Pressen skrev om Stigma

Væsenet er i al sin fremmedartethed så intenst, at tilskueren instinktivt er ved at udbryde: Kom ikke nærmere! … Men inde i den dæmoniske frakke glimter humoren momentvis… og indimellem reduceres danserens nøgne hud og muskler til abstrakte udtryksfulde former… Gennem minimalismen begynder man at skimte et omfattende spektrum af visioner. En halv times koncis forestilling, mægtigere end sin størrelse. Den stærkeste oplevelse på festivalens åbningsdag.              Tenka Issakainen, Lapin Kansa, Finland, 7. juni 2019

STIGMA was created in 1999 …. and could be even more relevant than when it was created 20 years ago. In contemporary society where identity politics can be a defining narrative of one’s place in the world based on colour and class; stigmatisation is an internal battle that every human faces. Bringing these challenges into choreographic thinking with the body expands the conversation beyond a place in time and space – the meaning of the piece grows as the environmental landscape changes. 
Cloe Chotrani, Artsequator, Singapore, juli 2019

The world of STIGMA is peculiar and stunning… a visual feast…. I sat there with a sense of wide-eyed curiosity and amazement. And perhaps it is through this curious lens without preconception or prejudice that STIGMA encourages us to approach the other. Despite being 20 years old STIGMA still feels fresh and avant-garde. 
Valerie Lim, Five Lines, Singapore, juni 2019

Stigma presents a creature unlike any I have seen before (…) The rumbling, wet soundscape keeps you on edge with your eyes on Johnson, as it made me feel as she could sprint straight off stage into the audience at any moment. Johnson’s incredible body control and unique manipulation of costuming attest to her massive worldwide success.                                                Deanne Kearney, Mooney on theatre, Canada, november 2018

This intriguing work is very European … Johnson’s cerebral choreography contains the wisdom of the ages, and is fey, even precious in its presentation. There is a delicacy and whimsy to her work that is just not part of a North American aesthetic.
Paula Citron, The Globe and Mail, Canada, oktober 2004

Stigma is, at heart, a meditation on connotation – not just the meanings of the title but the signs and significances of the body. When she moves, Johnson creates an incredibly flexible body-language that can be grotesquely deformed, incredibly vulnerable, richly personal yet highly expressive of inner states. Her body sets up no filters, no defences. It lays itself bare to influences of light and dark, sound, and some invisible spiritual force. When she stands unhooded, bare-breasted and almost nude, with a shower of sand pouring down on her upturned face, she completes a stunning composition of hypnotic intensity, shifting geometric shapes and planes, extraordinary animality and ineffable spirituality. She turns the gothic into something mysteriously magical.
Keith Garebian, Stage and Page, Canada, november 2004

Johnson is an absolutely riveting performer. She could almost be seen as an amalgan of two styles’ greatest exponents – Kazuo Ohno crossed with Mary Wigman. Stigma is the pinnacle of seasoned artistry.
Michael Crabb, National Post, Canada, oktober 2004

Not since Ingmar Bergman filled the screen with haunting images of gloom and doom has such a character visited us …
William Littler, Toronto Star, Canada, oktober 2004

Disturbing transformations powered by inner states … elegantly, phantasmagorically minimal.
Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice, USA, august 2003

The body is a microscope or telescope through which we observe the minute and the vast pulse of life simultaneously … Johnson’s exposed back and flanged shoulder blades, her ribs and breasts become gaping mouths, planes and hollows, shifting optical illusions under the influence of which we loose our grip on reality … a wonderful manipulation of audience perception that also carries a profound social message. What is a stigma? … Johnson’s tight, controlled work remains etched in our minds, covering less ground and more constricted meaning, but full and complete. It suggests that the power of the solo is the ability to stand both inside and outside a work of imagination, as both shaman and artist, medium and message, if you will, controlled and controlling.
Allison Tracey, The Berkshire Eagle, USA, juli 2003

… as a tribute to the downtrodden … a female counterpart of the lackless fellow who became a cockroach in Kafka’s story … unusual, vividly expressive solo … The continuing vitality of the soloform was affirmed.
Jack Anderson, New York Times, USA, juli 2003

… i en klasse for sig. Hun behøvede intet isenkram for at ændre rummet til én åndende nærværelse, samlet i en enorm koncentration om det marginale, men udødelige væsen, som blev til for øjnene af os.  Det var den fuldstændige omskabelse af kroppen. Den blev til væsener, som stod uden for det muliges kontrol… Hentet fra cellernes mørklagte erindring!
Janus Kodal, Politiken, februar 2003

A Sorceress in the greatcoat of a desert insect…undergoing various curious and alarming deformations she exposes the body from the angle of a peculiar and cold animality. An extraordinary composition…scalding and rigorous. Don’t miss it.
L.V.D.W., L’Express, Belgium, august 2001

A rich inner world of images … the body looks hollow and spiritual … the touch of her extremities on the floor is hypnotizing … Her movement quality creates a halo of magic.
Ruth Eshel, Ha’aretz, Israel, juni 2001

Kitt Johnsons nærvær fortryller sjælen…som en figur fra en tidlig Ingmar Bergman film – mørk og gådefuldt ildevarslende. Det er et ydmygt, men modigt og modent værk der både rører følelserne og udfordrer intellektet.
The Jerusalem Post, Israel, juni 2001

A masterpiece on stage. Huge bravura, a lot of atmosphere, deep emotion. The plasticity of the body, the perfection of the gestures and the absolute harmony between sound and movement fused into the most excellent artistic expression.
La Paginaquattro, Italy, marts 2001

Aftenens hit var imidlertid Kitt Johnsons intense Stigma, der som et grotesk forvandlingsbillede omskabte sig fra ligbleg pietist og lidende madonna, til insekt i ørkenen, falden sort engel og hvinende hekseridt over scenen. Genialt!
Majbritt Hjelmsbo, Weekendavisen, november 1999

… en sejr for Kitt Johnson, der træder ind i ingenmandslandets endeløse søjle af silende støvkorn… den mest bizarre udholdenhed… en afklarethed i sin form og en dramaturgisk spændingsbalance, der præsenterer resultatet efter årevis af arbejde – nonchalant og uanseligt anrettet som sjældne delikatesser på et sushifad…. tilskyndet af Sture Ericson og Jacob Kirkegaards iltre musik.
Anne Middelboe Christensen, Information, november 1999

Med sin vanlige sans for at deformere kroppen og skabe absurde kropsdimensioner og perspektiver gennem fantasifuld udnyttelse af kostume og lys, oplever man en utrolig intensitet i Kitt Johnsons langsomme, minimalistiske bevægelsessprog i Stigma… fint akkompagneret af live-lydbilleder skabt af Sture Ericson og Jacob Kirkegaard.
Vibeke Wern, Berlingske Tidende, november 1999

Et skummelt væsen, for hvilket stigmatiseringen har sat sig i bevægelsen, i alle led af den sammenkrøllede, knortede og pukkelryggede krop… en komposition af ekstrem beherskelse… mere effektivt end så meget andet soloarbejde.
Alexander Meinertz, Politiken, november 1999

Foto: James Quah
Performer: Kitt Johnson