PALINDROME

DANCE

COMPANY e. V.

Heise, Stephan (2023). "Einfach Genial", MDR Television, broadcast: 9.5.2023.

(2020), "Der Motion Composer - aus Bewegung wird Musik". ARD1, Mediathek, broadcast: 22.9.2020. Link.

Heløe, Hege (2015). MED KROPPEN SOM MUSIKKINSTRUMENT, Delta - En Arbeidstakerorganisasjon I Ys, Delta Direkte - Alle Hverdager 08-20  TLF: 02125, Trondheim, Norway,

Nicole Strecker (2015). Tanz Dich Frei, TANZ_Zeitschrift, Berlin.

Torres, R. (2014).  Musicoterapia, el poder curativo de la expresión artística interdisciplinar, SALUD-Musicoterapia,

Enrico Pitozzi (2014).  Bodysoundscape: the cognition of a movement A conversation with Robert Wechsler | Palindrome.  In Italian.  Archée, revue d'art en ligne : arts médiatiques & cyberculture.

MDR television:  https://www.mdr.de/mediathek/mdr-videos/a/video-179816.html  (see @ 3:24).

Spicer, Nick (Writer). (2014).  The MotionComposer with Robert Wechsler and Uwe Billerbeck. Al Jazeera Television News (producer). Broadcast 25.9.2014.

Merill, Robin (Writer, Moderator). (2012). Insight Germany, Deutsche Welle Television, Reportage über MotionComposer Erfinder Robert Wechsler. Broadcast 23.8.2012.

Reinhard Behm, Reinhard (Writer, Producer). (2012)  Euromaxx,  Deutschewelle,

http://www.dw.com/de/der-choreograph-robert-wechsler-und-sein-tanzprojekt-palindrome-euromaxx/av-15950812. embed:  http://www.dw.com/embed/480/av-15950812. Broadcast:  19.5.2012

2013- Tschitschil, A. (writer) (2013). Interview with Lussana, M., Wechsler, R.; et al.; DeutscheRadio, “New trends in Music Therapy”, den elektronischen Welten auf Deutschlandradio Kultur, 7.9.2013, 19:00.

 

NEWSPAPERS

Hier tanzen die Muskeln
....Wie Robert Wechsler, der wahrscheinlich den kuriosesten Part an diesem Abend hatte. Er nämlich dreht den Spieß um. Er tanzt und erzeugt dadurch Musik. Wie das funktioniert? Mit einer Kamera, einer Software, die die Bewegung in Töne umsetzt – und mit Körperbeherrschung.
LISA KRÄHER, 12.4.10 Mittelbayrische Zeitung

Flower•Wine•Moon•Me, November 2010 Bergamo, Italy

Das Oklo Phänomen
Robert Wechsler and his Palindrome Dance Company ... has come up with a surprise. Palindrome, long known for its extensive use of computer high-tech ... prudently chose to return to the creative potential of analogue. Instead of experimenting with digital games, Wechsler brought live dance, music, acrobatics and theater into an entertaining episodic work that takes a serious theme and surrounds it with humor and charm. In so doing, he gets the best harmony out of a multi-national troupe: three excellent dancers, and a jazz pianist from Istanbul (who also proved a virtuoso accompanist on the melodica) who made a gripping contrast with an electronic sound collage, a dangerous fire artist and Wechsler as laid-back show master who tells us what "The Oklo Phenomenon" is all about. Namely that Catastrophies can sometimes have a purifying effect. Shortly before the end of the piece, physicist's son Wechsler explains that event which lends the piece its title. The really enormous catastrophy once happened in African Oklo, the uranium-richest area on earth. There, a nuclear chain reaction occurred and a human catastrophy was avoided only because humans did not yet exist. Before this, we learn of private catastrophies, which echo through people's lives. While not always conclusive, they are very attractive mixtures of dance and acting. The most beautiful sequence came with an acrobatic floor number, an intimate pas de deux of the unusual sort. It spoke of trust and the loss of security. While avoiding a clear story-line, Wechsler accomplishes with "The Oklo Phenomenon" an entertaining, intelligent cross-over project and, with a great company, earned an enthusiastic applause. A re-launch of the piece is planned for next year. One should watch for it.
Nürnberger Nachrichten, 2008

