Combining stunning acrobatics, striking visual effects, physical comedy and inventive choreography, Galumpha brings to life a world of imagination, beauty, muscle and merriment. The three performers create a sensory feast of images ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime, drawn together into a seamless whole, consistently bringing audiences to their feet. Galumpha is a triumphant mix of art and entertainment, offering world-class, award winning choreography that is equally at home on the concert stage, at a comedy club or at an outdoor festival.
Galumpha delivers a fast-paced, athletic brand of movement, distinctive for its ingenuity. Highlights include Velcro as seen on The Late Show with David Letterman, Crook and Chase (TNN) and the MDA Jerry Lewis Telethon, and Clackers seen on MTV, Showtime, and the A&E Network by over one billion television viewers around the globe. Other pieces feature experiments in human architecture set to music by Rachmaninov, Ayurveda, and the virtuoso Czech band Jablkon, making for an exceptionally entertaining program.
Galumpha has performed throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, at venues such as The Kennedy Center, The Kravis Center, the Singapore Arts Festival, the Shanghai International Arts Festival, on Broadway at the New Victory Theater, London’s Southbank Center, the Spoleto USA Festival, the First World Dance Festival in Caracas, Venezuela, and the Tollwood Festival in Munich, Germany to name a few. Essentially a dance company, Galumpha’s off-the-wall choreography is equally attractive to comedy venues such as Montreal’s famous Just for Laughs Festival, for which Galumpha has performed three times, and the Moers (Germany) International Comedy Arts Festival, where Galumpha won the International Comedy Arts Prize. Galumpha also won the Edinburgh Festival’s Critics’ Choice Award for Dance following its three-week run at the Assembly Rooms Ballroom, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Galumpha’s non-verbal performances are enjoyed by worldwide audiences of diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. The Galumpha performers easily navigate complex physical and cultural landscapes, adapting to each venue with grace and sensitivity. Tours often include stages large and small, outdoors and indoors, requiring spontaneous adjustments from the performers. International expectations and religious biases play a role in determining Galumpha’s program choices. For example, at the 2010 Spring of Culture Festival, Manama, Bahrain, we redesigned costumes for several numbers upon learning that shirtless male dancers might offend the devout Muslims that filled the theater, or just last November in Shanghai we eliminated our typical show-closing cascade of rice, lest we offend audiences that revere rice as sacred food. In all cases the tours were successful with only positive feedback from audiences and presenters alike. Galumpha maintains a near 100% record of standing ovations at its indoor performances.
Galumpha has been reviewed in most major east and west coast newspapers in the USA, as well as in publications throughout Europe and Asia. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote, Their strength, agility and underlying grace is unflagging and amazing. Said the New York Times, Superb, even spellbinding physical control, while the Boston Globe wrote, Preposterous, wonderful stuff.
Thank you very much for considering Galumpha for the Art in Embassies program. Our official website is www.galumpha.com and we’re on facebook as Galumpha. Upon your request it would be our pleasure to provide you with unedited national and international reviews, photos, our complete touring history, or anything else that might be useful in forwarding our candidacy for Art in Embassies.
