Reviews | “Transverse Orientation”

“Papaioannou is without doubt one of the four most important choreographers in the world.”

–Ariane Bavelier

“A long act of artistic magic created before our eyes by the superbly precise performers.”

–Roslyn Sulcas

“If Michelangelo had been active in this era, would he not have left such a work?”

–Gaeksuk Eye

“’Transverse Orientation’ demonstrates yet again what a masterful theatrical magician and imagist Papaioannou is.”

–Donald Hutera

“Dimitris Papaioannou, a master of contradictions. He’ll create sublime tableaux and then puncture the moment with absurdity; and cross beauty with disgust, wonder and comedy.”

–Lyndsey Winship

“A collage of ingenious and arresting tableaux, Dimitris Papaioannou's ‘Transverse Orientation’ at Sadler's Wells marks the high point of Dance Umbrella. Papaioannou’s eight performers are indefatigable and deserving of the highest plaudits.”

–Teresa Guerreiro

“Dimitris Papaioannou, Greek genius of dance-theater, constantly switches from one show to another, leaving us neither the time nor the opportunity to name what we see. ‘Transverse Orientation’ is a hydra, a hermaphrodite, a sensuality held by the horns, an outpouring of the unconscious.”

–Léa Malgouyres

“’Transverse Orientation’ is transfixing: just as unnerving, absurd and beautiful as the unconscious mind itself, populated by creatures of myth, mundanity and nightmare.”

“’Transverse Orientation’ by Dimitris Papaioannou […] confirms the Greek author as the greatest artist of our time. Nourishment for the collective imagination.”

–Francesca Pedroni

“The Greek choreographer Dimitris Papaioannou confirms himself as one of the greatest auteurs of our time with ‘Transverse Orientation’.”

–Valeria Crippa

“A total and visionary artistic work, a masterpiece of aesthetics, within which images become language and tell the myth. For 1h45 min, time is suspended, dominated, manipulated, enlarged, and restricted continuously."

–Valentina Siano

“This is how, in a succession of living and disconcerting tableaux, the show suggests life as a funny and melancholy, free and desperate journey, where grace and monstrosity feed on the most humanly in the world.”