The Magical Performing Artists Of Mummenshanz

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Highlights From 40 Years


A Short History

“Mummenschanz is a Swiss mask theater troupe who perform in a surreal mask- and prop-oriented style. Founded in 1972 by Bernie Schürch,[1] Andres Bossard (August 9, 1944 – March 25, 1992), and the Italian-American Floriana Frassetto, the group became popular for its play with bizarre masks and forms, light and shadow, and their subtlechoreography. The name Mummenschanz is German for “mummery,” or a play involving mummers. Mummer is an Early Modern English term for a mime artist.”
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Heather Hansen – Dancing To Draw



Having studied Theatre Design in Washington and Butoh dance in Japan, Heather Hansen’s passion knows no bounds. Inspired by Gutai action painters during her time in Japan—artists that famously threw mediums like paint or clay at canvases in post-war Japan—Heather creates life-size, symmetrical drawings capturing dance permanently on canvas. “I work to refine my kinetic drawing to something graphically and intentionally essential,” Hansen explains as we lounge in the backyard of her New Orleans home in the Marigny. “Charcoal allows me to record each gesture as it’s happening. You can see the story.”
“Dance has been a little overlooked in the arts, in part because it’s a little bit ephemeral,” she points out. “Music is too but it’s different, you can keep a tune in your head. With dance, people usually say, ‘Oh that was beautiful or that really made me feel something.’ They don’t remember the movements. They don’t have anchors for it. I’m primarily interested in finding ways to anchor dance.”
Find out more about Heather Hansen here.
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Sean Kernan's Long Road to New York

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“A few years back the renowned choreographer and Pilobolus co-founder, Alison Chase, approached Sean Kernan to work with her on a multimedia dance/theater performance piece. She wanted to use visual technologies in ways that were new to the dance world.
Now, after 4 years of work and exploration by 7 dancers, one videographer and a composer, plus a lighting designer, and after residencies at MASS MoCA, Collins Art Center, the Garde Theater and Williams College, Drowned arrives at the Miller Theater in New York.  It’s a love story (two, actually), a story of death, resurrection and transformation. It stretches the boundaries of dance, theater, music, and multi-media to make a narrative that is mythic, violent … and beautiful.
The premiere of Drowned takes place at the Miller Theater in New York, from January 9-11, 2015. Also on the bill are the New York premieres of Red Weather and Devil Got My Woman. You can get tickets here.
Because the whole work was improvised from beginning to end, rehearsal was the most exciting part of things. Kernan, who started his working life in theater before turning to photography, made a photographic rehearsal diary that traces the creation of the work from the first meeting in his studio—where they made images and projected them onto everything, including each other—to the last working rehearsals just before Christmas. You can see a gallery of them here.”
Find out more about Sean Kernan here.
Find out about Sean Kernan’s new book Looking Into The Light here.
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