Scenic dance and multimedia revue
Nirvana Boulevard is a unique blend of dance theatre (butoh dance), multimedia performance, animators, kodo drummer, master of ceremonies (MC) and technicians as performers (Audio, Video, Lighting).
The genre 'revue' is brushed up here as a zeitgeisty avantgarde format.
With a professional creative team of 16 contributors we have developed the revue so far, that the next steps will be the financing of its stage production and the way into the public.
Therefore we are looking for:
- Sponsors, patrons of art and culture
- Organizers, managers, festival managers, project promoters with experience in the field of show, theatre, musical or events
- Extraordinary venues with an inspiring, creative atmosphere
- Art directors
- Specialists in promotion and media relations
- Specialists in fundraising
Teaser 01: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsZcdP7lYDc
Teaser 02: https://vimeo.com/47858827
Teaser 03: https://vimeo.com/49741481
The issue is the precarious state of Planet Earth and its population in the year 2213 - a forward projection of the current situation. Playfully, without any element of fingerpointing, the revue takes place within this context and shows antagonistic forces and conflicting influences as they are already perceived in the current world.
The "moral of the story" remains ambiguous. Skillfully the revue keeps its suspense in a state between directness and abstraction.
The means it uses are employed in a reduced, minimalistic way ("Not more than necessary"): Butoh dance and media performance, trashy costumes and accessoires, timeless spiritual motifs from the tibetan tradition - supported by a tuneful, meditative soundtrack with influences of trip-hop, electronic, jazz and ambient.
Nirvana Boulevard is based on a simple story. As a blend of social fiction and cyberpunk, it features virtual reality and outer space, but keeps its feet firmly placed on Planet Earth. It also casts a glance behind the scenes of the global economical and political systems and refers to the power relations that maintain these systems.
Interested? Then we look forward to your contact via
Participants of the preproduction have been among others:
MARTIN HOEMBERG (Project director and -coordinator, composer, lyricist, musical sound designer) International chart success with the progressive „Gina X. Project“ (1980). Style direction: “ultra disco”, Played the role of the facto recording director for the first LP by BAP (Wolfgang Niedecken), arguably the most successful non-British rock band of Europe, Solo composer of “Fireworks” (1986), international Hit by Stefan Remmler of the German “Trio” band, with a budget of 220,000 DM the most expensive German production of a single ever, Award for unique composing techniques by the influential German ‘Gema Stiftung’ (Foundation of the statutory German Composers Guild), Since 1992 composer of a series of commissioned works for Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), Germany’s biggest radio station. These include ‘Colours of Water’ and ‘Ambient Africa’ in cooperation with WDR’s own Studio for Sound Design.
ROSKO GEE (E-Bass, song lyrics, narrator) Former member of Traffic (Stevie Winwood), Can und Grateful Dead. Collaborations with Bob Marley, Al di Meola and Phil Collins, Officially nominated for the „Hall Of Fame“ (USA) in association with the bands of Can and Traffic.
PROFESSOR MICHAEL KÜTTNER (Drums, E-Drums, Percussion) Appearances at various international festivals, Collaboration with Albert Mangelsdorff, Wolfgang Dauner, Charlie Mariano, Steve Swallow, Trilok Gurtu, Maria João, Sheila Jordan, Kenny Wheeler, Nana, Vasconcelos, Markus Stockhausen, Lee Konitz, Pat Martino, Klaus Lage, Tours for Goethe Institute to Marokko, Tunisia, Algeria, Senegal, Ivory coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Zaire, Kazakhstan, Kirkisien, Pakistan, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myan Mar (Birma), Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Kroatia, Lithuenia und Hungary.
PROFESSOR HEINER WIBERNY (Saxophone) 1981-2009 first saxophone player and soloist at the WDR Big Band, Cologne, More than 100 recordings such as the WDR Big Band, 6 Grammy award nominations in the USA, Winner of a Grammy 2007 and 2008, Collaboration with Dizzy Gillespie on the occasion of two concerts with his quintet.
NORBERT GOTTSCHALK (Lead Vocals) Nominated one of the best ten Jazz and Scat vocalists by „Mark’s Press“ London, Numerous guest appearances with many renowned Jazz musicians, Associate professor at the Musikhochschule Köln for 10 years and guest professor in Luzern (Switzerland).
LAHCEN JMOU (Taiko drum) Master of martial arts and founder of the "Dragon Martial Arts School" (Düsseldorf).
MATTHIAS KITTER (Stage director) Director at shows as „Schmidteinander“, „die Wochenshow“, „Mensch Markus“, „Die Dreisten Drei“, „Kurt Krömer Show“, Twice winner of the „Deutscher Comedypreis“.
LUDWIG KUCKARTZ (Video art) Studied video art at the Academy Beldende Kunsten Maastricht (NL) and time-based art in Hull (GB), Bachelor of Fine Art at Maastricht (NL), Since 1999 freelancer for his company iCHSEHE.com with main focus on video graphic art.
SABINE SEUME (Dancer, choreographer, leader of the Seume Ensemble) One of the leading representatives of Butoh dance in Europe.
BODO BERGMANN (Live Sound) 1985-1997 collaboration with Karlheinz Stockhausen, Sound design for fantasy shows with orchestra, as well as events for international companies such as Krupp, Telekom, Thyssen, Audi, Daimler and Volkswagen, Specialized on 3D acoustics.
The complete biographies of the creative team you can read at
Scenario
In the year 2213 Earth's ecological system is in imminent danger of a final collapse.
As a reaction to this the Intergalactic Security Council (ISC) exiles all humankind into a Virtual Reality. This exile is intended to last until Terrestrial Earth has regenerated. Sedan, the avatar is assigned the task of leading humankind to the path of redemption, to Nirvana Boulevard during this period.
Because the resettlement takes place under time pressure, collateral damage occurs: tragically Bidd and Julie, a young and prominent couple in love, are separated from each other.
On the one hand people on Virtual Earth are in an optimistic or euphoric mood. On the other hand this virtual world is also endangered by a collapse, as its operating system may well be unstable. A breakdown of this operating system would cause extreme chaos.
The President could possibly prevent such potential chaos. But he reveals himself as a helpless marionette of a cartel of power-obsessed individuals operating behind the scenes.
Does this cartel intend to take over all political power by deliberately wrecking the operating system? Do they intend to "convert" all humankind into slaves without any rights?
The situation appears to be hopeless...
Will Earth regenerate? Will Bidd and Julie be reunited? Will humankind be able to resettle back into reality and find redemption on Nirvana Boulevard?
Reviews und Newsflashes
Picture gallery
The photos show the choreography of five songs, part of a pre-production of the stage version. The Butoh dancers Sabine, Chih-Ying and Emilia developed the choreography on a hill at the Forstbotanischer Garten (Forest Botanical Garden) in Cologne. The sound reproduction there was by a ghetto blaster. We filmed and photographed the performances of the dancers, and that material is the basis for this picture gallery and the teasers for 'Nirvana Boulevard'. It will also be used live for the video art of the revue. Colours, form and time relations of the material will be reproduced live in an abstract way.
© 2012 Martin Hoemberg
Imprint