MEDIATHEK

The duo behind Diquis Tiquis, a company from Costa Rica, makes for an odd pair. At first, Alejandro Tosatti, lanky like a rag doll with gloomy features seemingly etched from an Edward Gorey drawing, appears worlds apart from Sandra Trejos, whose earthy fluidity and mane of dark curls embody voluptuous warmth. Oddly, they fit together like bookends. Performing Wednesday night at Queens Theater in the Park as part of the Latino Cultural Festival, Diquis Tiquis, formed in 1983, merges dance, theater and mime to create tableaus rich with absurdist humor that tend to spotlight the anguish of a complex interior life. The program began on a sweetly light note with “Enamor” (“In Love”), a solo for Ms. Trejos that focused on a woman relishing the first stage of a romance. Propped on her elbows, feet dangling behind her, Ms. Trejos was lost in a daydream as she rolled and swayed before a row of rocks, never relinquishing her euphoric glow. The problem wasn’t the subject matter, which could have easily been overly sentimental, but in the dance’s abruptness, a characteristic repeated in the new “Reina de la Noche” (“Queen of the Night”). The solo for Mr. Tosatti loosely told the story of a homeless woman in San José known for selling violets in bars and sleeping at night wrapped in a thick blanket. (The sight of a delicate form in a rough fabric was hauntingly captured in a video by Juan Manuel Fernandez.) In “Reina de la Noche” Mr. Tosatti, cloaked in a blanket that he later shed to reveal a terrifying mask, brought his subject to life with imposing creepiness. While full of startling images ”” he rolled out of the blanket revealing a brilliant pattern of colors ”” the too-brief work seemed an incomplete snapshot. While the final dance, “Paredes de Brillo Tímido” (“Shy Shining Walls”), was blessedly longer, this episodic study of a relationship suffered from strangely stunted pacing. With Ms. Trejos and Mr. Tosatti strapped in simple wooden chairs, the work demonstrated the pair’s tension, impeccable timing and almost frightening precision. Leaning back and delicately bobbing his head like a doll, Mr. Tosatti ”” his elasticity is uncanny ”” juxtaposed inhuman weightlessness with human anxiety. Once again the performances were captivating; the collaborators need only to free their vision, giving it the time and space it needs.

(New York Times, GIA KOURLAS)

/ PRODUCTION /

SCRIPT: Alexandro Tosatti

PERFORMERS: Alexandro Tosatti, Sandra Trejos

LIGHT: Jody Steiger, Alexandro Tosatti 

LIGHTING ENGINEER: Jorge Gonzales

MUSIC RECORDING: Claudio Schifani

CHOREOGRAPHY

CHOREOGRAPHY (Ladoelado): Sandra Trejos, Alexandro Tosatti 

CHOREOGRAPHY (La Pecera): Sandra Trejos, Alexandro Tosatti 

CHOREOGRAPHY (Duelo): Adriana Castaños (Mexico)

CHOREOGRAPHY (Baile e Ciegos): Sandra Trejos, Alexandro Tosatti

CHOREOGRAPHY (Los Viejos): Oscar Naters (Peru)

COMPOSERS: Wim Mertens, Stephan Micus, Patrick O'Hearn, Arvo Pärt, Jorge Reyes, Giacinto Scelsi, Kevin Volans

VIDEO PRODUCTION: AUDIOVISUALES CHIRRPO

EDITOR: Drew Irwin

GRAPHICS: Alberto Miranda

GENERAL PRODUCTION & CAMERA ASSISTANT: Ronal Villar

DIRECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Roberto Miranda

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