Showing posts with label about tap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label about tap. Show all posts

Friday, May 29, 2015

"NOLA"

This is not wedding related but from my work as a choreographer and dancer.

On April 8th 2015 my latest dance theater production "NOLA" premiered at Kampnagel, Hamburg. It was a pleasure to work with such wonderful artists like Meschiya Lake, Travis Knights, Daniel Larsson, Sandra Kluge and my wife Ellen Marek.
We had an amazing band featuring Russell Welch, Kurt Holzkämper, Markus Voigt, Melf Uwe Holmer and Stefan Dahm.
The show was a huge success with over 2000 tickets sold. Here is a little video clip from the first choreography "Prologue"



NOLA "Prologue" from Thomas Marek on Vimeo.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

6 years ago Tap Dance project: about_tap vol no 2

While going through a bunch of old photos I came across a tap dance production I did in 2006. It was called "about_tap vol no 2" and it premiered very successfully at Kampnagel, Hamburg.
It was basically a staged, live portrait of six tap dancers of different generations and cultural backgrounds. The show mixed photography, spoken interviews, choreography and jazz.

The title was in reference to a film called "About tap" by George T. Nierenberg, which was a documentary on 3 tap dancers (Chuck Green, Jimmy Slyde and Steve Condos). As a youngster I watched that film a million times and it was a huge inspiration for my dancing.
With my show I wanted to create a staged and more abstract version of a tap dance portrait and their dancers. The idea was to photograph and interview each dancer in their hometown and ask them about their opinions and feelings about the dance form but also their career and life. It was a very personal and biographical show and I was lucky to work with some of the best dancers around.

In Paris I interviewed Sarah and Leela Petronio, Brenda Bufalino in New York and New Paltz, NY. Josh Hilberman in Boston, Pia Neises in Cologne and a self portrait of me in Hamburg.

In pre production interviews, footage and music where put together and were a starting point for the choreography. Later we all met in Hamburg for 4 or 5 weeks to put together the show and perform it.
It was a unique experience. Every dancer generously gave me personal footage and background information on their dance lifes that got mixed together into a full evening show.
It was very successful back then and I often feel that it should be revisited sometime. Very good memories.

Here is a video clip of the show and a couple of photos that were taken during that creative process.
Enjoy, Thomas




Brenda Bufalino chair bw sharp
Brenda Bufalino in New Paltz,NY
B069033
Sarah Petronio near Paris
Leela Metro60
Leela Petronio, Paris
2115218
Josh Hilberman, Boston
Pia Portrait Rheinterrasse17 pp sharp
Pia Neises, Cologne