Dash Arts presents a month-long enchanted performance space, modelled on the iconic Russian summer house set within the revolutionary turmoil of 1917. The Dacha acts as a backdrop and set for a whole series of different performances, delving into life in 1917 through the eyes of the Popov family dacha in Vyritsa, several hours outside Petrograd.
This residence at Rich Mix enables Dash Arts to explore, in depth, the period starting in Spring 1917, just after the abdication of the Tsar – his portrait remains on the wall in the dacha as the Popovs haven’t worked out whom to replace him with. Slowly the residency will move through the year towards the October Revolution. Content will change as will the icons on the wall. On 9th July, Lenin will be firmly in residence.
Josephine Burton, Artistic Director comments, “Several years ago, Dash Arts was invited to Latitude Festival. Tania Harrison, the festival programmer, was keen that we brought some element of our work in the Post Soviet States to the wondrous mix of performance, music, theatre and play that she and her colleagues create each summer. As she described the location of her Faraway Forest, in the woods, removed from the thoroughfare of the main festival drag, I pictured the wooded landscapes and dappled light of the Russian and Post Soviet films and images that i was currently steeped in and suggested that we created a Russian country house, a Dacha, for their Forest. The Dacha became the vessel for our experiments and performance.”
The ever-changing daily programme of Dash Arts Dacha will feature live music, films, food, fevered discussion with special guest speakers, plays, and DJs, drawing on a century of Russian music and culture. All served with tea from the samovar and vodka from the bar.
