Dimitri - Revision history

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← Older revision		Revision as of 18:54, 31 July 2023
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	A nearby old building hosts the ongoing project of "La Casa del Clown," which, in 2009, was integrated in the "Parco del clown," a garden with clown-related, giant contemporary sculptures. The Accademia Teatro Dimitri at Verscio stands today as one of the world’s best references for the study of physical theater. In 2004, its three-year bachelor program and eighteen-month series of master classes were officially incorporated in the university system of the Ticino Canton.		A nearby old building hosts the ongoing project of "La Casa del Clown," which, in 2009, was integrated in the "Parco del clown," a garden with clown-related, giant contemporary sculptures. The Accademia Teatro Dimitri at Verscio stands today as one of the world’s best references for the study of physical theater. In 2004, its three-year bachelor program and eighteen-month series of master classes were officially incorporated in the university system of the Ticino Canton.
		+
		+	==See Also==
		+
		+	* Video: [[Dimitri_Video_(1988)\|Dimitri, ''The Porter'']], at the Kleintheater in Lucerne (1988)

	==Suggested Reading==		==Suggested Reading==

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 File:Dimitri-Elephant_1979.jpg|Dimitri and Friend (1979)
 File:Dimitri_Portrait.jpg|Dimitri (c.1980)
 File:Dimitri_e_Roberto.jpeg|Disc cover designed by Dimitri (1993)
 File:Dimitri_Transat.jpg|Dimitri and his recalcitrant chair (c.2005)

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 File:Famiglia_Dimitri.jpg|La Famiglia Dimitri (2008)
 File:Dimitri_Gunda.jpg|Dimitri and Gunda (c.2015)
 </Gallery>
 [[Category:Artists and Acts|Dimitri]][[Category:Clowns|Dimitri]]

@@ Line 49: / Line 49: @@
 On February 11, 1961, Dimitri married Gunda, his childhood sweetheart and a young actress, with whom he had begun a serious relationship while performing at the Hechtplatz Theater in Zurich. In time, Gunda became his trusted guide and managed his career. Together, they will open the Teatro Scuola Dimitri in Verscio in 1971&mdash;and have four children, Ivan (b. 1962), David (b. 1963), Masha (b.1964) and Nina (b.1966). David and Masha embraced a circus career.
-At the first International Mime Festival held in 1962 at the ''Academie der Künste'' (Academy of Arts) in Berlin, Dimitri was the only clown invited: clowns were still perceived only as traditional, almost decadent, circus icons; their theatrical roots and tradition will be explored only a decade later. Dimitri had shaped his material under the title ''Porteur''. In the first part, the contents of a simple trunk led to various sketches; in the second half, his porter cart held a pile of suitcases, each containing a musical instrument&mdash;some more unusual than others&mdash;which he tried (and eventually succeeded) to play as he ecstatically discovered them.
+At the first International Mime Festival held in 1962 at the ''Academie der Künste'' (Academy of Arts) in Berlin, Dimitri was the only clown invited: clowns were still perceived only as traditional, almost decadent, circus icons; their theatrical roots and tradition will be explored only a decade later. Dimitri had shaped his material under the title ''Porteur''. In the first part, the contents of a simple trunk led to various sketches; in the second half, his porter cart held a pile of suitcases, each containing a musical instrument&mdash;some more unusual than others&mdash;which he tried (and eventually succeeded) to play as he ecstatically discovered them. [[File:Dimitri_1975.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Dimitri's One-Man-Show Poster (1975)]]
-''Porteur'' would be still performed regularly, unaltered, more than fifty years later: it might be considered one of the [[File:Dimitri_1975.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Dimitri's One-Man-Show Poster (1975)]]world’s most enduring performance pieces! Dimitri was the festival’s revelation and offers ensued&mdash;notably a return to Paris in 1964 at the old Théâtre du Vieux Colombier, recently revived by a remarkable discoverer of new talents, Jacques Canetti: Dimitri’s unmitigated success proved that, once more, Canetti had been right. Dimitri’s international career was taking shape.
+''Porteur'' would be still performed regularly, unaltered, more than fifty years later: it might be considered one of the world’s most enduring performance pieces! Dimitri was the festival’s revelation and offers ensued&mdash;notably a return to Paris in 1964 at the old Théâtre du Vieux Colombier, recently revived by a remarkable discoverer of new talents, Jacques Canetti: Dimitri’s unmitigated success proved that, once more, Canetti had been right. Dimitri’s international career was taking shape.
 Dimitri’s success in the 1960s was one of the foundations on which laid the rediscovery of the art of clowning. Meanwhile, his popularity in Switzerland had never been higher, and in 1969, he was approached by [[Fredy Knie, Sr.]], director of [[Circus Knie]], the “Swiss National Circus” and one of Switzerland’s most beloved institutions. It was the first time that a non-traditional, theatrical clown was asked to perform in its ring. It was (as it still is) a nine-month big-top tour visiting every corner of the country, with long stands in its major cities. The season, for which Dimitri was hugely advertised, began in March 1970.

