IONA KEWNEY
PRESS
'Iona Kewney is awesome – there’s no denying it. Her physical, visceral, shamanic performance is an extraordinary blend of contemporary circus and radical dance....'
TOTAL THEATRE. Dorothy Max Prior. 2015.
'I witnessed the suffocating intensity of Iona Kewney and could barely speak afterwards - a feral, mesmerising performance - somewhere between dance, improvisation and ritual."
THE GUARDIAN Performance Highlights of 2011. Andy Feld.
"There are few originals in any art form...dancer Iona Kewney has the unique combination of skills and experience to count as one of them.'
GARETH K VILE. 2009
'Loud and fast a single body pushing beyond extremes, a celebration of possibility founded on immaculate technique, "Self-interrupted exhibition" is Butoh in expression if not in detail, a profound attempt to make the invisible visible.. she covers unknown ground and forces the audience to gather their own responses.. Iona is for the HARD CORE'
Gareth K. Vile. 2009
'It is the confidence and understanding which appear to endow Kewney with the ability to transform, making it more an experiment with human form. She contorts into a series of what I can only describe as evolutionally possibilities; its borderline hallucinatory. These movements I feel I have only previously seen in animation... she not only has control over her body but the space she inhabits... this this moment is declaration of control: within this space Kewney is Everything'.
THE DOUBLE NEGATIVE Magazine. C James Fragan. 2012.
'New Territories favourite- and godess of radical dance- 'Kewney' re-teams with Joseph Quimby to astonish and demolish preconceptions about dance.'
THE SKINNY. 2011.
'Iona is a rare imp, a treasure...in truth nothing quite prepares you for her opening moves... the absolute Queen of dislocation/discoelation herself, Iona Kewney..accomplishes moves that would make a corkscrew envious.'
THE HERALD, Mary Brennan.
'What do you do with a talent like Iona Kewney's? The Scottish dance artist is unquestionably one of the most distinctive performers, an artist with extraordinary flexible body, a lively imagination and -to judge from recent works- a keen sense of the absurd.'
THE SCOTSMAN. Christopher Bowen.
'Meanwhile , Iona Kewney, a real life 'Wild Child' whom Alain Platel has learnt not to harness, contorts herself like a crab in a straightjacket, the bendiness of her limbs paradoxically suggests spasticity.'
THE TELEGRAPH.
'the oddest creature of this forest /asylum is Iona Kewney, a double-jointed contortionist equal parts wild boar and rythmic gymnast (no joke), who practically steals the show. This is a woman held together by cartilage,not bone. She moves like a 'toon' and splats her limbs on the floor as if her arms were wet towels. If you ran over her with a car she'd probably shape shift herself back whole.Kewney wriggles and writhes with stunning elan and has a voice big enough to fill an Opera house. All in a small compact package. When she is on stage it is hard to watch anyone else. She is that Odd and that Good!'
DANCE INSIDER, Rosa Mei. ANTWERP, Flash review of WIM VANDEKEYBUS show.
REPORT/REVIEW on WORKS, 2014.Italy.
‘Why is Iona Kewney so beautiful? Because she is transparent. Because she is strong. Because she never settles for cheap compromise. Because she offers herself entirely to her journey through emotion and movement. Because she never lies. Because she stakes her claim and then goes all the way. Because she knows fatigue and pain and loss and strife, but she never gives up until she gets past the horizon, st...raight into a brand new vision each time she steps on stage. Because she brings her armor with grace. Because she knows that beauty is eternal yet fragile, and that it demands everything an artist has to give. Because she is ferociously strong and amazingly straightforward. Because she cuts like a razor, yet is delicate like a lily. And because she allows us to see it all -
Iona Kewney stands before eternity like a brave child who refuses to close her eyes. In her sensitive gaze emotions glide, universes appear, and all the burden and the joy and the sorrows of human nature are allowed to (e)merge with the limbs, the spine, to the very end of the fingertips and beyond, because her frame irradiates way beyond the walls of each and every performing space.
Iona Kewney creates space and time anew, because she is a most gifted dancer and a courageous performer who dares delve deeper and deeper yet into the darkness and the light of her, our, human heart.
We are grateful for her courage, her beauty, her strength. We want to see more of her research, need her to be able to go on her journey for as long as she needs, because she does us, her public, good.
We wish Iona Kewney that she be not alone on her journey. We wish her strong and capable companions like the most talented musician and performer Joseph Quimby, who works beautifully alongside her. It's not easy to be Iona Kewney, because like all poets, albeit a physical alphabet poet, she has to endure much and walk alone in order to deliver those amazing images and unforgettable paths that make time liquid and space full of meaning. It's not easy to fight alongside her. But Joseph Quimby does it all beautifully, never overdoing it, and comes out a giant beside Iona Kewney, in a landscape that is at the same time primeval and future.
We need these sensitive artists to be able to go on for a long, long time. Because they do us good. Because they bring us straight to the place where Art can make a difference in an otherwise barren world that would tear us apart.
Iona Kewney is a most gifted, powerful and truly contemporary dancer and performer.
Please give her many occasions to bring her work to her public. We need her truth and her strength.’
EUGENIA PRALORAN. Journalist and Critic. ‘Mirabilia’ ITALY 2013.
Interview: The Menial collection. Houston Texas USA 2017.
Interview: Prague Radio 2016