The Life of the Cabaret

What is considered the starting point of the movement was in 1916, when a man by the name of Hugo Ball rented out a small space to host the free spirit artists that had moved to Zurich to escape World War I, and called it the Cabaret Voltaire.  He, along with his significant other Emmy Hennings worked together to create an environment where artists could come and present whatever they longed to present.  Most of the time the result was such shocking versions of art and poetry that the people who paid money to enter seemed to be disgusted but became caught up in the appeal of it all.  It was a crowded room with tables lined up all around the stage, and a sense that there was always something going on was prevalent.  They did not remain as the two leaders though, for soon after the idea came about for the Cabaret Voltaire.  International artists joined them, including Tristan Tzara, Marcel Janco, Jean Arp, and Richard Huelsenbeck.  They each represented different countries and different art movements.  These men were the initial beginners of the Dada movement.

This was a new sense of performance art.  Every night they would have a new program, consisting of music, costumes, dance, paintings, poetry, masks, and theatrical performances.  It was anything but stale for the viewer.  They were constantly looking for the new ways to challenge the different ways art was being presented, especially with all their influence taken from around different areas of Europe. 

Hugo Ball was the first to introduce abstract poetry at this point through the Cabaret Voltaire.  It is also referred to as phonetic poetry, for it was a creation of verses without words.  They were just groupings of letters to convey sounds and contribute to the performance of the poetry.  The first example by Ball in 1916 went a little something like this: "gadji beri bimba....glandridi lauli lonni cadori....." He found a way to formulate "words" based purely on sound rather than meaning.   

In his second play with poetry, he wrote the poem Karawane.  He got on the stage dressed in a cardboard costume that required him to be brought to his place in front of the audience through the aide of one of the other performers.   He stood reading off tow stands in front of him, limited to the position he was placed in.  This poem did not really had meaning, but rather remained in the style of syllables performed in a rhythmic melody.  

The Cabaret was innovative, violently rejecting the traditional organized productions of the arts.  But this was the important aspect behind their art.  It made their creative process even stronger as they searched for all the different ways they could express themselves that were opposing the structures that were set around Europe.