Epi Pha Nic VI-VII

“EPI PHA NIC is a series of 7
performances inspired by a 500-year-old human child, with sun-tanned, parchment
skin and feather-adornments, who broke through the ice atop Navado Ampato in
Peru, in 1995. Once frozen in time and space, ritually mummified with the elements of the Earth, and now
manifest with a timeless beauty which reveals the power and mobility of the Earth” – Kitt
Johnson.
To see a performance by the
Danish choreographer and dancer Kitt Johnson is to enter another world, a world
beyond. With extreme precision and a unique sensitivity she creates universes
that are utterly mesmerising and entrancing.
All the elements of theatre
(beautiful, live music, a subtle lighting design, delicate costumes) support
her minimal movements, which she performs with the utmost concentration. The
results are startling images, fascinating, meditative tableaux-vivants in which
thought, soul and spirit seem to materialise.
Her performances breathe a buto
atmosphere. But unlike many of her European colleagues who try to imitate this
Japanese spirit, she succeeds in embodying it. Film director Hisaya Iwasa
writes, “I think that the best dancing originates from the beauty in the
movement of the body, in order to create a world liberated from the body. Kitt
Johnson’s dancing approaches that.”
She has performed the series in
Scandinavia, Italy, Germany, and in the Far East, receiving the following
comments from critics: “A grand dame who changes into something spider-like,
dangerous… a number of striking transformations and visual riddles… a sensation
of floating time” (Berlingske Tidende). “Never have I seen the body
metamorphosed and changed as here… excellent” (Ekstra
Bladet).

Performed by: Kitt
Johnson; in collaboration with: Jette
Bastian; live music: Jacob Kirkegaard & Sture
Ericson.

Supported by The Danish
Theatre Council
In collaboration
with Plesni Teater Ljubljana