About Tantehorse

Tantehorse is a Czech theater company based on strong physical articulation coming from dance, mime and theater technique. Their highly original and visually striking performances have achieved exceptional international recognition as “The Best of Contemporary Dance 2012” (Washington Post) and "The Herald Angel Award" (Edinburgh Fringe, etc.)Tantehorse is led by two internationally acclaimed artists: Mirenka Cechova and Radim Vizvary. Both stage directors, choreographers, performers and scholars, they are known as independent leading proponents of physical, mime and dance theater in Europe and USA.

Initially the group focused on continuing the strong Czech tradition of modern mime. Soon the ensemble, influenced by Jan Švankmajer, shifts to black humor, surrealism and decadence, combining physical theater, puppets and animation. As well the encounter with the Japanese dance art Butoh was for the dark poetry of Tantehorse crucial. Since 2010 the company continues its development towards multimedia, visual and dance theater and performance art, collaborating with various international artists. The newest works contained also site- specific performances in industrial spaces, old mines and factories.

One of the most important topic of their creation is IDENTITY and its expression throughout the body memory with direct appeal to the audience, represented in S/He Is Nancy Joe (2012), Uter Que (2013), Faith (2014) and Lessons of Touch (2015). They come together to enjoy researching new possibilities and experimenting with physical language, most recently in cross over projects between visual theater, performance art, opera and mime, and art installations.

“They embody a treasury of physically expressive theater arts” wrote Sarah Halzack (Washington Post) in a review of their subsequent production Light in the Darkness. Pulitzer prize holder Sarah Kaufman (Washington Post) wrote about their thought provoking performance S/He is Nancy Joe, “most impressive of all is simply Cechova’s body, which she turns into a battleground of self-identity and societal censure… Masculine and feminine, two dimensions and three, play out on that magical canvas with schizophrenic velocity. There’s a message in that, about the universal beauty of the human form — its nonconforming breadth included.”