EUTOPIA
In January 2018 Dash Arts embarked on a journey: EUTOPIA - our investigation into what it means to be European. EUTOPIA emerged as a direct response to the 2016 EU Referendum; as the UK voted to leave the EU, we felt the need to ask what Europe means. Through a cross-arts approach that integrates research, development, participation, presentation and production over several years, we explored how Europe came into being, how the UK got to the point of leaving the EU and what that means for the future.
Dash Arts sought to highlight and celebrate Europe’s diversity and hidden marvels; confronting generalisation and encourage new insights and fierce debate. Eutopia embraced our Podcasts, Cafés, Gigs, Residences, Special Events and Productions, and culminated in our music theatre production, Dido’s Bar.
EUTOPIA PRODUCTIONS
Dido’s Bar
Autumn 2022
An immersive site-specific gig theatre production that reimagined Virgil's Aeneid, exploring this timeless tale of migration through the lens of Europe today.
Set in a cabaret bar on the borders of Europe, frequented by outcasts and travellers, artists and bohemians, gods and mortals, Dido's Bar explored challenging questions about contemporary European identity.
PAST EVENTS
PODCAST
Dash Arts podcasts with young people from Newham who are part of Community Links. The discussions revolves around Dido’s Bar, it’s themes and how it relates with their lives.
Listen to hear how the Writer and Director of Dido’s Bar tackled telling the story of a refugee and how music has been weaved into the fabric of the performance.
In the final episode of our Protest Songs mini-series, we discuss the history and ongoing significance of the Italian protest song ‘Bella Ciao’.
In the first episode of our Protest Songs series, we explore the history of 'The Internationale' and how it continues to inspire social change.
Hear about how director Josephine Burton, playwright Hattie Naylor and composer Marouf Majidi crossed paths and came to collaborate on this project.
Discover the myth of Aeneas and its significance in society today. Delve into the inspirations behind the production itself, its origin story and its theatrical vision.
Our investigation into what happens to identity during moments of great national change brings our attention to Brexit and its impact on our own national identities in the UK. What does Europe mean today? What do we want from Europe, post-Brexit?
In this third episode of The Identity Series, we investigate the collapse of Yugoslavia and subsequent wars that ripped across the former country.
In this second episode of The Identity Series, we delve into the fraught and complex topic of empire.
In this first episode of The Identity Series, we explore the meaning and power of identity through the fascinating case of Polish-Lithuanian Nobel Prize-winning writer Czesław Miłosz.
In this episode recorded from our online Dash Café in May, we return to the iconic 2009 Estonian documentary Disco and Atomic War and the topic of borders, propaganda and censorship.
The fourth and final episode of Breaking Silence, explores issues of censorship, self-censorship and cancel culture in the creation of art.
The third episode of Breaking Silence, looks at the silencing of cultural identity across national, ethnic and religious borders and ways in which international artists are unearthing these issues in their work.
The second episode of our podcast mini-series, Breaking Silence, features writers and practitioners who are addressing the silencing of women and giving voice to female experience through artistic mediums.
In the first episode of Breaking Silence, we examine Pacto del Olvido, Spain's 'pact of forgetting' - a collective decision to forget the thousands of crimes against humanity under Franco's 40-year dictatorship.
In October 2020 we hosted our first ever Digital Dash Café EUROPEANS: ARVO PÄRT to celebrate Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s 85th birthday. Due to popular demand, we turned the event into a podcast, with some new, bonus content for our listeners.
As we release our final podcast of 2020, we're still muddling through Brexit in the UK, with the nation holding its breath to see what this momentous change will mean for us all. In timely fashion, we're revisiting our live event Art on the Brink of Brexit, recorded in 2018, which hosted a panel of first and second generation migrant artists working in the UK, to discuss what Brexit would mean for them, and what it would mean for the future of the arts in Britain.
In this episode of the Dash Arts Podcast, we delve into the life and work of the Curaçaoan-born Dutch artist, filmmaker and director Felix de Rooy. Described as “a source for all black arts in the Netherlands”, Felix’s work has been pivotal in reframing the narrative of Dutch identity - particularly the Netherlands’ relationship with its colonial history - and the legacy of the slave trade. Despite all this, chances are you haven’t heard of Felix de Rooy. Join Josephine Burton to explore why.
Discover the fascinating life and work of Hollywood icon and beloved Swede Ingrid Bergman in this week's episode, hosted this time by Dash Arts Creative Associate and director Sophie Austin. Taking a journey through Bergman’s life, we look at how her strength, determination and Swedishness made her into one of the world’s most famous movie stars. In the face of sexism, scandals and tragedy, Bergman’s strident independence and ambition saw her carve out a career led by passion and creativity.
The Dash Arts Podcast is back! In this episode we look at the treatment of invited guest workers (Germany’s ‘Gastarbeiter’), economic migrants and relocating members of the British Empire.
In this episode of the podcast we revisit our Dash Café ON THE BORDER, which explored the experience of living on the border through the prism of art, film, music, literature and economics.
Our brand new podcast episode Django Reinhardt: Music, Myth and Reality is a journey into the life of the genius jazz guitarist, Django Reinhardt.
In this week's LIVE episode we delve into Brussels; the complex, cosmopolitan, interconnected city that's home to the EU.
Eurovision might have been cancelled, but not at Dash Arts! In this LIVE episode we head back to our Eurovision Dash Café last year for an entertaining rundown of its history.
Our first tailor-made podcast episode Art in adversity: Tadeusz Kantor's fighting spirit delves into the work of Polish artist and theatre maker Tadeusz Kantor, whose work inspired the likes of Joseph Beuys (whom Kantor worked closely with), choreographer Pina Bausch and theatre company Complicité, to name a few.
In a time where talk of change and revolution is on everyone's lips, we revisit our November 2019 Dash Café, which explored the impact of the 1989 revolution that caused the collapse of the Soviet Union, 30 years on.
In February 2019, Dash Arts' Café Destination Europe focused on questions of contemporary European identity, with Brexit as a backdrop. We brought together actors, writers and film directors from across Europe for a conversation. A year on, post the UK’s departure from the EU, these questions are just as pertinent.
BLOG
Artistic director and Director of Dido's Bar, Josephine Burton, looks back on its 5 year journey from a coffee in Helsinki to a UK tour.
Josephine Burton reflects on the protests in Iran, and her friendship with Marouf Majidi.
Artistic director and director of Dido’s Bar, Josephine Burton, shares her thoughts on how we’re keeping current political issues in mind while developing this production.
What part does music play in a refugee’s journey? Josephine Burton describes her experience meeting and getting to know Marouf Majidi, and how music transformed his experience of belonging and kinship.
Josephine Burton shares her reflections on her recent visit to Falmouth to work on the second act of our upcoming production, Dido’s Bar.
The creative process and performances spanned 3 countries, incorporated 6 languages and transcended multiple generations.
Josephine Burton, recently wrote an article about our forthcoming production Songs for Babyn Yar for New London Synagogue, for the September edition of their magazine The New Londoner.
Playwright Hattie Naylor shares her experience of the Dido’s Bar residency at Meidän Festivaali in Finland, musing on the production's relevance and its power to resonate with international audiences.
Finland, here we come! We're very excited to be spending a week at Meidän Festivaali as their artists in residence, at the beautiful Lake Tuusulanjärvi later this month.