PREMIERE: Tantehorse: physical mime theatre (CZ) + Bohren & Der Club of Gore (DE) First show of the co-produced project Faith directed by Miřenka Čechová
Miřenka Čechová Miřenka Čechová,is an actor, performer, choreographer and director from the Czech Republic. She is one of the leading proponents of physical theatre in Europe and the creator of a special genre called physical mime. She is co-founder of the Spitfire Theatre Company (physical theatre) and Tantehorse: physical mime theatre (physical mime and butoh). Her work with these companies has been presented in over eleven European countries. Additionally, her solo work has been presented in four European nations as well as the United States and Japan. Miřenka Čechová is also a founding member of The International Festival Zero Point, which brings the best of physical, mime, visual and multi-genres theatre forms to Prague from throughout Europe. Dr. Čechová is on the faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts (AMU) in Prague. She earned her Ph.D. in Physical Theatre Direction and Mime from the same institution and has done significant work in Japanese butoh and, most recently, hip-hop. In 2011, Dr. Čechová received a Fulbright Scholarship for lecturing and research at American University in Washington, DC. http://www.mirenkacechova.com
Bohren & Der Club Of Gore
If you enjoy it slow and low, Cologne and Mülheim / Ruhr-based Bohren & Der Club Of Gore will very likely do the trick. In fact, with each subsequent release the German quartet's music grows increasingly refined (i.e. incredibly fucking spare). Bohren are often dubbed doom-jazz, though this hardly defines the sound. Consider, maybe, the recent crop of jazz-oriented Rune Grammofon releases, then remove 1/2 of the notes and replace any and all folksiness and/or Blue Note overtones with foreboding minimalist dirge and a Sunn 0))) streak. Now, mix in some John Cage, because Bohren & der Club of Gore are masters of silence, using space and shadows rather than volume increases or additional sounds to create (and maintain) dynamics.
And they've been at it awhile: Thorsten Benning, Robin Rodenberg , Morten Gass, and Reiner Henseleit (who left the band in 1996 and was replaced a year later by the ivory-tickling saxophonist Christoph Clöser) began playing together in 1988, mining a metallic hardcore sound. As Bohren & der Club of Gore, they released Gore Motel in 1994, followed by the 2×CD Midnight Radio (1995), Sunset Mission (2000), Black Earth (2002;) Geisterfaust, (translated from the German as Ghost Fist 2005) and now Bohren's new studio album “dolores” (dolor is Spanish for pain). With each album, Bohren & Der Club Of Gore are further approaching the end of the world. There is no documentation of how they buried their own past as hardcore legend 7 Inch Boots, and how they began to explore the boundaries of time and endless darkness. Perhaps they met one night, in the shade of trees, beneath a cloudy death moon. A rising storm may have carried the howling of wolves or the flutter of black wings. This is the twilight zone of the Bohren mystery, where inconclusive evidence and hearsay strengthen the power of the dark secret. Journalists called it 'horror jazz' The addition of Christoph Clöser's saxophone brought a deceiving sheen to Bohren 's quicksand of the 'dark mainstream'. On the 'Dark Victory' tour, Bohren expanded their arsenal of horror, in half darkness, with chains dangling from the ceiling like meat hooks. A cold breath could be felt. Morten Gass says: 'The goal was to create a quiet heaviness, which is otherwise only achieved using distorted guitars and lots of noise.' Bohren's trip into darkness has found the parking space closest to purgatory yet. The color particles of once-upon-a-time have finally been ground to dust. No kidding around, no excuses, just drums creeping forward with the brushes, the trademark Bohren double bass, detuned to gloomy depths, and with it Fender Rhodes, saxophone, vibraphone and Melotron – for the film in your head and the knife in your back. The various parallel worlds of the Bohren universe flow together into a single seductive stream of blackest velvet. Bohren project the listener back to the horrors of one's own imagination. Chromed bone torches rummage through the scarlet-red shadows. It prefers to remain unnamed. The bridge between Black Sabbath, Autopsy and the smile of Sade – an understanding of the dark side of pop culture. (Text taken from Pitchforkmedia.com)
