been well received in Avignon on two previous occasions: 1988 with Genet's "Le Funambule" as part of the In programme and 2000 in the Musée Calvet - with "Madame Monsieur" under the auspices of "Avignon European City of Culture". This year Olza presented the first stage of his solo dance project "CONTACT - première étape" in the Benoît XII salle: CONTACT, an encounter between a dancer and a vacuum cleaner, performed with great élan and biting humour by Olza, was greeted by extended applause. We await the continuation of this promising project with great interest.
24.07.2004 LA PRESSE D’AVIGNON (Werner Kolk: Welcome to the Machine)
(...) The 58th Avignon Festival is truly a new beginning. One comes away with the refreshing impression that contemporary theatre is not a self-congratulatory game but deals with the real world in a highly relevant way. We can only laud the new Festival director and this year's "associated artist" Thomas Ostermeier. Their introduction of "La vingt-cinquième heure (the twenty fifth hour) in the Benoît XII chamber was certainly one of the festival’s most innovative ideas, this year’s find" (Libération, 19th July 2004). A space for experiment, a laboratory of ideas, each night at one a.m. the stage is placed at the disposal of a particular artist or group.
(...) On the evening of the 17th/18th of July the Belgian-Swiss performer Philippe Olza presented "CONTACT", the first stage in a new solo dance choreography: man meets vacuum cleaner. Initially one is curious, and finally enthralled by the accomplishment of the dancer. The set is simple, consisting of three elements: a man, a square of red carpet, a yellow industrial vacuum cleaner. While the audience takes their seats the man sleeps under the carpet. He slowly awakens, stands and switches on the vacuum cleaner. Making contact…welcome
to the machine. The man strives (but what does he strive for?) to clean his territory; his opposite number - his only "contact" the machine. One is reminded of Francis Bacon, of paintings in which the (human) figure seeks to escape from a structure in which it is imprisoned. The action on stage therefore becomes a metaphor for our situation: the loneliness of the modern human being caught up in a cocoon. The vacuum cleaner finally transforms itself into an all-purpose machine, from camping equipment to a means of communication with a virtual external world. Philippe Olza speaks of our fate, our tragi-comic modern times. We aspired to happiness and ended up cleaning away dust - a symbol of our death. The performance is very funny, however it is ourselves we are laughing at. With great technical mastery Philippe Olza ranges through the entire palette of dance theatre, combining words and movement. We are reminded of Susanne Linke's encounter with a bath tub; Olza's performance is, however, so unique since he foregoes a technique of distancing alienation, working rather with subtle shifts through which a banal scene acquires an extraordinary meaning. In this he resembles Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton. At the end of the performance the dancer circles his territory - the red carpet - with ever increasing speed - like a heavenly body in its orbit, until he finally catapults himself through the exit... or is he swallowed up by emptiness? "CONTACT - première étape" by Philippe Olza. A glorious success.
22.07.2004 LE MAGUE (Jacques Chaussepied: Seen at "In" Stardust)
(...) Stretched out on the red carpet like a common dustmite or literally fleeing his vacuum cleaner, Philippe Olza multiplies points of view, to say the least. A funny bird cutting hither and thither through space with unforeseeable jerks before boiling an egg or making coffee on the vacuum cleaner motor to the point where it is no longer clear which party determines the course of the action. Each object is deconstructed and reconstructed, including sound itself, imitated for a moment by the man who dances…and then runs in circles with an irresistible rendering of a radio-taxi (with accent) in the streets of Brussels. Or a curious Swiss sightseer. The universe has been shaken up and "released in chaos", time for a pleasing and Dadaist pirouette. Beneath the enjoyable oddities impeccable and discreet technique. Following his training at the Scuola Teatro Dimitri in Switzerland followed by the Mudra in Brussels with Maurice Béjart Olza has pursued an independent career for the last number of years performing in venues from Avignon to Oshogbo (Nigeria), from Rome to Paris. His variation on man and the vacuum cleaner was featured at the Avignon Festival 2004 as part of "La Vingt-cinquième heure" (the twenty fifth hour).
20.07.2004 LA PRESSE (Eliot Dardy: "La vingt-cinquième heure" (The twenty fifth hour): "CONTACT" by Philippe Olza in Benoît-XII)
(...) Philippe Olza, Swiss-Belgian with an extremely varied background and training, worked as an acrobat, a revue dancer, ballet dancer before turning his attention to choreography. Today Olza brings us "CONTACT - première étape" (first phase) following the general movement in the dance arts towards a broader understanding of theatre. Olza enlisted Carlotta Sagna and Robert Suermondt to accompany the project, contributing their view from the outside, so to speak. Olza continues to approach dance with a contemporary choreography which is highly personal, closing the gap between performer and audience in an astonishing manner. "CONTACT - première étape" responds with both relevance and sensitivity to the demands of "La vingt-cinquième heure" (the twenty fifth hour), debunking those tendencies which would have us establish clear "contacts" between theatrical production and the audience of tomorrow. In accordance with these expectations Olza’s performance sketches the relations and choreographic tribulation of a Keatonian character and a vacuum cleaner which would not be out of place in "mon oncle" ’s house. The spectator feels strangely moved by the relationship, at once lively and hilarious between this poetic humanoid and a practical inert, just as liable to devour as to serve him. This is touchingly funny and inconclusive. We await further developments.
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