Tadeusz Kantor, one of the most famous and important theatre makers, creator not only of plays but also of symbols that shape the human mental and emotional state. Kantor became internationally known through the Cricot 2 Theatre, which he founded in 1955 and ran for decades, a nucleus of young, avant-garde and critical theatre in Krakow. The play The Dead Class - a story about the impossibility of returning to the past - has been performed over 1,500 times in many countries, and in 1976 was described by US Newsweek as 'the best theatre production in the world'. The worldwide tours of Cricot 2 also took the artist to Argentina on several occasions in the late 1970s and 1980s, where Kantor became acquainted with the local tango scene and brought back a considerable collection of Argentine tango classics. 

He was born on 6 April 1915 near Tarnów in Wielopole Skrzyńskie. Almost on his birthday, Monika Leisch-Kiesl & Joachim Leisch from Linz present Kantor Tango - a performance developed in response to a special excerpt from Kantor's theatre performance Gdzie są niegdysiejsze śniegi / Where Are the Snows of Yesteryear (recording from 1984).

Monika Leisch-Kiesl & Joachim Leisch undertake an interesting experiment in their approach to Gdzie są niegdysiejsze śniegi / Where Are the Snows of Yesteryear. For a moment, they renew the original soundtrack and support the piece with carefully selected pieces from the inexhaustible reservoir of Argentinian tango. As if the artists were now moving to tango, the piece takes on surprising nuances. "We do not intend this to be an interpretation of Tadeusz Kantor's piece. Born several generations after Kantor and raised in Austria, it would be presumptuous to make such an attempt. Nor is it necessary. Rather, our gesture is a cautious response to the radiance that still emanates from Gdzie są niegdysiejsze śniegi forty years after its Polish premiere, and perhaps we can open up new aspects of it," says Monika Leisch-Kiesl

Monika Leisch-Kiesl, art historian and philosopher, curator, dancer. www.leisch-kiesl.com

Joachim Leisch, medical practioner, Tango-DJ, dancer.

04.04.2024 (Thu.), 18:00 hrs.
BWA Tarnów
Ul. Słowackiego 1, 33-100 Tarnów
Free entrance