Dada Divas, conceived and created by singer–composer Jacqueline Bobak, is an opera and research project based on the creative works, ideas, and lives of important female artists who were among the originators of the Dada movement: Emmy Hennings, Mina Loy, Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, Hannah Höch, and others.
Dada Divas illuminates historical and artistic contributions by women who were overshadowed by their male counterparts, and comments on such larger issues as the status of women, immigration, drug addiction, war, consumerism, and other concerns that are as pressing today as they were when Dada erupted a century ago.
A recording of selections from Dada Divas is currently being prepared for CD release in late 2023.
Watch excerpts from Dada Divas, performed at REDCAT in Los Angeles on February 8, 2020. Performed by Jacqueline Bobak, Meltem Ege, Sharon Chohi Kim, and Micaela Tobin, with special guest Juris Žvikovs. Sound design by Mark Bobak, staging by Paul Berkolds, dramaturgy by Cordelia Istel, set design by Ming Chieh Wu and Tzu-Hsiang Hung, costumes by Nan Zhou, and lighting by Matthew Johns.
Read about Dada Divas in Jacki Apple’s essay Restaging History: Legacy, Homage, and Interpretation
in the March 2020 issue of Fabrik magazine.
Selected scenes from Dada Divas at REDCAT in Los Angeles on February 8, 2020. Photos by Steve Gunther.
Watch an interview with Jacqueline Bobak, joined by Carmina Escobar, about Dada Divas. Produced by TV UNAM, the educational television network of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, on the occasion of the performance of Dada Divas on the Vértice Festival in Mexico City on October 26, 2018.
