LIMINAL STATES

Synopsis

The performance Liminal States serves as an escape from the visual sphere of our existence into the energetic embodied aspect of living. A space of liminality where experiences happen on the threshold of consciousness. The desire behind this work is to dialogue with internal spaces and states of perseption that are experienced subjectively and not visually. To put a focus on where the transformative happens and can be experienced as corporal liminal states of abyss. Ultimately it can be seen as a meditation on the elusive but powerful sub-currents of our lives. That part of our lives which composes the largest past of it. The work is based on an ongoing artistic research conducted by the choreographer into altered states of perception through phenomenological embodiment. It is the last in a trilogy dealing with the notion of larger forces that act on us beyond our conscious mind. The trilogy consists of; Pervasive Magnetic Stimuli (2018), Boundless Ominous Fields (2024), Liminal States (2024).

Creating a new performance Liminal States (2024) on Peter’s music is a tribute to the decade-long collaboration between Icelandic choreographer Margrét Sara Guðjónsdóttir and Peter Rehberg until his passing in 2021. The original composition was created by Peter Rehberg for the performance Pervasive Magnetic Stimuli (2018).The music composition will be released on Editions Mego in 2025. Pre-release at the Liminal States premiere 1st November 2024 at the City Theatre of Reykjavík in Iceland.

Confronting Hyper reality

“Physically, choreographically and dramaturgically I compose performances as highly intensive experiences. The experiences are meant to vibrate energetically at the core of omnipresent pathological states of embodied being, induced by current and ancient conditioning and transference. These embodied pathologies exist in the shadows of what is considered normal life and in conceptual shadows. The work is a gesture to step into this space where it is necessary to stay until a shift happens. The commonality of these pathologies is revealed by being together in these states of incapacity to act, respond, move, feel or escape. Even though this is not a comfortable or comforting space to be in, a soft power of resistance is produced. It is this power that is choreographed, not the movements of bodies but the resonance of the internal movements and energies of the dancers in live performance. The dancers resonate with selected pathologies and formerly unconscious realities that they carry within their bodies, through them we resonate together in a meditative state of reciprocity. The intensity and information ripples outwards. The audience may be confronted by pathology, but this is done to initiate release and transformation and further cognitive processes on the topic, not to re traumatise. This is a different sort of documentary with a different sense of fiction: it is documentation because the dancers bodies have spent many years doing the practice; it is fiction not that it is not real, but that it is hyper-real. The way the dancers vibrate differently is an invitation to a different body state that is a state of affective potential. The dancers bodies offer the potential to attune and align the audience bodies and thoughts. 

Margrèt Sara Guðjónsdóttir

Credits:

Concept, Choreography, Set design: Margrét Sara Guðjónsdóttir

Performers: Félix Urbina Alejandre, Una Björg Bjarnadóttir, Elín Signý W. Ragnarsdóttir, Erna Gunnarsdóttir

Composition: Peter Rehberg

Lights design: Jóhann Friðrik Ágústsson

Costumes: Karen Briem

Commissioned and produced by:  Icelandic Dance Company

Photos: Elisabeth Blöndal.