Either just stop blinking, keep looking at the stage and only reluctantly close your eyelids.

Or consciously close your eyes every now and then, open them again and discover what has changed in a few seconds.

Both have a tremendous appeal.

Hearts may have formed from the raised arms of the dancers that embrace one of them.

Perhaps a nuance in the rhythm has shifted in the tripping alternating steps.

Or the narrow, illuminated rectangle in the otherwise dark stage has imperceptibly turned into a square, a circle, a long line.

The bodies follow this light, it provides the framework.

Eva-Maria Magel

Head of culture editor Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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With “Promise”, her third piece for Tanzmainz, the Compagnie des Mainz Staatstheater, the Israeli choreographer Sharon Eyal continues what has made her work for years and what makes her work one of the most important contemporary dance manuscripts today. The 45 minutes of "Promise" require a tremendous, almost relentless concentration on the stage. And they bring the audience into a sharpened, tense concentration that one can hardly escape. Without being uncomfortable or overwhelming. On the contrary.

The superficially cool structure, which in some motifs follows on from the celebrated predecessor piece “Soul Chain”, which Tanzmainz has now shown on an extensive international tour, is what is underlined by the ensemble's sky-blue jerseys and knee socks, filled with a wide variety of emotions .

Loneliness and affection, intoxication and ecstasy in music through to singing along or posing, competition and disappointment, zest for life and depression flash, transform into the next states, a river, some come again, some remain unique.

A unit of dancers

The dancers at Eyal are incessantly in motion, even when there seems to be a standstill. Except for a few moments, they are at half speed for 45 minutes, a physical challenge that not only underlines the visual appeal of what is floating, but also seems to determine the literal posture of the dancers. Besides everything else, there is a real affection for classical dance to be seen in these minimalist movement sequences, the dizzying thrill of exactness. You can indulge yourself in the perfect fit of dance, gestures, facial expressions, space, sound and light from “Promise”.

In addition, there is a pleasure in playing, which is mainly conveyed by the driving sounds of Ori Lichtik, who this time uses string music by Bartók, pieces from the Alog group and a western song that most of the people from the film "Blues Brothers" know, in addition to techno rhythms. Rawhide's “Rollin, Rollin, Rollin” goes well with this incessant dance, both in fun and in sadness, which swells and swells, as if one were standing in front of the closed door of a packed club from time to time. Large, sweeping movements or jumps are rare - but the individual dancers' bodies, which come out again and again as individuals or as a couple, act as a unit, as they often appear close together in the group. This whole body of individual bodies contracts up to complicated interweaving, expands,sometimes reaches considerable dimensions. Even if there are only seven dancers who form a "Promise".

Amber Pansters, Maasa Sakano, Marija Slavee, Zachary Chant, Finn Lakeberg, Cornelius Mickel and Matti Tauru have a long history of work and friendship with each other and with Sharon Eyal, at least they belonged to "Soul Chain".

This intimate work in the middle of the pandemic - the piece could be developed in more than six weeks at the beginning of the year because there were also gaps in Eyal due to Corona - can be seen at every moment.

Not that Eyal and her team could not be there in the end because they were rehearsing a premiere at the Paris Opera at the same time.

The seven had to bow alone.

But that didn't detract from the audience's incessant standing ovations.

Next performances of “Promise” on December 3rd, 4th and 20th from 7.30 pm in each case in the small house of the State Theater Mainz