this blog follows the road movie research of estonian performance artist katrin essenson and swiss performance artist matthias ruettimann across the former states of the sovjet union. mai - july 2016
Paradise lost. Krasnosamjenka has 38 inhabitants according to wikipedia, but billions of mosquitos.
You wonder how the 38 could assimilate to mosquitos paradise.
In the swamps of Siberia you were Oleg's guest. He calls himself an art anarchist. You spent the night in his home and you carried the smell of the fried herrings into the cities.
Strange moments on a market place hidden behind some industrial complexes, at 4 pm when thermometer shows 41 degree this afternoon in Kemerovo. What's here going on? Surrealism or spontaneous assimilation?
"I will keep for me the experience, that rules can be broken and there is nothing wrong about this." - "I liked the task not to judge what I or others are doing." - "In the beginning I was selective and I wanted to work with certain persons and not with others. But in the end it didn't matter and I liked to work with all in the class." - "I liked to get crazy." - "I felt that we were very much one group through these group exercises." - "I think this workshop taught me not only for stage performances but for the daily life." - "I started to discover my voice and I see how important it is for me to use my voice." - "I want absolutely to go on with improvisation!"
Some quotations of the participants of the masterclass workshop improvisation which was ongoing from 7 to 9 June in the Yoga center in Kemerovo. Actors, dancers, performers from Kemerovo and Tomsk, all in all more than 15 very interested and attentive students took part in this three days workshop. It was a great experience for me as a teacher to work with you. I learned a lot of you for my future teaching in improvisation. I discovered that one key word for this kind of practice is: enjoy what you are doing in this very moment.
thank you Larissa, Sergej, Alexander, Sasha, Julia, Polina, Julia, Katja, Tina, Masha, Anna, Kiril, Olga, Julia, Katja, Katrin and all the others for engaging you so much. Hope to have another chance to work with you.
Театр бстреца invites Katrin Essenson and you to participate in the so called tramway performance. At 11 pm the tramway is packed up with a crowd of people who don't want to miss this ride. And they got crazy, for sure. Yelling, howling, screaming, stamping - the audience made the performance animated from a bunch of lost performers.
at the end stopp everybody was exhausted. The audience seemed to be happy, the performers confused and in a kind of consternation.
that was the moment for Sasha Markvart and Max Stropov, two perform on the rail cord. Wonderful peaceful moment at the terminus of the tram, where the rail vanished in a coal dark night.
And the performers found a solution, they decided to do nothing on the way back, just find a place and keep the silence.
You stand there and the tramways dances you. And then this woman catches you, takes your arm, leans against your chest and so the dance turned into a pas-de-deux - the tramway does its best to give this two lost souls a unforgettable ride through the Siberian coal miners night. Yes, the eternal flame of Kemerovo is still burning and writes its ephemeral hieroglyphs on the blackboard of the glooming universe.
"Sergej, do we need two chairs for our performance, what do you think?" - Sergej (with strong Russian accent): "Matthias, I think this is brilliant idea." - (Swiss accent) "I'm happy to hear that, Sergej, let's take two chairs."
two passionate performers meet on stage. For the first time they improvise together, in company with Sasha Markvart, the third man b hind his instruments. In improvisation all is possible even if you speak no Russian and your partner only a little English. The trio faces all difficulties with bravery and solved even big problems as Russian finger stuck in Russian chair with help of unknown local engineer and a violin bow. Let's remember Ricks famous last line in "Casablanca" movie ... "Sergej and Sasha, this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."