Jenseits der Schatten
At first, the choreography showed automated movement loops, but towards the end, the only cave dweller who found his way to freedom danced a marvelous Pas de deux of lyrical warmth and expressive acrobatics with a white female creature made out of light (Frey Faust und Senem Gökce Ogultekin)." 23.24.09.06, Rainer Nonnenmann, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger "The director showed great care in the creation of the only speaking roll in this Multi-media opera. Wolfgang Jaroschka was convincing as the laid-back, smug, sophisticated and self-absorbed Plato." 22.9.06, Frieder Reininghaus, Süddeutsche Zeitung "The expansive expressive potential of the interaction between the real and virtual worlds is more effective than either the music or acting could have been alone. There were some very beautiful effects... Despite high expectations, the piece managed not to take itself too seriously, breaking up the evening with irony... With a traditional classical-instrument orchestra, a wonderful contrast between the virtual light/shadow worlds was attained."
22.09.2006, Bernhard Hartmann, General-Anzeiger Cologne

Blinde Liebe
Opera can be a wild multimedia experience, in your face, hurled at you in every medium, in a way you won't encounter at our grand-opera houses. ... a small visiting German company presented the stunning creation "Blinde Liebe" (Blind Love), a melange of dance, film, video, live music, fantasy projections, speech, song, and, oh, yes, reality, composed by Erling Wold. With actresses hitting on audience members, ... directors arguing with performers, all the lines are fascinatingly blurred---between audience and performers, between reality and fantasy, between rehearsal and show, between script and improv. The fourth wall was simply and decisively demolished. The upshot was the most engrossing contemporary opera-dance-theater I have encountered in ages....
6.6.05, D. Rane Danubian, The Independent Observer of the San Francisco Bay Area

Blinde Liebe
… the music wonderful, the orchestra superb, the mixing of acoustic and electronic music/effects right on,… the multimedia effects mesmerizing, and the whole concept truly intriguing....."
27.5.05, Mark Mardon, Bay Area Reporter

Blinde Liebe
Unbridled rage and ice cold logic... encircled by rigid legal poppycock. Even their heated "fucking" outbursts do little to bring rhyme or reason to what happened - to break the facade. This is Robert Wechsler's proposition and, in an artistic frontal attack he commits to it every means of sensual perception at his disposal. Multimedia as therapy....
29.3.05, Abendzeitung Nürnberg

Epikalypsis - Palindrome Experiment Succeeds"
With an utterly convincing Idea turned into a well-rounded evening... Reality is fleeting. Dancer Helena Zwiauer in the pedestrian zone of the town, and appears to be entering the theater -- then the real show begins. This game with the live-doubling continues in a poetic and tempermentful choreography. She dances with herself, her image, and her shadow...
NN, 7.4.2000

Dance of the Electron
Wechsler belongs to an avantgarde made up of those finding new paths for artistic expression and radically redefining dance. The few groups belonging to this movement are distributed around the entire world: USA, England, Japan and, yes, Nürnberg."
26.03.03, Harald Fette, Süddeutsche Zeitung

Seine hohle Form
...the German-American group Palindrome was awarded the prize for best interactive art work. ... they performed unbelievable virtuosos of electronic sound in which spatial data fields served as an invisible instrument.
12.02.02, Sebastian Preuss, Berliner Zeitung

Seine hohle Form...
Seine hohle Form is a performance in which expert interactants, through dance, produce their own soundtrack in real-time. We noted the highly developed cybernetic relationship which the piece presents: through an especially tight connection between the dancer's body and the computer technology (in parts of the performance), an intense aesthetic experience is created for the viewer. 16.10.01, Prize Jury review for the categories "Image, Interaction and Software Art"
Transmediale" Berlin 2001

"Your piece was worth the price of admission alone!... I've seen a lot of interactive dance pieces in my time, and yours was the first one I've seen that really worked!"
03.01.01, Max Mathews (at SEAMUS 2001)

