CALL FOR PROPOSALS for the 5th Annual CONEY ISLAND RITUAL CABARET FESTIVAL Fri-Sun, April 24-26, 2020
International Culture Lab is calling for proposals from performance artists, actors, musicians, dancers, performers from the variety arts, and beyond... to present an original performance between 5 and 15 minutes in length.
Deadline: Sunday March 1, 2020
Background: The history of the festival is informed by dancer/choreographer Tatsumi Hijikata who originated butoh in 1950’s in an effort to defy and subvert authority, including conventional notions of dance, thereby seeking transformation – on the personal, societal and political level. He embraced the zeitgeist of Tokyo’s underground and European-influenced avant-garde arts scene comprised of neo-Dadaism, Fluxus, German Expressionism, Surrealism, and Existentialism. During the day, he trained his dancers by inventing body rituals towards a revolutionary dance form. At night the group then experimented with bringing their exploration into the competitive marketplace of cabaret/burlesque. Inspired by this historical reference, in 2016 ICL founded a butoh, theatre, and performing arts festival at Coney Island USA.
After three years of directing ensemble workshops and performances for the Festival, Mexico-based Diego Piñón of Body Ritual Movement coined the term Ritual Cabaret for work that sought to marry ritualistic physical theater with cabaret, burlesque and sideshow on the CIUSA stage.
We would like to challenge you to deconstruct and reinvent your particular art form, whatever it might be. If the goal is TRANSFORMATION – of the self, of society, of politics – what will it take to bring this about? Is it possible to invent a new genre? What is Ritual Cabaret to you?
Selected acts will perform for one night and will receive:
– $50 per one-person act / $100 for acts with more than one performer
– Full technical support
-- One-hour technical rehearsal in the space
– Photo and video documentation of the performance
Additionally: To promote the sharing of techniques and ways of working among festival participants, we will call for proposals and facilitate a series of free workshops and panels in the week(s) preceding the festival. Guidelines and details will be developed once the collective nature of the festival participants has been determined.
Note:
**We are open to installations and durational work but would ask you to outline how it can best be framed as part of or alongside the Festival evenings.
**The Freak Bar – the lobby and intermission area – holds potential for the above.
**We are able to host aerial performances.
**The theatre is accessible, and we encourage all levels of ability to apply.
**NOTE: ICL DOES NOT ALLOW THE USE OF ANIMALS, DEAD OR ALIVE, WITHOUT PRIOR DISCUSSION AND CONSENT.
