"I am three". This is how Charles Mingus fabulous autobiography "Beneath the underdog" begins.
It is an amazing text and in my last production "DRAMA - love songs and other jazz" we choreographed and expressed the text through the dance. There were different stages how the dance and text worked together and in this short clip you can see the combination of tap and a visual projection of the text.
The dancers are Laura Mogalle, Thomas Kolczewski und myself.
Enjoy....
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
finally i got a chance to edit some of the footage of my last dance production "drama - love songs & other jazz" that was produced at kampnagel, hamburg. the show was a huge success and i am very pleased with the outcome. i had a wonderful ensemble and some of the finest dancers around. i truly hope we get another chance to perform it again.
the dancers in this short clip are ellen murray, laura mogalle, thomas kolczewski and myself. on bass is kurt holzkämper. text edits were done by miriam mandelkow. the show was funded by the city of hamburg.
If feet can talk, their language is tap dance. And if DRAMA is to take its queue from them, it goes one step further to claim that words can actually dance. DRAMA explores the creative possibilities of dance and diction, seeking to discover both the peculiarities and the shared qualities of text and dance. Tap and jazz will counterpoint linguistic rhythm, form polyphonic layers and a collage of sound and image. Texts will be spoken, projected, sung und translated into other languages. Where dance, language and jazz meet, that´s where a powerful, rhythmic, visionary dance show will take place.
KÜNSTLERISCHE LEITUNG & CHOREOGRAFIE Thomas Marek REGIE & PRODUKTIONSASSISTENZ Johanna Bock
TEXTBEARBEITUNGEN Miriam Mandelkow TÄNZER Thomas Kolczewski, Laura Mogalle, Ellen Murray, Thomas Marek BASS Kurt Holzkämper