"man, that was some bad-ass shit" 03.01.01, (overheard in lobby at SEAMUS conference)

Ludwig Forum Aachen "Lob der Anwesenheit
The space becomes the instrument, the dance the game, the choreography a page from the score.... No front row seat, no camera zoom could bring the viewer closer to the intimacy of the touch of two human beings as the artifice [used by the performers]: the moment is converted to sound. ... Sensual bodies executing a strange senseless synchronized gesture, dislocated as though directed by out of control nerve fibers. The opposite is the case: Here the bodies themselves are nerve fibers. They fill the space with dance of utmost precision thereby creating an artistic whole.
21.09.01, Peter Motz, Abend Zeitung, Aachen

Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle
In the nearly sold-out theater, Robert Wechsler and his internationally sought after company, Palindrome, brought together an exciting and fully poetic Choreography... The dancers were truly excellent...
28.1.01, RU Nürnberger Nachrichten

Palindrome Dance Company
A real surprise in the performance was what Robert Wechsler did with 10 volunteers during the intermission. A special dynamic was achieved as choreographed movements triggered various samples, and played-out together in a game of chance.
16.11.99, Isolde Matkey, Sächsiche Zeitung

Palindrome Dance Company
Five perfect dancers steered the programming. At once emotional and fascinating...
11.06.99, Dieter Stoll, Abendzeitung Nürnberg

Palindrome Dance Company
Rectangles of light are the tableau for five dancers who are set into staccato motion by digitized sentences. Rich in variation, the action of the dancers was a gleaming example of unpretentious body-language. The computer is no longer an interactive play-thing, it provides the groove for a perfectly accented dance-experience: compact and brilliantly danced.
11.07.99, Uwe Studtrucker, Nürnberger Nachrichten

Palindrome Dance Company
It would not be right to say that Palindrome gets lost in the technology. On the contrary, they use it to ilucidate the magical character of the dancing. Helena Zwiauer dances in wonderful harmony. It is a true pleasure to watch her flowing movements, seemingly effortless, whether in the air, or on the floor.
31.05.99, Béatrice Schmidt, Bieler Zeitung

Palindrome Dance Company
In contrast to other computer freaks choreographers, dancers and performers working with cyborgs, Robert Wechsler is not only a clever researcher, he is also a very good guide. In the just under 2-hour performance, Press ESCAPE! brought us a highly impressive work of body and computer, in word, image and movement.
15.06.98, Süddeutsche Zeitung

Fehler im System
...Es geht um Digitalisierung von Bewegung: Dance for Windows. Die Elektronik kreißt - und gebiert eine ästhetische Null-Lösung... The Medium is the Massage (sic). Sinnfrage - negativ. Die Technik wird zum Selbstzweck. Und wenn sie kollabiert, dann ist gleich alles over and closed.
10.06.96, Nürnberger Nachrichten 6-10-96

Press ESCAPE
Press ESCAPE speaks to the heart of the computer revolution... praise Palindrome for their bravado! These are risk-takers -- a fresh and well-calculated ensemble. Palindrome showed not only some finely crafted and imaginative works, but pointed out new directions in the evolution of interactive-collaborative art..."
Computer Music Journal 12-95

 

Reviews in German:

Palindrome Dance Company
Wirklich Überraschendes eröffnete sich bei der Performance, die Robert Wechsler mit zehn Freiwilligen in der Pause erarbeitete. Positioniert an bestimmten Punkten der Bühne, lösten ihre vorher abgesprochenen Bewegungen verschiedene Samples aus, die im Zusammenspiel mit dem zufälligen szenischen Spiel eine eigene Dynamik hervorbrachten.
16.11.99, Isolde Matkey, Sächsiche Zeitung

Palindrome Dance Company
Fünf perfekte Tänzerinnen im Sog der Programmierung. Faszinierend - und doch traurig zugleich.
Dieter Stoll, 6.11.99, Abendzeitung Nürnberg

