the turquoise ether magazine’s mission is to publish independent critical reviews of promising artists from over The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)

Turquoise #13 — Mariia Tyminskaia (Russia)

Mariia Tyminskaia is an artist from Saint-Petersburg, who uses her words and body for a myriad of artistic messages. She explores herself and the world through contemporary dance, theatrical performance and poetry. Studying linguistics and cross-cultural communication at Saint-Petersburg State University, Mariia realised that she wanted to apply the gained experience to the plane of art to express the meanings surrounding her, using non-trivial instruments. That urge led her to Drama Studio London, where she studied acting and perfected her dancing skills. At the same time her deeply rooted love for languages and foreign cultures along with her family with choreographic background pushed Mariia to never-ending experiments, resulting in performances all around the world.

One of such projects is ‘UNTIL I FALL’ — a series of open-air performances spread throughout 4 cities: Saint-Petersburg, Sochi, Helsinki and Dubai, bringing contemporary dance through the movement and dynamics into the cityscape intertwining with disappearing nature. Six shows in different parts of the world revealing the uniqueness of each place came together into a single semiotic line: a struggle between nature and urban jungle, and the human in the midst of it. This longlasting large-scale project ended with a final performance and an exhibition in S’Residency gallery in Helsinki curated by Vera Kavaleuskaya, where photos and videos uniting previous shows into a single composition were displayed.

Performances vary in their mood, expressing the inner state of the artist and environment she put herself into. Razor-sharp yet smooth moves drawing in glances and space akin to a wormhole are juxtaposed to neurotic and torn pas, creating tension, bursting anxiety through external fluctuations as if pulling every spectator’s inner string in each of these performances.

Mariia received first prize in ‘Solo’ nomination at the international festival of arts “Gold Ray”, which took place in France and Germany in 2019. This victory was granted to her for ironic yet deeply passionate and rooted in genuine concern solo performance playing on the theme of climate crisis ‘Ice cream’, the name of which itself reflects the dual nature of the concept. I took the opportunity and attended dress rehearsals for the festival gala, where I saw the performance. Ice cream — I scream: the heroine screams with her dance in hopes that internal ice melts for the salvation of the ice that is external. The use of different levels, especially lower ones, and challenging technical elements along with bold exploitation of the space and provocative acrobatics streamlines this challenging for comprehension idea to a single moment in space and time.

“I was fascinated by Maria’s professionalism and creativity, by the way she playfully yet precisely reflected such a crucial topic for our times, having used only the language of her body.”

Coordinator of “Gold Ray” international festival of arts Martin Alennen.

Author ✍️ Anton Medvedev for turquoise ether magazine