The group that I play with MoonFuck played with djmala dance on the 31st of jan and the feb 1st. I want to say that djmala dance is interesting as an artifact of the avant gard circa 1985-1989. I was extremely excited about meeting the djmala dance. they are completely zombie like a behave in manner of such pretension that is is almost comical but more sad then funny. From the outset of meeting them I found them annoying boring and lacking any interest except in themselves.
lets talk about their performance.. and I know some other people that might like djmala dance might read this and I hope you are reading this.. djmala dance performed a piece based on the work of French poet Artaud. wonderful his work is about as avant-gard in the 21st century as Robert Frost. infact I would venture to say he is the Robert Frost of france. a cultural institution. Djmala’s work was unchallenging for both the performer and the audience. as I watched the performance I wanted it to do more to go somewhere but it just stayed in the same dull narrative that it started with, with the dance laying on the ground as if dead. dead would be a more accurate word for Djmala.
I was very careful before their performance to take time to be respectful of the theatre space that they were performing is as they had a “ritual†that they had to perform before performing the dance. I should also note that their behavior in regards to this should be noted as prima-dona, a Diva with out reason..what they failed to recognize that the first night of the performance 90% of the audience was their to see myself and my friends play. the audience was composed of our friends and family to hear us play not to be taken by djmala.. before we started performing each night I wanted to say to the audience “do you ever get the feeling that you are getting ripped off ?’ I refrained. Djmala failed to bring it’s own equipment to the performance for sound and used a my bass amp and the guitar players fender amp for sound they blew a fuse in the fender amp and pushed the bass amp to it’s limits. completely unprofessional to show up with out your own equipment, it would have been somewhat polite to ask ahead of time before arriving to Denver if equipment could be used, I think there is a thing called email to ask people if they can use their equipment.. by the time I had learned they did not have any amps it was one day before show time..i could hardly say no as I was naively under the assumption that djmala was a professional outfit and I was sure to see something unique and new to dance. instead what I saw was two people more impressed with themselves then anyone has every been impressed with them how behave in a manner that was rude and unbecoming of two people who asked so much from people and gave little in return.
It is sad the LIDA project is gone leaving Denver for a tour. but lida project must assess performances that it promotes as well..
I would never say the the group I performed with MOONFUCK is even remotely professional nor do we pretend to be. we have only played together 5 times now ( and that includes rehersals) but never fear we are going to play some free performances for our friends and family that came to hear us and were ripped off for 12 bucks. don’t worry will buy everyone who came to see djmala and hated them a beer. so far I have had atleast 14 people ( at last count) tell me almost the exact thing I had written here. Please avoid going to see Djmala they are a waste of money.. perhaps they will be better off in germany or paris.. but I am putting my money on them being laughed out of the EU
