Off-Beat

dance solo

Premiere: 22nd of  September 2011, Ex Ponto Festival, Dance Theater Ljubljana

  • Concept, choreography and dance: Milan Tomášik
  • Dramaturgy: Samo Gosarič
  • Music: Janez Krstnik Dolar, Sašo Kalan
  • Light design: Luka Curk
  • Costumes and set design: Jasna Vastl
  • Adviser for musicology: Lidija Podlesnik Tomášiková
  • Production: Phileas Productions (Belgium), Plesni Teater Ljubljana (Slovenia), Muzeum Institute (Slovenia),
  • Coproductions: STUK (Leuven, Belgium), Stanica Žilina-Záriečie (Slovakia), Ex Ponto International Festival of Performing Arts (Ljubljana, Slovenia)

To confront breathing with the rhythm of music, the movement impulses of a contemporary dancer with baroque music, to enter into a dialogue with the originators of modern dance. In his dance solo off-beat, milan tomášik explores a contemporary dancer’s relation to rhythm, placing his inhale and exhale in relation to the coded rhythmical structures of baroque music and simultaneously moving between the external influences from the history of dance and the inner concentration of a dancer.

The whole performance with live music, recorded in Bratislava 2014:

TOUR SCHEDULE:

31st of August 2015 – MONOPLAY festival, Zadar, Croatia

7th of June 2015 – CORTOINDANZA festival, Sardinia, Italy

10th of July 2014 – festival AKROPODITI Syros, Greece

17th of March 2014 – SLOVAK NATIONAL THEATER (SND) Bratislava, Slovakia

05th of December 2013 – PLESNI TEATER LJUBLJANA, Slovenia

23rd of November 2013 – CANKARJEV DOM Ljubljana, Slovenia

19th of October 2013 – festival DAYS 4 YOU Banska Bystrica, Slovakia

19th of September 2013 – festival OFF EUROPA Dresden, Germany

17th of September 2013 – festival OFF EUROPA Leipzig, Germany

06th of June 2013 – STANICA ZILINA-ZARIECIE, Slovakia

05th of June 2013 – DIVADLO STUDIO TANCA Banska Bystrica, Slovakia

29th of May 2013 – PLESNI TEATER LJUBJANA, Slovenia

26th of January 2013 – festival DANSPROJECT Trieste, Italy

27th of October 2012 – SPANSKI BORCI Ljubljana, Slovenia

22nd of July 2012 – Festival SVETVINCENAT, Croatia

28th of June 2012 – festival LENT Maribor, Slovenia

22nd of April 2012 – festival TANZ SCHRITT WEISE Graz, Austria

02nd of February 2012 – PLESNI TEATER LJUBLJANA Ljubljana, Slovenia

01st of February 2012 – PLESNI TEATER LJUBLJANA Ljubljana, Slovenia

26th of October 2011 – STUK Leuven (for students only), Belgium

26th of October 2011 – STUK Leuven, Belgium

25th of October 2011 – STUK Leuven, Belgium

13th of October 2011 – festival DAYS 4 YOU Banska Bystrica, Slovakia

10th of October 2011 – festival HYBAJ HO! Prague, Czech Republic

28th of September 2011 – STANICA ZILINA-ZARIECIE, Slovakia

27th of September 2011 – STANICA ZILINA-ZARIECIE, Slovakia

24th of September 2011 – festival EX PONTO Ljubljana, Slovenia

23rd of September 2011 – festival EX PONTO Ljubljana, Slovenia

22nd of September 2011 – PREMIERE, festival EX PONTO Ljubljana, Slovenia


On 7th of June 2015, at the international festival of contemporary dance Cortoindanza (Cagliari, Italy), the dance solo OFF-BEAT, choreographed and performed by Milan Tomášik, have been awarded for the “MUSICAL RESEARCH and THE EXPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF CHOREOGRAPHIC LANGUAGE”

Steffen Georgi, LEIPZIGER VOLKSZEITUNG, 19. 9. 2013:

„The performance Off-Beat on the one hand performs a kind of archaeology of gestures, examines old and new dance means of expression, and on the other hand ironically judges them. Just already the way how the costume design manipulates movements (in the appearance of the artist as well as in the perception of the audience), masterfully reflects the sense and nonsense notion of authenticity. […] A smart exploration of dance with dance means.
»Off-Beat« po eni strani izvaja neke vrste arheologijo gest, preučuje stara in nova plesna izrazna sredstva – in jih po drugi strani ironično presoja. Že samo način, kako kostumiranost manipulira gibe (v izgledu umetnika kot tudi zaznavanju občinstva), mojstrsko reflektira  smisel in nesmisel pojmovanja avtentičnosti. (…) Pametno raziskovanje plesa s plesnimi sredstvi.
(prevod iz nemščine Marjana Benčina)

Mojca Kumurdej, DELO, 9. 2. 2012: https://old.delo.si/kultura/oder/ocena-plesne-predstave-milana-tomasika-k-temeljem-skozi-barocni-izvor.html

“Due to the well-thought-out structure and Tomášik’s excellent dance performance, we can be surprised at the end that Off-beat lasts for a solo by no means a short fifty minutes.” “Zaradi premišljene strukture in izvrstne Tomasikove plesne izvedbe smo na koncu lahko presenečeni, da Off-beat traja za solo nikakor ne kratkih petdeset minut.”