@@ Line 45: / Line 45: @@
 ===Consecration===
-[[File:Dimitri_1975.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Dimitri's One-Man-Show Poster (1975)]]At the beginning of the 1960s, the theater world experienced a revolution, shifting from realism and the spoken word to the physical language and surrealism. Paris was the epicenter of this movement. Such playwrights as Samuel Beckett and Eugene Ionesco underlined the visual aspect and the absurd in their theatrical imagery. French mime schools such as Decroux, Marceau (and soon, in a different style, Jacques Lecoq) were forming a new generation of performers; silent-movie comedy, Commedia dell’Arte, dance, folk traditions and circus acrobatics began to be seen as examples of new forms of expression and a path to freedom away from theatrical conventions.
+[[File:Dimitri_and_Cow.jpg|thumb|left|400px|Dimitri at Circus Knie (1973)]]At the beginning of the 1960s, the theater world experienced a revolution, shifting from realism and the spoken word to the physical language and surrealism. Paris was the epicenter of this movement. Such playwrights as Samuel Beckett and Eugene Ionesco underlined the visual aspect and the absurd in their theatrical imagery. French mime schools such as Decroux, Marceau (and soon, in a different style, Jacques Lecoq) were forming a new generation of performers; silent-movie comedy, Commedia dell’Arte, dance, folk traditions and circus acrobatics began to be seen as examples of new forms of expression and a path to freedom away from theatrical conventions.
 On February 11, 1961, Dimitri married Gunda, his childhood sweetheart and a young actress, with whom he had begun a serious relationship while performing at the Hechtplatz Theater in Zurich. In time, Gunda became his trusted guide and managed his career. Together, they will open the Teatro Scuola Dimitri in Verscio in 1971&mdash;and have four children, Ivan (b. 1962), David (b. 1963), Masha (b.1964) and Nina (b.1966). David and Masha embraced a circus career.
@@ Line 51: / Line 51: @@
 At the first International Mime Festival held in 1962 at the ''Academie der Künste'' (Academy of Arts) in Berlin, Dimitri was the only clown invited: clowns were still perceived only as traditional, almost decadent, circus icons; their theatrical roots and tradition will be explored only a decade later. Dimitri had shaped his material under the title ''Porteur''. In the first part, the contents of a simple trunk led to various sketches; in the second half, his porter cart held a pile of suitcases, each containing a musical instrument&mdash;some more unusual than others&mdash;which he tried (and eventually succeeded) to play as he ecstatically discovered them.
-''Porteur'' would be still performed regularly, unaltered, more than fifty years later: it might be considered one of the world’s most enduring performance pieces! Dimitri was the festival’s revelation and offers ensued&mdash;notably a return to Paris in 1964 at the old Théâtre du Vieux Colombier, recently revived by a remarkable discoverer of new talents, Jacques Canetti: Dimitri’s unmitigated success proved that, once more, Canetti had been right. Dimitri’s international career was taking shape.
+''Porteur'' would be still performed regularly, unaltered, more than fifty years later: it might be considered one of the [[File:Dimitri_1975.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Dimitri's One-Man-Show Poster (1975)]]world’s most enduring performance pieces! Dimitri was the festival’s revelation and offers ensued&mdash;notably a return to Paris in 1964 at the old Théâtre du Vieux Colombier, recently revived by a remarkable discoverer of new talents, Jacques Canetti: Dimitri’s unmitigated success proved that, once more, Canetti had been right. Dimitri’s international career was taking shape.
-[[File:Dimitri_and_Cow.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Dimitri at Circus Knie (1973)]]Dimitri’s success in the 1960s was one of the foundations on which laid the rediscovery of the art of clowning. Meanwhile, his popularity in Switzerland had never been higher, and in 1969, he was approached by [[Fredy Knie, Sr.]], director of [[Circus Knie]], the “Swiss National Circus” and one of Switzerland’s most beloved institutions. It was the first time that a non-traditional, theatrical clown was asked to perform in its ring. It was (as it still is) a nine-month big-top tour visiting every corner of the country, with long stands in its major cities. The season, for which Dimitri was hugely advertised, began in March 1970.
+Dimitri’s success in the 1960s was one of the foundations on which laid the rediscovery of the art of clowning. Meanwhile, his popularity in Switzerland had never been higher, and in 1969, he was approached by [[Fredy Knie, Sr.]], director of [[Circus Knie]], the “Swiss National Circus” and one of Switzerland’s most beloved institutions. It was the first time that a non-traditional, theatrical clown was asked to perform in its ring. It was (as it still is) a nine-month big-top tour visiting every corner of the country, with long stands in its major cities. The season, for which Dimitri was hugely advertised, began in March 1970.
 Dimitri had a fondness for elephants and their imagery, and [[Louis Knie]] helped him create a reprise with one of the circus’s pachyderms. The tour was a triumph and gave Dimitri an opportunity to work in front of hitherto untapped large popular audiences. During the season he got acquainted with Charlie Chaplin, a regular visitor to the Circus. The old master was one of many major celebrities of the arts who, over the years, will admire and befriend Dimitri&mdash;among whom Eugene Ionesco, Francois Billetdoux, Max Frisch, Günter Grass and many others.

