cynthia gonzález
Reviews in english newspapers
"The
dancers started their contact improvisation hidden behind stripes of
pink and blue fabric fixed to the banister...Supporting each other,
the dancers elevated their bodies while remaining in close
contact...Later they separated and moved to other galleries. There
they chased each other, staged a fight, played games.“
„ ..At
the end they came together again, with gestures that one might read
as regret and forgiveness. They raised their arms, bent over the
banister and stared into free space as firebirds prepared to take
off.“
„ To
catch the dancers and the pianist on one photo was not easy. On the
left you see Johnny Gonzalez playing in a gallery on one side of the
atrium while watching the moves of the dancers who perform in a
gallery across the atrium. Johnny deliberately restrained the
rhythmical drive in his jazz/Latin fusion, known to his fans in
Dresden from performances in the Goethe Institute and elsewhere.
Instead he presented two emotive preludes in rubato with dramatic
arpeggios, romantic phrases and repetitive chromatic riffs in a
minimalistic tradition. While plying he constantly watched the
dancers, giving them enough freedom for their improvisation. When the
dance asked for silence he stopped playing. The final movement of his
second piece was remarkable. Minimalistic structures and slightly
dissonant chords alternated and merged. A tango melody popped up only
to be displaced by a crisp chromatic pattern played on the rightmost
keys of the piano. The piece resolved to a set of quartal chords
reminiscent of impressionism. Johnny played them repeatedly with the
pedal pressed, enriching the sound by the resonation of strings of
the keys he did not hit.“
„ Cynthia began her performance with a recitation, standing beside the stage in a cone of light while clouds of artificial fog were passing around her. Her speech, in which she addressed dragons, fairies, nymphs and other mythological creatures, was a condolence in memory of a unicorn who recently died.“
„ ...The dance was about her hopeless fight with injury and pain. She tried to push the burden away by wobbling her shoulders and shaking her extremities. Sometimes the pain weakened, but after a short relieve it came back in an even stronger wave, forcing the poor animal to the floor.“
„
...The gurgling noise that Cynthia made in her throat and chest, imitating the death struggle, was so strong and realistic that I first thought it came from a recording of a deer or horse in agony...At the end, the suffering creature crawled out of the stage and remained lying on the floor in a corner. The lights went off and the stage turned dark. We still heard the rattle of death. After a while it was replaced by noisy breathing, which turned weaker and weaker. Then it stopped. Silence...After such a piece you want to sit quietly for a while before you feel like talking.“
karlovsky.net: Momentos Vividos
„...Cynthia's
Momentos Vividos are memories of her childhood in Bolivia. In
contrast to Lazaro's reflections she is explicit and verbal. The text
she recites while dancing is a masterpiece of prose on its own. In a
plain and candid language (in German) she reflects on her childhood
in Bolivia, the nature she loved, sounds of the jungle, the parrots,
frogs and giant ants that once colonized their home. She talks about
her family, the poverty they suffered, about her playing truant. She
recalls her father killing tarantulas with a torch and the crackling
sounds the creatures made while perishing. Krishan Zeiger accompanies
her sensitively on snare drums, then on cymbals and for a while even
on an acoustic guitar.“
„The
last three photos were taken during Cynthia's and Lazaros's
improvised duet. When two great dancers interact, what can you
expect? They started in the opposite edges of the stage (actually
Lazaro entered the stage singing) and approached each other
carefully, circled around each other like animals preparing for a
fight. While Krishan was drumming, they lifted each other's body in
contact improvisation, encountered in a tender tete-a-tete and
finally climbed a wall. A long applause.“
Teresa Hackel: kleines solo f. jemd.: “...A sharp arrow formed
out of her stretched arms, caught on the photo above, is typical
of Hackel's solos...I particularly enjoyed the “constrained” part
with a number of unusual poses and contortions with muscles locked
in tension.”
Constance Lüttich: “Eiszeit”: “...her left foot sticks firmly
to the ground, while the right foot moves back and forth in a
monotonous rhythm. While the upper body develops movements speeding
up from slow to furious, the right foot keeps its steady pace.
