sarma

This text is part of the project Afterwords, curated by Jeroen Peeters for the festival ImPulsTanz Vienna in summer 2002. Every night, three critics in residence shared their impressions and thoughts on the performances immediately after having seen them, in an act of instantaneous writing. During the process of writing, these comments were projected in the theatre lobby and later that night made available on the websites http://www.impulstanz.com and http://derstandard.at.
A selection of the texts by Jeroen Peeters is available on Sarma, in a slightly edited version, sometimes with a postscript. Two essays elucidate the project Afterwords and reflect on its poetical and political implications. To retrieve the material, search under: ‘Afterwords’.

Veronika! To refer to Christian literature and iconography: Veronika is the woman who wiped Christ's face with a handkerchief, making appear his portrait on it in sweat and blood: vera ikon, the real image. The surface to be touched here: a concrete floor. Two women dancing, running, falling, as if they want to injure their bodies. Dancing, running and falling after the phantasm of a sacrificial mutilation, of a bleeding body to be stencilled on stage, seeking for the very icon.

Postscript November 2002: The performance is a duet between dancers Milli Bitterli and Veronika Zott, whose name triggered the idea of this Afterwords text – although there is a clear link between its content and the performance as well.