@@ Line 103: / Line 103: @@
 File:Dimitri_and_Sabine.jpg|Dimitri at Circus Knie (1970)
 File:Knie_Dimitri_Poster_1973.jpg|Poster by Celestino Piatti for Circus Knie (1973)
 File:Dimitri_and_Cow.jpg|Dimitri at Circus Knie (1973)
 File:Dimitri_1975.jpg|Dimitri's One-Man-Show poster (1975)

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 File:Dimitri_Baumann_66.jpeg|Dimitri (1966)
 File:Dimitri_Leupin.jpeg|Poster by H. Leupin for Circus Knie (1970)
 File:Dimitri_and_Sabine.jpg|Dimitri at Circus Knie (1970)
 File:Knie_Dimitri_Poster_1973.jpg|Poster by Celestino Piatti for Circus Knie (1973)

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 File:Marceau_Program_1958.jpg|Company Marcel Marceau Program Cover (1958)
 File:Dimitri_Concertina.jpg|Dimitri in Paris (1964)
 File:Dimitri_Leupin.jpeg|Poster by H. Leupin for Circus Knie (1970)
 File:Dimitri_and_Sabine.jpg|Dimitri at Circus Knie (1970)

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 File:Andreff_-_Knie.jpg|Andreff at Circus Knie (1944)
 File:Maiss_Poster.jpg|Maïss (1950)
 File:Dimitri_Concertina.jpg|Dimitri in Paris (1964)
 File:Dimitri_Leupin.jpeg|Poster by H. Leupin for Circus Knie (1970)