Photo: Dominik Werner.
Dada von Bzdülöw Theatre will tour India in February with Play it, or 17 Dances About Something. The company has accepted invitations to take part in two theatre festivals on the subcontinent: Bharat Rang Mahotsav in New Delhi and Agartala (4 and 6 February) and the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival in Mumbai (12 February). Play it will be featured at the BRM festival among seven other international acts. It was selected from among 500 entries for the way it tackles popular culture clichés to tell a story of our inability to access the past, our personal history, and another person.
The Bharat Rang Mahotsav Festival, held since 1999 by the National School of Drama in New Delhi, has been set up to support the development of theatre in India. Originally a showcase of the most creative Indian acts, the event has evolved into an international festival hosting theatre companies from across the globe, to finally become the largest theatre festival on the subcontinent.
Apart from appearing in New Delhi and Agartala (Tripura), Dada von Bzdülöw will also take part in the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, another highly valued theatre festival, hod in Mumbai.
It is Dada von Bzdülöw’s second appearance at the Bharat Rang Mahotsav. In 2007 the company went to New Delhi to showcase Several Witty Observations (?la Gomborowicz), while Leszek Bzdyl was presented with the Theatre Pasta Theatre Award administered by three organisations, Chilsag International, Actor?s Experimental Lab USA and Theatre Pasta, the International Theatre Magazine, and supported by MIdland Solutions London the UK.
Read an excerpt from Przemysław Gulda’s article “17 Świetnych tańców o czymś” (17 Excellent Dances About Something) published in Gazeta Wyborcza ?Trójmiasto on 13 May 2013:
“After twenty years of a successful career, Dada von Bzdülöw dancers do not need to prove anything to anybody. And it clearly shows in the piece: there is no muscle flexing, no showing off, no pretentiousness or attempts to prove something at any cost. Instead you see mature minimalism in the use of means of expression, which are abundant but do not obscure any meanings; perfect sense of tone; effortless class. A superb performance.”
Schedule:
New Delhi
4 February / 1 pm and 5 pm
Bahumukh Auditorium
Agartala (Tripura)
6 February / 6 pm
Rabindra Satabarshiki Bhawan
Mumbai
12 February / 6:30 pm
Cross Maiden Venue
About Play it, or 17 Dances About Something:
It is the year 2044. Janina, Jan, and Janka start their work on an experimental documentary. In one of the rooms of a well-preserved theatre museum they use ancient technologies (MacBookPro, multimedia projector, etc.), costumes (Milan Fashion Week 2013) and emotions (cinema, dance, theatre of the early 21st century), to try to play out SOMETHING that used to be the THING. The experiment is supported and inspired by the philosophy of Return and Acceptance of Wilhelm Guido.
Press reviews:
“(?) [M]ature minimalism in the use of means of expression, which are abundant but do not obscure any meanings; perfect sense of tone; effortless class. A superb performance.”
Przemysław Gulda, Gazeta Wyborcza ?Trójmiasto
“17 Dances About Something” gives us 17 games with convention, pop culture, contemporary art and cinema. They also give us three very successful dance, and acting, performances.”
Katarzyna Gajewska, Port Kultury
“The company’s Dada roots pushed the artists to experiment with the stability of meanings and diverting our attention from the seriousness of associations that enslave us all.”
Katarzyna Wysocka, Gazeta Świętojańska
Premiere: 9 May 2013, Wybrzeże Theatre (Scena Malarnia)
directed, choreographed, and performed by:
Katarzyna Chmielewska, Anna Steller, Leszek Bzdyl
set design: Michał Kołodziej
costume archaeologist: Magda Bem
multimedia: Maciej Salamon
music: iTunes and Adam Witkowski
Produced by: Dada von Bzdülöw Theatre/ Wybrzeże Theatre, Gdańsk
Supported by the Gdańsk City Hall
The artists would like to thank the Burdąg artists’ retreat and Zatoka Sztuki in Sopot
About the piece on the website of the Dada Theatre:
http://www.dadateatr.pl/pl/dada/repertuar/zagraj-to-czyli-17-tancow-o-czyms
About the piece on the website of the Wybrzeże Theatre:
http://www.teatrwybrzeze.pl/spektakle/zagraj-to-czyli-17-tancow-o-czyms
Vimeo
Organised by the National School of Drama, the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, and the Polish Institute in New Delhi.
Dada’s tour of India is supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Warsaw.