The contrast between the two tempi is a major idea here...Lüttich's
choreography exploits the full scale of speed and space usage...”
Teresa Hackel and Constance Lüttich in “Call no Call” by Cynthia
Gonzalez:
“...It is dance theater about interactions between two women,
which take place on and around five red chairs. Different kinds
of relationships from friendly to hostile are played in short
scenes, formally connected by the use of chairs which serve to
increase distance and create isolation. The choreographer focuses
on the middle part of the friend-foe scale, limiting battles and
avoiding passion...Gabriele Gorgas wrote in Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten
that the piece was not enough of a challenge for the dancers and
she would prefer removing the chairs. As much as I respect her
judgments, I disagree with her at this point. The primary focus
in this piece is on the way how stirrings of the mind are distilled
into movement, rather than on the novelty or esthetical appeal
of the movement itself. The transformation of expectation, disturbance
and misunderstanding in the interaction is what I found most interesting
and innovative here. The chairs are an integral and necessary
part of the story, because fundamental scenes like the ones depicted
above could not be achieved without them...with this piece Cynthia
Gonzalez fulfilled the last requirement to call a Master degree
her own. The dance audience in Dresden is curious as to which
direction she will follow and particularly which base she will
choose on her further path.”
karlovsky.net: Bolivianische Bilder
"Bolivian Images", presented at TANzherbst 2007, is a major work of the bolivian/Dresden choreographer...Cynthia Gonzalez as the artistic director and choreographer...blended dance with visual media and music. She structured the piece into three independent parts, which share a common theme of the hardship, the legends and the beauty of life in rural Bolivia"...
karlovsky.net: Nicht Fallen!! und
tanznetz.de
"Inventive Interaction of dance with live percussion and vibrant but precisely executed passages are the major strengths of "Nicht Fallen!!!". Cynthia Gonzalez enhanced her choreography with a carefully selected dose of dance theater, not too large to divert the focus from the dance but sufficient as an impetus for those who look for a story behind it. She offered fragmentary glimpses into the psychology of her characters rather than a narrative, encouraging the audience to use their imagination. All seats in the Projekttheater were occupied, which rarely happens to modern dance, demonstrating that Cynthia has succeeded in gaining her audience and acquired a frim standing in Dresden`s highly competetive dance scene."
"Sublime interpretation. The fifth Festival, September in Santa
Cruz, organized by the Superior Institute for the Arts, finalized
in a majestic show of dance by Cynthia González. The dancer interpreted
distinct styles, from flamenco to jazz and bolero. She also choreographed
pieces for the students of the Institute accompanied on piano
by her father, Johnny González, who interpreted various national
themes like Niña Camba...
The González's shined in their presentation at the AECI. They gave a luxurious performance, one hast to say it...For her part, Cynthia made it clear as to why she is so applauded in distinct stages of the world. She danced showing a radical attitude with each of her movements...The hard plate from Johnny González was Johnny's interpretation of one of the most hailed jazz themes: Summertime. The composition shined impeccably in González's fingers...
"Cynthia Gonzalez…composed a dance theatre piece inspired from scientific tests on plants in a research lab. The story is simple, at no moment does the audience loose the red thread. It’s about scientific laboratory tests in which a female scientist grows, treats and examines plants in pots. Despite the inherent naivety of the story and its underlying entertaining tone, it was worth while to see the show for me. First of all, it was a nice idea to hide the dancers bodies in large plant pots (one wonders how they could fit in them at all) and to let only the heads, or an arm or foot appear simultaneously at a time. During the second half of the evening the dancers then danced more fully and the bizarre figures they created on the floor, which one could interpret in the beginning as an imitation of herbal sprouts, were especially worth seeing. The dancers (especially Nicole Meier) did not neglect their miming skills and the music played by Dittmar Trebeljahr added much to the lively atmosphere. Who enjoys seeing dance theatre and does not necessarily expect a highlight of modern art definitely got his money’s worth out of that evening."
