noa
video
A timely, tightly defined narrative dance
Doris Rudko
as powerful as sensual, as poetic as allegorical
Neue Mittelland Zeitung
fantastico y magico
Frontera, Tijuana
Noa tells the story of a modern-day female Noah (noa) confronted with the task of forming a new world, a woman at the edge of reality who must trust her own visions.
After going through much internal turmoil, noa accepts her calling and fulfills the role of heroine that has been thrust upon her. She begins collecting eggs for life after the big flood, which is about as strange as building an ark in the middle of the desert. The eggs are symbolic of life. Equal from the outside, they differ in the kind of life they contain. They build the bridge to future technologies. Stability and fragility are almost inseparable from each other. Poetic pictures appear when the eggs float over the stage, to be picked by noa, — or when they appear on the floor mirroring a sky full of stars. In literally giving the shirt off her back to create the Ark, noa shows how each of us can begin to create a better world.
The dance is tightly interwoven with rich visual elements (thanks to Designers Martin Schaefer, Rolf Zurfluh, David S. Howard), and an acoustic world that layers the piece with depth (sound by Beat Escher, Philip Howard). Silence and the expression of inner movement blend Ms. Schaefer-Schafroth’s playful dance with her athletic, tap dance and street dance background. This noa has everything needed for a New World — power, humor, and love.
Press Quotes to noa
A timely, tightly defined narrative dance expressed in succinct and telling movement passages. Choreographed and danced by Elfi Schaefer, the full evening work is performed in a changing environment, enhanced by David Howard’s sensitive lighting.
Doris Rudko, The Juilliard School
"With her body rich in expression, with supple movements, powerful and sensual, poetic and allegorical, she lets noa struggle with her fears and decisions. At times elegant, then in dramatic gestures, always speaking with her entire body, her face marked by inner emotions and ever changing moods."
Neue Mittelland Zeitung
"Without a word the dancer, through the interaction with music, lighting and video projection, tells the speculative story of a female survivor of the deluge, who stands between past and future amidst an empty space in time."
Neue Zuercher Zeitung
“Schaefer ofrece calidad de movimiento: contenida, esencial, busca organicamente el impulso de sus dinamicas corporales. Experimentada bailarina que se ha dejado seducir por una tecnica emotiva para explorar profundamente las necesidades de su cuerpo.”
Unomasuno, Mexico City
“fantastico y magico”
Frontera, Tijuana