Daliborka Podboj, PARADA PLESA, 1. 11. 2011: https://www.paradaplesa.si/na-spici/plesalec-milan-tomasik-gol-do-pasu-na-nogah-pa-cevlji-s-petko/

“Dance solo Off-Beat is a rich, visually in-depth gallery of dance sketches in which artist Milan Tomášik combines art, his knowledge and pleasures against the backdrop of the era of court history, with the performing modernity of dance, with his time.” Plesni solo Off-Beat je bogata likovno poglobljena galerija plesnih skic, kjer umetnik Milan Tomášik združuje umetnost, svoje znanje in užitke ob časih dvorne zgodovine z uprizoritveno plesno sodobnostjo, s svojim časom.

Jana Návratová, ČESKÝ ROZHLAS (Czech Radio), 12. 10. 2011: https://vltava.rozhlas.cz/tanecni-panorama-s-janou-navratovou-5122959

“Milan Tomášik is an excellent dancer with something very strong in his personality, it’s called “stage presence”, when he stands in front of the audience and looks into it, they simply fall silent. He has a beautiful modeling of movement, a very interesting physical expression, and he actually developed a dance-like discussion about the relationship between the Baroque and contemporary art or contemporary life. I think it was a very nice experience.”„Milan Tomášik je vynikající tanečník s nečim osobnostne velmi silným, riká se tomu „stage presence“, ten človek když se postaví pred to publikum a podívá se do nej tak proste stichne. Má krásnou modelaci pohybu, velmi zajímavý telesný projev a vlastne rozvinul tanečnou takovou diskusii o tom vztahu baroka a současného umení nebo současného života. Myslím si, že to byl velmi peknej zážitek.“

Lucie Kocourkova, SALTO (Slovak dance magazine) 2012:

„Tomášik’s enchantment by baroque remains on the level of inspiration, he doesn’t quote baroque dance, but uses some characteristic principles of the connection of dance and music. Historical dancing in shoes and the barefooted sequences created and interesting contrast. The piece was moreover full of fun and exaggeration. It was partially thanks to the props, which were used by the author to liven up the stage. He definitely showed that it is possible to do research of the movement with lightness and playfulness.“

Marek GodovičTHEATER INSTITUTE BRATISLAVA, 19. 10. 2013:

 „Tomášik connects two seemingly incompatible worlds: a formalism with the authenticity of the expression. […] The Solo reflects a precise control of dance expression, while it looks spontaneous and relaxed. (…) Tomášik plays with baroque expressions, concentrating and at the same time naturally finding their logic in small details.” “Tomášik spája dva  zdánlivo nespojiteľné svety:  formalizmus s prirodzenosťou prejavu. (…) Tomášik sa hrá s barokovým prejavom,  sústredene a pritom prirodzene nachádza ich logiku v drobných detailoch.”

Maja Anžur Kajzer, GLASNA, letnik 45, št. 1, February 2014:

“The peak of the performance is in the section when the historical dance movements sound in silence. The sudden entry of modern electronic sounds (Saša Kalana) is followed by a random mixing of baroque and electronic music. This creates a climax of chaos in a structured movement narrative. The lyricism and the beauty of the movement are the substances that give the performance a stamp with added value.”“Vrh predstave je v odseku, ko historični plesni gibi zvenijo v tišini. Nenadnemu vstopu novodobnih elektronskih zvokov (Saša Kalana) sledi naključno mešanje baročne in elektronske glasbe. S tem je ustvarjen vrhunec kaosa v strukturirano urejeni gibalni pripovedi. Liričnost in lepota gibanja sta tisti substanci, ki predstavi podeljujeta pečat z dodano vrednostjo.“

Barbara Brathová, OPERA PLUS, 18. 3. 2014: https://operaplus.cz/hra-se-vzduchem/?pa=2

“The combinatorics of the spectrum of movement and music creates a bridge between the past and the present, it is an overlap of time to the here and now, it is a “transfer of data” from the past to today.” “Kombinatorika spektra pohybu a hudby vytvára most medzi minulosťou a súčasnosťou, je to presah dobovosti k tu a teraz, je to „prenos dát“ z kedysi do dnes.”

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