Cabaret Voltaire Returns!

Be patient, I’ll get there. A bit of context first:

The original Cabarets Voltaire were a product of the chaos, dislocation, and slaughter that World War I visited on Europe. Artists from all parts of the continent had sought refuge in neutral Switzerland. Cabaret Voltaire was the name that a group of said uprooted young artists and writers living in Zurich formed. They invited all comers to give performances and readings and generally to assert their right to a new expression of life and art, rejecting the strictures of form and content imposed by the hierarchical worlds of academia and criticism characteristic of the pre-war establishment utterly discredited in the rubble of Europe. Participants included Kandinsky, Paul Klee, de Chirico and Max Ernst.

On July 28, 1916, Hugo Ball read the Dada Manifesto at Cabaret Voltaire. Here are some excerpts:

“How does one achieve eternal bliss? By saying dada. How does one become famous? By saying dada. With a noble gesture and delicate propriety. Till one goes crazy. Till one loses consciousness. How can one get rid of everything that smacks of journalism, worms, everything nice and right, blinkered, moralistic, europeanised, enervated? By saying dada…

Each thing has its word, but the word has become a thing by itself. Why shouldn't I find it? Why can't a tree be called Pluplusch, and Pluplubasch when it has been raining? The word, the word, the word outside your domain, your stuffiness, this laughable impotence, your stupendous smugness, outside all the parrotry of your self-evident limitedness."

Ain’t that great? Dadadadadadadadada Flumsocket.

In 1992, The Washington Project For the Arts organized a series of Cabaret ReVoltaire that are remembered most fondly by those lucky enough to have attended; this year we have our own contemporary Cabaret re[Re]Voltaire inspired by these distinguished forbears, sponsored by the WPA and Pink Line Project, curated by Alberto Gaitan and held in the fabulous-with-a-touch-of-grungy outdoor space of Gallery O/H on H St. NE, across from the Atlas Theater. Last Monday was the first of four Cabarets scheduled for Monday evenings in May, each of which will feature an entirely new set of performers, music, poetry, comedy, dance, food, drink, and craziness.

B. Stanley, Director General of the DC Art Center (DCAC), was the heavily-emoting emcee and his odd little ditties and turn-of-the-century costuming were worth the price of admission alone, not to mention the bratwurst and trimmings provided by Biergarten Haus. There was a variety of live and filmed entertainment, all fully clothed – after all, it was quite a chilly evening. Among the highlights for me were Silvana Straw, a very funny woman with a very funny mother, and the consensus pinnacle of the evening, the dance performance by DC treasure Maida Withers and three compatriots. (Full disclosure: I had to leave a bit early and didn’t get to see the films of the 1992 Cabaret, which I really regret.)

Withers and her crew, in black and white with pillows fastened around various parts of their bodies with strapping tape, slithered around imposing themselves on walls, floors and the audience, coming together in various combinations and piles, always moving slowly as if through a dense liquid. It was strangely moving and sexy.

I’m looking forward to the next edition, Monday May 17.

Editor's note: Pictures of Maida Wither's pillow dance by Vincent Gallegos HERE.

Buy tickets HERE for the next three Cabarets (May 17, 24, 31).