Sanctum - Imago

Sanctum et Imago sont deux spectacles notables dans l’oeuvre d’Alwin Nikolaïs avec l’utilisation nouvelle de costumes déformant le corps des danseurs.

As soon as the curtain rose on the Prologue of Sanctum at the Henry Street Playhouse last night, it was obvious that Alwin Nikolais, the creator of the work, had not run out of ideas for dance‐theater effects.

The floor was full of dancers lying flat on their faces. Above them on a swinging trapeze bar was Murray Louis, hang­ing head down.

This was just the beginning of a full‐length work of 10 dances. Sanc­tum, like Imago, Mr. Niko­lais’s full‐length work of last year, could be described, there­fore, as a suite of dances, even of what happens does not al­ways look like dancing as it is commonly envisioned.

In his tireless search for novel pictorial effects, Mr. Nikolais has found some of the most complex and stunning color lighting combinations this re­viewer has ever seen on the stage.

As always with Mr. Niko­lais’s productions, he is respon­sible for almost everything in Sanctum—the electronic sound score, the choreography, the lighting and the training of all the performers. It represents a formidable accomplishment.

Source : ALLEN HUGHES, FEB. 21, 1964, The New York Times