On the 19, 20 and 21 May 2014 from 8:00 pm, the Czech premiere of a unique mystical piano ballet will take place in the main living area of the Villa Tugendhat: Eric Satie’s USPUD and a contemporary “electro-acoustic” choreography named Emoticon.
ProART Company and choreographer Martin Dvořák focus in their work on unconventional stage renditions of works of classical music. After previous projects, Foreign Bodies, Beethoven – Tolstoy – Janáček: Kreutzer Sonata, Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale and String Quartets, ProART decided to continue in their dramaturgical direction in presenting a Christian mystical or mystification ballet USPUD by Eric Satie and a choreography called Emoticon with music of a contemporary ensemble Piano Interrupted featuring Tomas Hodge and Franz Kirmann.
Uspud is a musical theatre piece from 1892 and the author identified it as a “Christian ballet in three acts” with a text by J. P. Contamine de Latour. To date, however, it is unclear in what way the text should be presented in the ballet, there is no direct link to the score. The text is not composed to the notes or the rhythm, it is only there and encourages to a free directorial and interpretative rendition. Uspud was originally intended as a shadow play to be presented in a nightclub in Montmartre. Satie finally brought it to the stage here, but it is not documented whether there ever was a scenic concept at all. A strange and complicated piece is a parody and a serious act at the same time, an incomplete and “inexecutable” conceptual gesture. What Satie meant by it is unclear. The music can not be played on instruments referred to in the score. The work is often seen as a parody of an opera and the then Wagnerian Gesamtkunstwerk. The piece is a synthesis of music, movement, text and conceptual vision.
The concept of the Emoticon choreography in the second part of the evening is marked by conflicts of the old and new, the past and present. Just like the villa itself radically changed the perception and aesthetics of architecture in its time, this musical composition is also a clash of modern piano compositions of the 20th century with the present. An acoustic piano piece alludes to 21st century electronic compositions and breaks into a new shape, closer to listeners of today’s young generation. Both artists – Irene Bauer and Martin Dvořák – are looking for a possible dialogue between the fixed structure of Satie’s score and the free sound of Hodge and Kirmann. In the free enclosure of the villa walls, it is a professional confession of two exceptional dance theatre personalities. A dialogue of acoustic instruments – piano and strings – with electronics stands here as a starting point for movement on the stage. Thanks to the musical accompaniment by Richard Pohl the overall musical design is a “clash” of live and recorded music.
The uniqueness of the project is enhanced by the premiere in Villa Tugendhat in Brno, which will offer its premises for a dance project and thus indirectly refer to the times past, when the same site was used as a dance school. It is therefore not for the first time that dance will come to the villa.
Alongside choreographer, director and artist Martin Dvořák, the project will also include pianist Richard Pohl, Brno City Theatre actor Aleš Slanina and ProART Company dancer Irene Bauer. Costume design is the work of visual artist Jindra Rychlá.
The project is presented in the production of the Villa Tugendhat and ProART Company, with financial support of the City of Brno, Život umělce Foundation and the State Fund of Culture of the CR.
Direction, choreography: Martin Dvořák
Music: Eric Satie, Tom Hodge, Franz Kirmann
Costumes: Jindra Rychlá
Performers: Irene Bauer, Martin Dvořák, Aleš Slanina
Piano: Richard Pohl
Photography: Marek Procházka
More at http://www.proart-festival.cz/en/
TICKET RESERVATIONS AND SALE:
Reservation by e-mail at info@tugendhat.eu or by phone at 515511015.
Price: CZK 300
The capacity of one screening is limited to 30 people.
Stiletto heels are not permitted in the interior of the villa.