PAUS ISTU MINE / STANDSTILL

Keithy Kuuspu - director-choreographer
Martina Georgina, Agnes Ihoma, Jana Jacuka, Anumai Raska, Liisa Saaremäel, Johanna Vaiksoo - performers
Mihkel Maripuu - sound artist
Sasha Mirson - light artist
Kairi Mändla - stage artist
Juss Heinsalu - materials dramaturge
Laura Cemin - dramaturge
Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava - production
Gertrudes Ielas Teatris - coproduction
Supported by - Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Latvian State Culture Capital Foundation, Tallinn Culture & Sports Department, Culture Moves Europe
Kris Moor - photos

Residency: Contemporary Art Space Kutomo

Duration: 80 min
Premiere on the 25th of Augustil 2023 at 19:00 at Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava (STL).
Performances on the 28., 29., 31st of August and 1st of September at 19:00 at Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava (STL).

Read an essay by the dramaturg Laura Cemin “PAUS ISTU MINE: a standstill that oscillates”

The performance PAUS ISTU MINE (Standstill) is a fragment of time, stolen from the daily flow, placed under a magnifying glass with the desire to reach a pause, a still point. The performance searches for the moment of pause charged with tension through the uncanny and the sublime. Either by experiencing the slightly off-key familiarity or by being carried by the perverted sublime ecstasy, reality is displaced: a standstill appears exposing the experience in its bare essence, free from any meaning attached to it.

6 beautiful bodies seem to be preparing for something, but the purpose is hard to grasp, they seem to move almost just to structure time. A washing machine starts its cycle, plaster heels crumble under the weight of gravity, an ice chandelier drips from the ceiling creating a fake lake on the iridescent floor, a large net is used not to catch but to lean on.

The audience and the performers find themselves searching for the moment of silence between thoughts and seek it through absurd a(u)ctions, slightly unfamiliar objects and the sense of awe hinted at by shimmering lights.

Inside and outside, natural and artificial coexist: a request to stop and look slower.

Look again.

Look closer.

*pause*

Ready to bid? Decided? Those little hands need to be raised quickly! Bid today, pay tomorrow. Come on!

We will start the bidding with the sound works created by Mihkel, hot context photos of the performers, posters of the performance, ceramics made during the rehearsals, props are also on special offer today, starting from tomorrow the whole production, for example, yesterday we selled emptiness, today it will be…

Item no.1, unique!

We start at 1. Anybody wanna give 2? 2 …

/ maybe I should have changed the … /

2 … anybody wanna give 3? Now 3 … Don’t stop! 3 …

/ I can’t remember what was /

… 3 … say the … bid the … give the …

/ I felt a drop on my … /

I am bit at 3 … anybody wanna give 4? Make it 4 … 4 … deal of the day!

/ Did I program the wash? /

Anybody 5? Bid now or lose out! 5 … bit it 5 …

/ I am too tired to … /

I’m at 5 and I want 6 … bid on 6 – 5 … com’on! Still 5 … would you go 6?