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Sanjoy Roy
The Guardian
"If Blanched Stories has an open-hearted, raggle-taggle charm, Exzeb’s Artism is tense, dense and darkly ironic. Three dancers limber up as one (David Gellura) appears on screen, the bleached monochrome film imparting a cadaverous cast to his deadpan talk about dancers’ routines, adrenalin hits, post-performance depression. Above all, about choreographers, who, he contends, are neither good enough dancers to appear on stage nor bad enough to be kept off it, and who feed off dancers’ artistry to resell as their own. This bitter observation is followed by a sharp, technically complex trio on stage, brilliantly executed – and tautly choreographed. The dancers are Gellura, Merel Corne and Sophia Preidel; choreography is by “Exzeb”.
Lyndsey Winship
The Guardian
"Dances in Resolution! are often made on a shoestring, but tonight’s opener, Artism, has some impressive production values. This is a multimedia melée where the scene expands from a silent solo in a blank space to a swirling swarm of animated lines across three video walls, with projections chasing four dancers and their quick, strong movements. Ultimately the choreography becomes swamped by the technology, choreographerEric Nyira’s intention to ‘confront the human condition’ is probably overstated, and the onscreen quotes (sample: ‘I’m a permanent feeling in a perpetual present’) are a tad pretentious. But there are some brilliantly skilled collaborators here and a clear desire to present dance in a new dimension. One to watch."
Bruce Marriott
Worth a thousand words
Dances in Resolution! are often made on a shoestring, but tonight’s opener, Artism, has some impressive production values. This is a multimedia melée where the scene expands from a silent solo in a blank space to a swirling swarm of animated lines across three video walls, with projections chasing four dancers and their quick, strong movements. Ultimately the choreography becomes swamped by the technology, choreographerEric Nyira’s intention to ‘confront the human condition’ is probably overstated, and the onscreen quotes (sample: ‘I’m a permanent feeling in a perpetual present’) are a tad pretentious. But there are some brilliantly skilled collaborators here and a clear desire to present dance in a new dimension. One to watch.",
Views from the Gods
The Space
"In finest Pixar tradition, the main event is preceded by something shorter. Each night you see a piece by Exzeb, and another by either Quirk or David Waker, the performances of Echo and Rising Pheasant alternating. The way these pieces blend disciplines is exciting to watch, performer Nefeli Tsiouti melds pointe work with breaking, and Waker contemporary dance with martial arts. Exzeb's Artism is a multimedia piece, a short film preceding the live dance from David Gellura, one of the most memorable performers of the evening"
A Younger Theatre
Worth a thousand words
"Opening the first act is a contemporary solo performed by David Gellura from Exze, performing a piece that essentially breaks dance apart, making the audience fully appreciate and analyse the dancer and watch the dance purely for dance’s sake. Entitled Artism, this multimedia performance begins with a short animated video (by digital artist Sophie Langhor) before a sparsely dressed Gellura begins manipulating his strong, lean body to meticulously demonstrate the power and ability of a dancer’s muscles. Without question, his execution of Eric K Nyirabahunde’s and his own choreography is highly skilled and highly impressive; his movement is always controlled and well-defined, forming incredibly beautiful and seamless patterns.The underlying beat competes with a series of profound statements and rhetorical questions about dance written by Nyirabahunde, questioning the audience’s commitment to their task, and forcing them to focus on this tribute to the human physique. Whilst Gellura excelled in delivering a technically accurate and demanding performance, it was difficult not to feel distant from him as a performer, as lack of eye contact made it feel somewhat introverted. Admittedly this does reflect the desire to dance for one’s own fulfilment, but it contradicts one of the spoken lines a great deal- that dancers only “exist for the eyes of other people”. Nevertheless, defining a dancer as a normal person was a powerful touch, and left the audience thinking long afterwards about the need to be human that is within everyone."
Sara Veale
Exeunt
"The first act is comprised of three solos, each transfixed on individual introspective objectives. Artism, choreographed by David Gellura and Eric K Nyirabahunde and performed by the former, is pulsating and erotic, meditating on motifs of power and sensitivity and posing fluid undulations and slithery floorwork against a throbbing backbeat. Gellura delivers a fiery performance, his dexterity strong enough to command the calculated recklessness required and his stance firmly impassioned throughout."#
A Younger Theatre
Worth a thousand words
"The big philosophical questions about art and artists manifest themselves in Artism, a big piece by Exzeb, with collaboration and the principles of collaboration serving as the spine of the work. A digital art sequence breaks the piece in, a man’s head spun around with the needle of a record player as he journeys up steps shadowed by trees. The digital artwork is replaced by a film which governs the piece, soloist David Gellura sitting and watching along with the audience, preparing with his warmup for the performance. Discussed are concepts of being on and offstage; a ‘godlike’ presence associated with the former, anonymity partnering the latter. There is a challenging idea discussed of choreographers and their use of dancers. This is related to other arts – actors being the stars rather than directors, singers being the stars rather than songwriters, two statements that could be highly contested indeed. However the point made about dance needing dancers to exist is an apt one, perhaps without a real space in contemporary dance today, but that opinion could be very naïve. Gellura does a fantastic job proving a dancer’s worth in his marathon of a solo, choreographed by himself and Eric Kigeli Nyriabahunde. His sheer physicality pierces through, jumps to the floor into rolls to standing, shifting in space and repeating. It is painful to watch yet exhilarating and the concept of suffering and art come together triumphantly. It is a piece that seems to seek an impossible solution than can’t be offered. Perhaps in the vein of Douglas Adams I can offer Exzeb the answer 42?"
Nicolas Kyprianou
The Place
"Eric Nyira/Exzeb Dance causes goose bumps to rise across my skin when a video recaps the events of Artism Act I, performed last year at Resolution! 2013. A booming voice, echoing in surround sound, confronts the fact that dancers are there to be watched, but they are people too. Specks, waves and different shapes of light swim across the black walls and floor. The spectacular lighting display distracts from the power of the explosive choreography by Nyira, however, David Gellura spins and floats on top of a cloudlike projection with a similar elegance to Russell Maliphant in Afterlight."