CriticalDance Forum

These cats can really swing
Tiger Lillies shock with Gorey's stories by Jann Parry for The Observer.

Dear Tiger Lillies, I think you are the cat's pyjamas, wrote Edward Gorey after their hit show, Shockheaded Peter, ran in New York in 1999. Gorey sent their founder, Martyn Jaques, a box of unpublished manuscripts, which form the basis of the trio's latest show and CD, in collaboration with the Kronos Quartet.

The Gorey End is a memorial to the eccentric illustrator and writer, who died in 2000. His books, drawings and designs are treasured by balletomanes (among many others) because he understood dancers. George Balanchine's New York City Ballet was his obsession. For 30 years, Gorey was a familiar figure at performances in his ankle-length fur coat, scarf and sneakers. He withdrew to Cape Cod after Balanchine died, but continued designing for ballets as well as writing musical revues.

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A left-field UK music group often associated with dance are a big hit in Russia:

The Men Who Sing the Shock Songs
The Tiger Lillies arrived in Russia this week to record a new album and to promote their new CD, a collaboration with late writer Edward Gorey. By Sergey Chernov for The Moscow Times


Moscow can't seem to get enough of The Tiger Lillies.

And, no, east Asian perennials with spotted flowers have nothing to do with it. The lillies in question are a trio of London musicians whose accordion-driven operatic ballads have been drawing crowds at concert venues in both Moscow and St. Petersburg since the band debuted here in April 2000.

After that first show -- at the then newly opened club Project O.G.I. -- counterfeit versions of Tiger Lillies albums appeared at music kiosks all over Moscow, the band's music was used in a handful of soundtracks for locally produced movies and plays and cinematic director Sergei Bodrov began work on a (still unfinished) documentary about the trio.

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more tigers than lily-livered
By Sergey Chernov for The St Petersburg

This weekend sees the return of The Tiger Lillies, a trio of London musicians whose accordion-driven operatic ballads have been drawing crowds at concert venues in both Moscow and St. Petersburg since the band debuted in Moscow in April 2000.

After that first show - at the then newly opened club Project O.G.I. in Moscow - counterfeit versions of Tiger Lillies albums appeared at music kiosks all over Moscow and St. Petersburg, the band's music was used in a handful of soundtracks for locally produced movies and plays and cinematic director Sergei Bodrov began work on a documentary - as yet unfinished - about the trio.

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