“A Thrilling Night With The Vampire In Läckö (...) The show opens with an impressively choreographed Witches' Sabbath.”- Seen and Heard, 2018
“A horror opera? How thrilling can this be? The answer is, quite a lot! (...) Humour and romance are collocated all the time. With small tools the artistic team is using the location with maximal effectual results. The stage room is limited, but in Johannes Schmids directing and Anna Holters choreographing, there is still room for quite a big ensemble in the most varying constellations. The scene changes are quick and keeps the audience constantly on the toes. A real holistic experience.”- Göteborgsposten, 2018
Ronja Räubertochter
“The wonderful opera evening lives from the music, the opulent stage design and by Anna Holter - Magnificent choreographed dance settings”
- General - Anzeiger Bonn, 2017
Vom Mädchen, das nicht schlafen wollte
“The choreographer Anna Holter shows with her dancers how high you can reach. Especially the big dance of joy towards the end which is a firework within choreographic possibilities and you don't know what hit you.”
- Michael S. Zerban, Opernnetz.de, 2015
“Brilliant soloists, choir, ballet, stage musicians. 90 min full of surprising conversion, shifting emotions, with fantasy and tempo, humour and romance (...) every picture like a dream from the fish - ballet to the moon.”
- Anke Horstmeier, WAZ, 2014
Die Entführung aus dem Serail für Kinder
“Director Johannes Schmid and choreographer Anna Holter successfully proved a poetic and accentuated story.”
- Christa Dietrich, Vorarlberger Nachrichten, 2013
“The children were so filled with admiration at the premiere this weekend, they could almost not sit still in their chairs.”
- Hanna Pfaffenwimmer, Salzburger Nachrichten, 2013
Kitchen
“Holter smoothly choreographs tension and dynamic contrasts. Brilliant dancers (...) Atmospheric and physical strong dance theatre piece.”
- Gabriella Lorenz, Abendzeitung, 2009
Thema 3
“In Thema 3 the Swedish-born Anna Holter investigates the number three and its spirituality and its magic. Holter creates a dance of attraction and rejection. Inclusion and exclusion. The superb high point of a gripping evening.”
- Florian Welle, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 2008
Echo - From Yesterday And Tomorrow
“Young talent in sight: The Swedish dancer Anna Holter attracted attention immediately after finishing at the Ivanson School in Munich. Now, if not with one of her previous dozen pieces, she demands attention as a serious choreographer with her latest piece.”
“Physical Motor
Anna Holter's "Echo" in i-camp
Four dancers at the front of the stage: Holter, on the right, falteringly begins to read her own poem, stopping frequently to elaborate it with complicated explanations. The other three sit bored, like slippery electric eels on their chairs. Oh no! Not another ridiculously ironic blabbered piece of dance theatre!
The fear is unfounded. The four soon activate their physical motors, this time at the back of the stage, and paint their own narrow airspace with individual Brüssel Spitze Bewegungen. They follow one another down a zig-zag path of light, like children in a fairytale by moonlight. They reach for one another's hands and fall apart under the uncontrollable tension; their figures are turned into delicately sculptured quartets by Reinhard Kopp's lighting. Aside from their distinctive solos, Holter's colleagues also offer personal stories. From these, according to the programme, a collective consciousness should be formed which is investigated through dance. The audience needn't worry about this construct very much, but it has visibly helped Holter to structure her space and 80 minutes into a clear and logical rhythm. The four dancers bring personal charisma in addition to their virtuoso skills in movement and this means their little spoken "Echos of yesterday and tomorrow", lend this piece, despite it's abstract nature, a human warmth.”
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- Malve Gradinger, 2006
“It is certainly not bad to have as much room for movement in your head as Anna Holter does.”
“Memories and desires are the invisible threads which hold a life together, making it a whole with a beginning and an end. What happens in between is play and movement and this, be it intentionally or by accident, always defines space. According to the Munich choreographer and dancer Anna Holter "Space does not exist in isolation; it rather reveals itself with every step which is taken into it."
