"In the piece, the bodies tell of the potential states in the oppressive climatic conditions of this kind. Realism morphs into the dreamlike. The choreography generates associative translations, popular images and emotional involvements, somewhere between Frida Kahlo and brief bursts of Asian movement art, accompanied by a collage of “world music” from Björk to KODO and Youssou N’Dour, occasionally overlaid by the recurring dissonance of a tooting horn, countering any all too easy effect. Goldin strikes a mood of heavy melancholy when the woman in the red dress tries in vain, between slow creeping and frenetic activity, to find her place on the chair. (...)"
Marcus Termeer, taz nrw, 30 November 2005
"With his new work “Calima”, which had its first performance in Münster, Daniel Goldin has created a thrillingly impressionistic dance evening. Free of any heavy load of meaning, the eight-person ensemble simply takes joy in the lightness and colourfulness of life and movement.
“Calima” is the name for a dry haze which – as the programme notes assure us – can hang for days like a pall over southern Spain. However, what Daniel Goldin, head of Münster’s Dance Theatre, offered us under this title on the small stage of the City Theatre was neither dry nor oppressive, but sparkling with joie de vivre and sheer pleasure in movement.
While the somewhat hazy sky, which the viewer can see between two smooth but lopsided houses with slanting window slits and oversized doors (stage: Matthias Dietrich), does darken occasionally, on the space between, ornamented by a flowering agave, there are constant comings and goings.
It is a long while since Goldin managed to shape the entrances and exits of his four male and female dancers so naturally. In the alternation of solo, duo and group dances, one gets the feeling of watching a complete whole made up of pointillist impressions, without no compulsion to think in depth about the meaning of each detail.
It is also a long while since Goldin achieved such a natural synthesis of dance and music. Without illustrating the music, which comes from the whole world, though primarily South America, together with Finland and the Far East, the dance expression nevertheless sticks close to it. The nearness is so great that on several occasions one imagines hearing the ensemble singing to the music. Only now and again, the sound of a foghorn sounds, pulling the movements back to the floor and reminding us of the haze-fraught title.
In his work with the ensemble, Goldin appears to have achieved the artistic feat of catering to the individuality of his dancers, without pandering to them. He provides dainty Eun-Sik Park with her expressive gestures, for example, with a Japanese song sung by a fragile female voice, while athletic Tsutomu Ozeki is also given something Far Eastern, but with a clear kungfu-like touch; to the accompaniment of delicate sounds, introverted Jennifer Ocampo Monsalve can try to gain her hold on a chair, while Cassiano Garcia, in white suit and Panama hat (costumes: Gaby Sogl), is allowed to play the macho.
On the stage, Goldin conjures up such a wealth of colourful, lively pictures that the ban on photography becomes decidedly irksome. What remains, therefore, is the pleasure in watching a dance piece unfold, whose scenes are each as lightly touched as the cotton balls and white feathers that blow across the stage at the end. “Calima” does not aim at a recognition effect in every detail, but it does aim at conveying pleasure in movement, and succeeds in doing so.
After a good seventy-five minutes, there was enthusiastic applause for the whole ensemble, with additional foot stamping for Daniel Golding and his direction team.
Our recommendation: Must be seen!"
Hanns Butterhof, Recklinghäuser Zeitung, 28 November 2005
"What we were given a presentiment of in Daniel Goldin’s choreography “Besloten hofjes”, now continues in the dance evening “Calima”: the highly sensitive Argentinian choreographer – congenially assisted by Matthias Dietrich (stage), Gaby Sogl (costumes) and Reinhard Hubert (lighting) – returns to the atmospheric dance and music collages of his early years. “Calima”, the title of the new production, which had its first performance on Friday evening on the main stage of Münster City Theatre, sounds poetic, but is in fact the sober-scientific Spanish name for a natural weather phenomenon when certain kinds of diffuse bands of cloud appear in the sky.
Of the “pall of haze” which descends on high Spanish plateaux when this kind of thermal weather effect ocurs, however, there is no sign on the stage. Rather, one finds oneself transposed to a beach or a small-town market square, from where shabby doors lead into lopsided houses and the view of the sea and the sky with its changing colours seems forced into a picture frame. Here, people gather round a tree and celebrate alien, mysterious rituals: praying and partying, pious and pagan, singly and in groups, bare-foot and in simple dresses, masked, bedizened with bells on wrists and ankles. Colourful idylls and melancholy moods alternate to a collage of taped world music. Especially attractive are the Far Eastern sounds, to which dainty Eun-Sik Park dances with enchanting grace, quite the opposite of the “bell man” with the face mask, Tsutomu Ozeki, who is driving out evil spirits or is maybe an evil spirit himself. “Dandy” Cassiano Garcia struts into the scene. A woman (Nora Ronge) and, towards the end of the 75-minute composition, a man (Wilson Mosquera Suarez) are loaded like coat stands with hats, skirts, cloaks, fans, boots and flowers. Only rarely do the eight dancers – besides those already named, also Jennifer Ocampo Monsalve, Colin Clarke and Ines Petretta – touch. On one occasion, flirting couples file on to the stage. In another scene, individuals embrace the heads of others, who freeze into lifeless dolls. Several small ensembles, who with angled elbows and in strict military rhythm are highly reminiscent of Pina Bausch’s famous diagonals, are nevertheless a joy to see because of Goldin’s own stamp. Stark motoricity also dominates the music. Percussion dialogues, songs with the same recurring refrain, occasional “horn” notes and brief brass chorales sound harsh beside the gentle zither and guitar melodies. Abruptly changing, musical fragments follow one another. Later on, complete songs, chansons and sung stories can be heard. (...)"
Marieluise Jeitschko, Westfälische Nachrichten, 28 November 2005