Play That DADA. Dada se dă-n spectacol (Dada Shows Off), by Ștefana Pop-Curșeu, Ioan Pop-Curșeu and Ion Pop, Școala Ardeleană Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca, 2023

Abstract

The volume Dada se dă-n spectacol (Dada Shows Off) is structured in two parts. It is a book that accompanies a show, but at the same time, it provides a useful perspective on Dadaism and the way it is mirrored today. A historical event – the celebration of 100 years of Dadaism has been the starting point of a common reflection. Three researchers have joint views and have revisited the fascinating phenomenon called Dadaism. The perspectives Ștefana Pop-Curșeu, Ioan Pop-Curșeu and Ion Pop have taken into account in building their frame involve: an artistic layer – a play was written, and a show was put on, but also a solid anchoring in working with the reweigh of Dadaism into today’s pages. Professor and artistic director of the National Theatre in Cluj, Ștefana Pop-Curșeu explores her triple role: researcher, initiator of the project that resulted in the above-mentioned performance and this book but also as an actor, while she understands the process from within and observes its constant conversions. What draws immediate attention is the artistic products that the creative team had in mind – creating the play (after having been through successive stages of research and also of documenting the whole process), staging the play and working with a variety of directions (literature, visual arts, choreography), having in mind not to mimic the pre-existing material, but to offer an original perspective on the movement. The team aimed at including elements they considered as part of the Dadaist movement identity: the Dada evenings in Cabaret Voltaire, the Dadaist manifests, Hugo Ball’s costume, the usage of masks, the Dada dances, phonetic and simultaneous poems.