In Hell with Jesus/Top 40
By Ivo Dimchev
Whether it's a casting, a late-night talk show, a weird festival in Copenhagen, or a healing concert at a private birthday party in a New York gay bar where suddenly everyone dies. Does it really matter?
For better or worse, during the show, some of us are going to Hell with Jesus, while others will chose to go in bed with the Dalai Lama.
While you're still figuring out what's going on, some members of the audience are already earning $20 for their unprofessional tap dance and for smashing a dildo on stage while shouting, "Respect art!"
And yes, amidst this "holy mess of a musical," we will still be graced with Ivo's most beautiful live songs.
Twelve years ago, NYTimes wrote, "Clearly, it’s time to give Mr. Dimchev a run that lasts longer than one night." In 2023, La MaMa is giving Ivo Dimchev 8 nights. Will that be enough, or do we need more? Let's figure it out.
Photos by Krasimir Stoichkov
Ivo Dimchev is a choreographer, visual artist, singer-songwriter, and activist from Bulgaria. His work is an extreme and colorful mix of performance art, dance, theater, music, painting, and photography. He is the author of more than 40 stage performances and has received numerous international awards for dance and theater. He has also written more than 100 original songs.
Dimchev’s work has been presented throughout Europe, South and North America, and Asia. In Hell with Jesus / Top 40 is the fifth theater work Dimchev has presented in New York, following his acclaimed shows Lili Handel, ICure, Fest, P project, and Some Faves, and more recently, his music performances at Pangea. During the Covid-19 pandemic Dimchev performed more than 400 private concerts in people’s homes in Bulgaria, Istanbul, New York, and Los Angeles. The private concerts are the subject of a forthcoming documentary by filmmaker Kristina Nikolova, and were covered in The New Yorker in a profile on Dimchev titled “The Extravagant Exuberance of Ivo Dimchev.”
Dimchev is the founder and director of Bulgaria’s Humarts Foundation. In 2009, after doing his master’s studies in performing arts at Dasarts Academy in Amsterdam, he opened Volksroom in Brussels, a performance space that presents young international artists. In 2014, he opened MOZEI in Sofia, Bulgaria, as an independent space for presenting contemporary art and music. In addition to his artistic work, Dimchev gives master classes at the National Theater Academy (Budapest), the Royal Dance Conservatorium of Belgium (Antwerp), Hochschule der Künste (Bern), and DanceWeb (Vienna), among others. www.ivodimchev.com