PAUMES
The watchword for Olga de Soto's Paumes (Palms) is, incontestably, "no concessions". Painstaking work that advances the art of dance itself. With great strides.
Francis Cossu, L'été des Hivernales (2/4): Olga de Soto, La Marseillaise (FR), July 19, 1998
The moment of grace of this Été des Hivernales was brought by Olga de Soto, a Spanish dancer established in Belgium. Whether she elaborates it alone or in duet (with Pascale Gigon), her language, which is very pure, creates a shiver in the half-light, the rustling of life. Her musical choices (of contemporary composers such as Salvatore Sciarrino or Denis Pousseur) are of an unusual quality.
Emmannuèle Rüegger, L'été des Hivernales, Ballet 2000 No. 43
As to Olga de Soto, one could see her and see her again without being exhausted, so much her dance is musical. Whether she talks about a secret relation in a semi-darkness, nearest to the microscopic, or shines out in furious movements of the hips on Frederic Rzewski's ravaging music, or murmurs solitary on a composition by Denis Pousseur, what comes out is pure joy. Simplicity combined with wisdom.
Marie-Christine Vernay, Le Tour de la danse en un jour, Libération (FR), July 24, 1998
A highly acclaimed performance, both by the audience and the press. In newspaper La Marseillaise Francis Cossu says: Everything keeps us in suspense, up to the dancers' breathing, which reminds us, without any doubt, that we must not hesitate to experience the act of "seeing", even where it is the least obvious. An approach too rare to miss.
Jean-Marie Wynants, Ennui chez Brumachon, bonheur chez Olga de Soto, Le Soir (BE), July 29, 1998
In Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues, bodies fit in with musical harmonies to propagate themselves violently, to swing methodically. The movements always refocus on the body's verticality and come to a rest sensually on the hips. In Strumentale, the dance becomes silence before transforming itself into chaos when the dancers leave to let go their breath retained for too long. Olga de Soto and Pascale Gigon distinguish themselves brilliantly when they let the Sei quartetti brevi by Salvatore Sciarrino resonate through them. On a darkened stage, the calligraphy of the movement remains indiscernible because only a few fragments of the body are illuminated. Between shade and twilight the dance, merely suggested, conveys an idea of absolute beauty.
Ch. Caupin, Silence and chaos in Olga de Soto, Danser (FR), January 1998
Olga de Soto’s quality of gesture and body originate in an inner fire much deeper than the surface suggests. She possesses an intense sensuality that needs no accessories to be perceived, and, most of all, touch the body of the spectator. From where emanates this sensorial current that passes into movement, without resorting to the shadows of sentimentality or complacency? It comes mostly from the depth of her physical work, from the ardent drive that engenders itself in the totality of the body and travels towards its carving in space and towards the limits of the body, the limits of our gaze. And which can play upon the complete decreasing of intensity as well as on their intensifications.
Read some experts from press articles on the various works that compose Paumes: Murmurs, Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues, Strumentale and/or Seuls bruits des corps entre eux.