Bitef

his dealing with the suicide of its presumed poetic glory by exposing the most intimate, albeit socially conditioned, states of mind, and gently mixes it all with a touch of humour. The story evolves in a contemporary urban setting: a dimly lit stage is separated from the audience by a transparent but dark screen, and the impression of the urban atmosphere is intensified by the trip-hop musical background, composed by Pozitivedi. Throughoout the first part of the performance the rhythm is stronger and halting, in the second it becomes softer and more fluid. The theme opens wiht a human body set in a lotus position slowly descending on a rope that hands from the ceiling. A cellular phone rings, the audience is suddenly flooded with light, and one of the dancers loudly scolds the public. The abrupt change taking the event beyond the stage is thus bridged in order to evoke a feeling of personal evolvement in the performance. Two personal storied, that of a businessman with a cellular phone and that of a poeti, evolve in the course of swift changes in the lighting (Andrej Hajdinjak and Tomaž Struci) and lively, i ntense urban movements of the dancers. In part two all the five stories slowly progress towards death as the final choice. Whether this

"transition" indicated by the dancers who are getting rid of their costume tops (created by Katarina Starie), hanging up their ties and dusting themselves with powdered chalk, takes place on a symbolic or physical Level remains unsaid. The skillful use of the stage props elastic ropes, steel rods, and sheets - conveys different connotations; the sheets also function as a shroud, a noose, and a utensil for cradling the individual intoa vague evanescent state of relief. Some of the choreography sequences are particularly smooth, such as the duet of Potočan and Teropsic, or the scene where two dancers "manipulate" the third by twisting a sheet around him. The performance, however, lacks the objective perspective which would add to a more concise selection of elements in choreography composition, to better dynamics, and a more successful montage on an otherwise attractive sound background. The performance, which lasts an hour, has nonetheless proved to be a thoroughly captivating and unpathetic response to the theme it represents, and most probably the very first attempt in Slovenian choreography to provide at least some insight into the riddle of the suicidal state of human mind. Mojca Kumerdej, "Deb" 11th of March 1998.