Dakh Daughters
by Vladislav Troitskyi
Performance Exchange supported by ETC
Produced by: DAKH Center of Contemporary Art
Seven girls, 15 musical instruments and an incredible mix of music and performance – spawned by Kyiv’s Dakh Contemporary Art Centre – they are the Dakh Daughters, actresses turned freak-cabaret band, and are one of the most unusual, provocative and electric acts in Ukraine today.
Seven actresses took musical instruments into their hands in order to create life-affirming performance about love, freedom and beauty which at the end of the day – will save the world. Dakh Daughters create an atmosphere of a French saloon, where Mireille Mathieu befriends Marilyn Manson. On occasion, armed with full set of strings, keyboards and percussions, the women shake the audience with a roar in the manner of Laibach, but can swiftly change anger for kindness, turning into fun-loving Hollywood beauties of the 1950’s that dream of tropical vacation in the Caribbean.
Just imagine, seven young women made-up to look like actresses from black-and-white silent movies with bleached faces, smoky eyes and bloody-red lips. Yet they are anything but silent, storming the stage playing numerous musical instruments, singing, screaming, dancing and doing all sorts of crazy stunts on stage making a spectacular performance that leaves you taken aback! The nature of the phenomenon of Dakh Daughters lies in their name – they are daughters of the theatre, actresses in the first place, meaning their every musical composition is a mini-performance.
This production was shown at Deutsches Theater Berlin. The production is available for touring.