Echo - from yesterday and tomorrow is Holter's new 80 minute production in i-camp in the Entenbachstrasse, it is also the concluding part of her "Meeting" Trilogy, begun with Meeting with Oneself (2004) and continued with Involved (2005). Four dancers, Nadine Gerspacher, Linda Samaraweerová, Vivien Holm and Holter herself form together something like a multiple identity. Flexibly related to one another, but never the same, they create their own rather fanciful stories. In the foyer Samaraweerová urges the audience to give her presents of gold jewellery for her birthday, on the stage this continues with an echo from the past, the song "These foolish things", which we vaguely remember Frank Sinatra once sang, is read by Holter as if it were her own poem. She reads and interprets line by line, taking pleasure in every rhyme while the other three women increasingly twitch in studied boredom on their chairs like hyperactive children until dance emerges from these incidental gestures.
As previously, Holter uses an open multi-layered structure and allows her dancers enough freedom to create individual movements and bizarre pieces of improvised speech before the four come together once more to form a collective girly gang which explores its way step by step in a danced zig-zag line.
However for the purpose of learning, it is certainly no bad thing to have as much room for movement in your head as Anna Holter does.”
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- Silvia Stammen, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 2006
Involved
“A moving, enjoyable piece by Anna Holter - With her second sell-out piece Involved Swedish choreographer Anna Holter, who lives in Munich, presents a touching analysis of how human beings live together. The choreographed encounters, conflicts and moments of high emotion - intensively portrayed by Nadine Gerspacher, Anna Holter, Helmut Ott, Franziska Unseld and Linda Samaraweerová - leave the viewers no chance to distance themselves emotionally. Get involved!"
- Tanzkalender, 2006
"Holter is an obvious talent when it comes to form. Her images are attractive: from the group tableaux for five to those crazy wigs and the anonymous uniforms in carefully selected red, beige and brown; from the tiny movements to the feeling for the entire room at i-camp. It's wonderful to see someone so concerned with their impression as a whole. And she's got energy. She's found a couple of restless girls of her own calibre - off they go like ??? on speed. Those are the best moments: when they shake their fake manes as though they wanted resurrect "Hair". Relax, people!"
- Katja Werner, Abendzeitung, 2005
In-dividuum & 1st Time Told
“Swedish dancer Anna Holter, who is based in Munich and well-known here, has ventured a two-part solo performance. Sequence captivates: While Holter dances toward the background screen, she creates the illusion that the young man projected onto the screen has an emotional connection to her. As he pulls out his mobile telephone, he appears to speak to her. Anna Holter knows how to use video, music (Rupert Huber) and lighting (Karl Schlagenhaufer). She has imagination in movement and a feeling for phrase.“
- Malve Gradinger, 2002
“For several years now, the young Swedish dancer Anna Holter has been dancing in Munich: powerfully, athletically and, at the same time, with a faint touch of being in danger, on the edge, that makes her work so attractive. That is how she appeared in a number of pieces Karen Effenberger, Manfred Kröll, Johanna Richter and - what was particularly impressive - by Mia Lawrence. So too, does she appear in her own choreographies, two of which she is now presenting in i-camp.”
- Katja Schneider, 2002
“Anna Holter, from Stockholm, likes the comparison between choreography and solving mathematical equations. She takes the inspiration for her dance solos from scientific and philosophical texts. Not really something for the purists, but definitely for fans experimentation with various media. In her latest pieces In-dividuum alias atomo and 1st time told, Holter sets the stage with videos, lighting design, club music and a poet - as well as dance, of course.”
- Peter M. Boenisch, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 2002
Zooming - Ein Solo Für Drei
“The Bodv As A Dancing Sculpture.
