Lichtungen
Where there’s shadow, there’s light.
a solo performance of inspired abandon
New York Times, "the Year in Culture"
an immensely touching apparent journey
New York Times
sensitive, poetic and powerful
Thurgauer Zeitung
Literally translated ‘Lichtungen’ means ‘glades’ or ‘clearings’; also, illumination and, in a metaphorical sense, a hope for life. It is a poetic dance theater solo reaching across the boundaries of pure dance by including the strong visual element of video animations in the set design.
The New York Times praised the solo dance performance, “... an immensely touching apparent journey through past hopes and disappointments” (Jennifer Dunning), and mentioned it in the 2004 NYT Year of Culture.
We are happy that eleven choreographers from New York, San Diego, Zurich, Paris and Berlin contributed movement phrases about joy for this piece, which reflects the necessity of sharing our lifes and experiences to fullfill our being. We thank Amos Pinhasi, Elvi Leu, Faith Jensen-Ismay, Herve Le’Goff, Jean Isaacs, JoAnna Mendl-Shaw, Lynn Simonson, Norbert Servos, Robert Small, Tina Mantel, Ursula Berger and Zvi Gotheiner.
Press Quotes to Lichtungen
„Elfi Schaefer-Schafroth delivered a solo performance of inspired abandon in October.“
New York Times, The Year of Culture 2004
Elfi Schaefer-Schafroth strode briskly onto the stage in an excerpt from her "Lichtungen," but it was soon apparent that this was a woman at some crossroad midway through life. She pulled out a square of plastic picnic cloth from the object under her arm, followed by a plate, a cup and a teapot made of folded paper, and an actual carrot, complete with stem greens. The de facto picnic basket became a red dress. And the tragicomic solo that followed, before she purposefully packed up and left the stage, was an immensely touching apparent journey through past hopes and disappointments.
New York Times
With her poetic, profound and witty performance Elfi Schaefer-Schafroth enthused the audience.
Gabriela Eigensatz, Kulturattaché in New York, 2004
As in her former production she worked associatively and zeroed in on a particular subject in a cleverly arranged sequence of scenes … whether clownish and zany, tragicomically, whimsically naïve, pathetically and emotionally, she always elaborates a basic emotion or lets it tilt into its opposite. The irritating moments are particularly impressive, as in the intrusion of chaos into a primarily harmonious scene.
Ursula Pellaton, Tanz und Gymnastik, Zuercher Landbote, Zuerichsee Zeitung, September 2006
Elfi Schaefer-Schafroth’s art is sensitive, poetic and powerful. Here you have a poet on stage who translates her emotions not into words, but into all the possibilities her body offers. “The poetry of an entire human being”, as one would call it. (…) In Lichtungen, the high art of dance theater fuses with philosophical facts of life – with a light humor behind everything making the piece a source of joy.
Ruth Rechsteiner, Thurgauer Zeitung, Mai 2006
A dance project of a special kind. Complex and sophisticated, we experienced a dance theater of poetic and gorgeous images which tells of the profundities of life (…) a fascinating tightrope walk between dream and reality, desire and hope and descents into unexpected depths of spirituality, always in search of the joy of life. The evil of the world loses some of its weight, because at the end of the danced images light celebrates a soft triumph.
Madeleine Schuepfer, Oltner Tagblatt Mai 2007