Enigma

The spectacle takes place behind the curtain. A magician saws their assistant in half, and we gasp. A writer hides one word behind another, and we gasp. The lights go on, and no one sees. A white horse is not a horse. We speak in the language of gestures. This here is a design, this here is an idiom, and that over in the corner is a metaphor. These are the first fragments of an unfolding mystery, the sweet slaps of the unknown. What is hidden in one place emerges elsewhere, revealed only to you—the children of teaching and knowledge.

The starting point of Enigma is riddles. A riddle consists of two parts: the question (the task) and the answer (the solution). Simple in form, inexhaustible in essence: the first recorded riddle, 3,000 years old, remains unsolved. The second starting point is choreography as a linguistic system. A movement is a word, a sequence is a sentence, and the body is full of meaning to the throat. In Enigma, cryptic language meets symbolic body. It is a dialogue between two riddle-solvers who cannot answer any question directly, who immerse themselves in secret meaning-making, who wrestle with truth and logic.

Think, think—what is it?

Elle Viies graduated from the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy in dance. Viies has performed solo works at inklingroom events and Loora Kaubi’s exhibition Man Never Dreams of the Sun. She has participated as a performer in productions in Tallinn and Tartu (Ruslan Stepanov’s Floor on Fire, Sigrid Savi’s Tropica) and as a choreographer in Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava’s director debut series PREMIERE with the piece Pastoral. She is currently a 2024/2025 season resident at TantsuRUUM and teaches performance art in the Estonian Dance Agency’s dance school.

“Riddling forces thought, and thought gives birth to understanding.” (C. E. Mõtleja, 1878, Book of Riddles)