The Swedish dancer, Anna Holter, has become the great hope of the Munich scene”
“For the last six years, Anna Holter from Stockholm has been living and dancing in Munich. With her short choreographies - most recently,
Zooming
was performed in Theater Und So Fort in the series "Secret Solos" - she is about to make a name for herself as the big new hope of the local scene. As a part of the festival tanzmetropol.e, which takes place in the Metropol-Theater in Freimann from today until May 23rd, the 25 year old will show a cross-section of her young repertoire (17th and 18th May, 8:30pm). In 1995, Anna moved to Munich from Stockholm to complete her dance training at the school of her Swedish compatriot, Jessica Iwanson. She emphasises however: "I never really wanted to be a dancer, in the way that all girls see a prima ballerina and say, "I want to be able to do that, too." She began with jazz dance as an eleven year old, and didn't develop classical steps until quite late. At school performances, she took a liking to being on stage and dancing. "After finishing school, I simply wanted to get out of Sweden and see what it was like to dance professionally." Even before her Professional training was over, she got a part in Weiße Ehe in the Residenz Theatre, danced in a musical in Austria, and performed in a piece by the Munich choreographer, Manfred Kröll. From that point on, she has moved further and further into contemporary dance - including the first choreographies of her own, which emerged from 1998 onwards, and of which a new version of the duet, Barfüßige Engel
, can also be seen at her performance during the Tanzmetropol.e festival. While other choreographic debutants often concentrate too rigidly on dance and body, Anna Holter quickly understood how to form movement, light, music, and props into images, which are clearly conceived and atmospherically emotional, and yet always light and unobtrusive. "Choreographing is like forming a sculpture: you build something here, take something away from one point and bring it back somewhere else" says Anna Holter, who also enjoys painting privately. The starting point for her pieces is not an idea of movement, but topics which occupy the dancer's thoughts. With Zooming
, for example, she closely examines "seeing", "observing", and "not seeing". For this project, she submersed herself in psychological and philosophical literature on the topic: "When I'm occupied with something, there are times when I just read, and at that point it becomes very theoretical. Upon these impressions, I build my story, which I put down on paper. There are still no movements - only gradually do images and scenes begin to develop in my mind".
Zooming , had originally been intended for several dancers, however due to a lack of funds, it became Holter's first solo, which she had choreographed for herseif. "You're completely alone; you have to sit down and think on your own; and then you're in the Studio, alone in this big room and you can only criticise yourself," is how she describes the experience. "I used to think, I'd need at least 10 years before I could do that, but in the end, it was really terrific." Her next big goal would now be a piece filling an entire evening - however, Anna Holter remains modest and cautious: "As long as it interests me, and I feel that I've got something to say, I'll keep building upon this foundation", said Anna about her future. That doesn't necessarily have to be in Munich, since as she emphasises herseif, she still has "one or two feet in Stockholm.”
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- Peter M. Boenisch, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 2001
“A game of light and shadow
The choreographer Anna Holter puts on a convincing performance at "Theater Und So Fort"
It looks promising: with her piece Zooming
Anna Holter shows what a highly imaginative choreographer she is. (...)This short solo piece remains open to interpretation; its images and precise sequences of movement capture the audience. Anna Holter employs stage effects masterfully, in particular, music and a game of light and shadow. Following her successful debut, this young dancer seems to have what it takes to become the new talent of Munich's modern dance scene - A short evening that, with Anna Holter, has a worthwhile discovery to offer.”
“A game of light and shadow
The choreographer Anna Holter puts on a convincing performance at "Theater Und So Fort"
It looks promising: with her piece Zooming
Anna Holter shows what a highly imaginative choreographer she is.
At the beginning she's kneeling in front of a television, only her head and torso are moving. Later she stalks across the stage in werwolf's feet - suddenly there's laughter mixed among her movements, then scarcely audible whispers.
On the stage floor and backdrop there are letters of the alphabet.
This short solo piece remains open to interpretation; its images and precise sequences of movement capture the audience.
Anna Holter employs stage effects masterfully, in particular, music and a game of light and shadow. Following her successful debut, this young dancer seems to have what it takes to become the new talent of Munich's modern dance scene - A short evening that, with Anna Holter, has a worthwhile discovery to offer. ”
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- Peter M. Boenisch, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 2001