Palindrome Dance Company
Rechtecke aus Licht sind das Tableau für fünf Frauen, die sich in stakkatohaften Bewegungen zu digitalisierten Sätzen in Bewegung bringen, mit variantenreichen Aktionen und einer unprätentiösen Körper-sprache glänzen... Der Computer ist nicht mehr interaktive Spieldose, er besorgt nur den Groove für ein perfekt akzentuiertes Tanzerlebnis: Kompakt und brillant getanzt.
7.11.99, Uwe Studtrucker, Nürnberger Nachrichten

Palindrome Dance Company
...es wäre nicht richtig zu sagen, dass sich Palindrome in der Technik erschöpft. Im Gegenteil. Sie bedient sich Ihrer, um den magischen Charakter des Tanzes erst deutlich zu machen. Helena Zwiauer ist so wunderbar harmonisch, fein und es ist eine wahre Freude ihren fliessenden Bewegungen zuzuschauen, die sie wie scheinbar ohne ihr zutun in die Luft oder am Boden zeichnet.
31.5.1999, Bieler Tagblatt

Palindrome Dance Company
Im Unterschied zu anderen Computer-freaks unter Choreographen, Tänzern und Performern, die mit Cyborgs arbeiten,... ist Robert Wechsler nicht nur ein gewitzter Forscher, sondern auch ein sehr guter Didaktiker. In seiner knapp zweistündigen Performance "Press Escape! ... vermittelt er höchst eindruckster in wort, Bild und Bewegung..
15.6.98, Süddeutsche Zeitung

Palindrome Dance Company
Rasant, witzig, gekonnt: Mit dieser Mischung riss die Choreographie von Robert Wechsler das Publikum hin....
3-3-97, Nürnberger Nachrichten

Palindrome Dance Company
Ein Orchesterkonzert, von den Tänzern auf imaginären Instrumenten gespielt, ... optisch und akustisch gleichzeitig faszinierend... Dabei beherrschen die vier Palindrome-Darsteller eine hervorragende.
NN 4-25-97

Palindrome Dance Company
Bei Palindrome beherrschst nicht der Computer die Kunst, die Tänzer bedienen sich seiner Möglichkeiten. Die Technik kompensiert hier kein mangelndes Können, sondern eröffnet dem Tanz völlig neue Perspektiven....
Bay.Rundfunk Ferseh, 8.8.96

Palindrome Dance Company
Der Tanz macht die Musik - Das ist schon revolutionär, was Palindrome auf die Bühne bringt.... Spannend wird es, sobald der Tanz den Ton angibt: Etwa, wenn sich der schneller werdende Herzschlag in den Rhythmus mischt. Oder wenn die Musik lauter wird, je näher sich Wechsler und Zwiauer in dem wunderschönen Pas de deux "Stolen with Respect" kommen...
Nürnberg Abendzeitung 8-4-96

Palindrome Dance Company
The company Palindrome surprised us with a funny and intelligent experiment. Dancing with Concept... Absolutely astounding how the artistic director resolves the apparent contradictions of the analytical and intuitive mind, between abstract number-material and passionate feelings...#
Zürcher Oberländer 5-10-94

Palindrome Dance Company
Palindrome segelt hart am brutalen Zeitgeist, verbeißt sich nicht in träge Tanzphilosophie. Einfach und rational sind die Mittel... BerlinerMorgenpost Das alles geschieht so geschmeidig wie präzise, so witzig in seiner Logik wie versonnen in seiner Poesie...
NürnbergerNachrichten

Palindrome Dance Company
Gar kein Zweifel, daß Robert Wechsler mit seiner Arbeit einen Sonderplatz in der regionalen Tanzszene einnimmt. Seine spielerisch sportiven Kleinchoreographen entwickeln, jenseits der Trampelpfade einer klassisch erstarrten Ballettkunst und trotzdem im Regelwerk der (jüngeren) Bewegungs-Art im Cunningham-Inspirationsstil, immer einen eigendynamischen Anspruch, bei dem der relativierende Humor dominanter bleibt als der Drang zur großen Pose.
Abendzeitung Nürnberg