"Wachau. More fervent and spirited than the…"Tango Andorrinha Sextett"…the three women knew already some time about each other and about their love for the Spanish flair in dance, music and song. This ultimately lead to an artistic collaboration. The joining of forces was over all a clever decision, for the interaction of dance, voice and guitar gave birth to a fascinating perfection…The true experience lies in the concentrated performance of all three. When Cynthia Gonzalez builds up a nearly unbearable body tension, when the guitar of Elke Jahn reverberates carefully on the smallest detail of the dance and when the warm voice of Kathryn Asman joins the harmony of guitar and dance effortlessly- one instinctively held one’s breath."
"Cynthia opened the show with her award-winning solo "Ojos de miel." The Bolivian dancer who gained her dance experience in the USA graduated from the Palucca School (Dresden) with a diploma in choreography. An active member of the Dresden dance scene, she showed an Etude full of spirit on the theme of love and its side effects. A lonesome woman in a red dress makes attempts to flee with clenched fists and angled elbows in an imaginary narrow room suggesting a cage or an apartment. Fury, deception and hope alternate in a well dosed dynamic of expression. The longing for love is sensible without being sentimental or poignant. Nothing new, but convincing."
"Cynthia Gonzalez's new piece ("Marathon") has the substance to become a nothing less wanted fast-seller and public favorite. The ladies’ trio, with its confident and happy gait moving along at a breathable pace and with a home song ready to flute from their migrant throats, came at the generously calculated distance of 42.2 kilometers to such a comical stop that one was exhausted with them from laughing. Such kind of humor fits, jiggles and has air…"
"Cynthia Gonzalez possesses strong expressiveness and versatility. She renders tragedy as well as comedy."
"The elements and their ingredients mix and mingle, keep their independence and are still adequate partners. Such fair balance between dance and music is relatively rarely achieved at improvisation evenings … concept, improvisation and choreography were presented by Cynthia Gonzalez in collaboration with tristan productions…She works together with her father Johnny Gonzalez and his musicians in several and multifaceted projects.. Here again you may experience the balanced harmony of both art forms and appreciate at the same time the convincing authority of the music’s spirited soloist virtuosity… Cynthia Gonzalez’ ironic choreography "Los tres fumadores" on three simpleminded smoking fellows, naturally showing off the paunchy macho, closed the evening with a slice of parody causing avalanches of laughter."
"Much more spicy to see was "Habitantes de las Sombras" from Cynthia Gonzalez…in an inventive way she played with images and clich�s of south America… movements of bundled energy, grace and self-irony, a pleasure to watch."
"But the best work in the Out of Order Program resulted in being, Ojos de miel, an exercise of the memory that Cynthia Gonzalez-choreographer and interpreter-executes with a mixture of desperate energy and hermetic resignation that makes her transcend the archknown language of central-european dance and project herself as a creator of heartrending humanity with very own merits."
"Blues, jazz and contemporary dance next to Johnny and Cynthia
Gonzalez:
Johnny Gonzalez’s name has remained inscribed in the history of
national music as an impeller and central figure of jazz in Bolivia.
His daughter Cynthia has inherited the artistic talent and at
the age of 21 and is probably the only Bolivian that shines in
the world of dance in the exterior."
"Cynthia Gonzalez will perform in the Casa de la Cultura. At the age of 17 she was chosen to dance for one of the most famous choreographer’s in New York, (Twyla Tharp), she worked professionally with three German companies; her teachers are of the opinion that Cynthia Gonzalez’s impetus and creativity reach a level that is uncommon."
"...Two dancers caught her attention powerfully. One of them was Cynthia Gonzalez. She fulfilled Twyla’s desire to find an extraordinary mover and showed such a proper talent, like a rebelliousness, of only being part of a group."
"The latest person to recognize Cynthia’s gift is world-renowned
modern dance choreographer Twyla Tharp, who last week selected
her to join Tharp!, a two-year international touring project that
begins this fall."
Cynthia Argos said: "Cynthia was taken particularly because she
is a very unique dancer-she fulfilled Twyla’s desire to find an
extraordinary mover..."