Berlin
June 8- June 19
6/8:
"The vibrant,
forward-looking and ever-changing city of Berlin never
ceases to amaze with its enduring capacity for innovation
and reinvention. Its dynamism is immediately apparent in
the urban landscape...A city of artistic interest with
prestigious museums, Berlin offers a welath of culture and
night-life" (The Green Guide Germany, p.130).
~ Arrived
at Berlin Hauptbahnhof Tief (the biggest train station in
Europe).
~ Aline's brother, Thomas, came to pick us up and brought
us to his apartment where we will be staying
~ After meeting his girlfriend Britta, we all went to the
oldest biergarten in Berlin to catch up.
~ Dinner at an Indian restaurant.
~ Greenwich, a cool bar with fish tanks all over, for
drinks...
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6/9:
~ Breakfast at the apartment
~ 1h45m bus tour called "Berlin City Tour" on an open top
double decker...as cool as that sounds, the tour guide was
confusing himself by attempting to speak a mix of both
German and English. Nonetheless, we got to see the city on
a beautiful sunny morning and take great pictures!
~ Thomas and Britta took us to the Waansee to meet some of
their friend at the premiere of a new chic
lounge/restaurant/bar on a terrace overlooking the
beautiful view of the sea.
~ Took the
S-bahn back to the apartment to do some dance research (oh
and what success we had! It's going to be our dream come
true for the next week!)
~ Went out to Solar (a restaurant/bar on the 14th story of
a skyscraper- amazing view and glass elevator on the
exterior of the building to take us up to the fun!). Our
new friend Sasha was the DJ there. He use to study ballet,
so we had lots of interesting conversations.
~ Stopped by Felix (a nightclub) just to look inside for 2
minutes...that was enough for us, but it was definitely a
happening place.
~ Spent the rest of the night and the next morning (only
for cultural purposes) at the week old "Weekend." We got to
experience its big premiere on the Berlin scene. There are
two floors, one for dancing, and the other for relaxing on
the terrace that shared a 360 degree view of the
city...unbelievable.
~ The new biggest trend in Berlin are these new skyscraper
clubs, what fun, why didn't anyone think of this sooner???
(6:30
a.m)
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6/10:
~ Brunch at Mey Restaurant for some turkish delights: fried
artichokes with herb cream cheese and hummus with pita
bread.
~
Photography Exhibit called "Are You Man Enough to be a
Woman?" with images from 1940-1975.
- great use of light
- shapes/poses
- even some dance photos!
~ Installation exhibit called "Utopia Factory" at Hau 3.
- green screen set up next to the installation made of
fabric swatches and toys told the story of struggle for
Chinese immigrants to assimilate to differing cultures,
proving their yearning for the past...
- We were able to watch a compilation of interviews
pertaining to the subject material.
~ Hau 3: Tempelhofer Ufer 10 10963 Berlin
Black and white photographs posted in the courtyard in
front.
******************************************************
*Performance Review*
~ "Life Is Perfect"- a contemporary dance piece by
cie.Toula
Limnaios @ Halle
Tanzbuehne.
"It is not the contents of our dreams that give our second
heart its dark colour, it is the thoughts, which go through
our heads in those waking moments when sleep evades us. And
these are the things, that we will never tell another
soul." (Carolyn Packhurst)
~ "tableau of stories from real life balancing on the slim
line between moments of happiness and the pitfalls of
reality." (life is perfect program)
~ The piece began with two figures downstage center facing
back. They slowly inhaled and exhaled, showing the minimal
yet prevalent affect breathing has on the movement of the
back. As the speed of the breathing increased, as did the
intensity of the sounds that associated, breath>
gasps> screams. It sent chills down my spine!
~ The movement incorporated subtle abstract gestural
details that intensified the emotional meaning. As the
piece progressed, we as viewers became more and more
emotionally engaged with the physicality of the dancers.
Although there was no concrete or obvious 'story line', the
movement translated the intended emotions...This was a life
changing performance of cie.toula limnaios.
Some of our favorite moments: (too many to list. Just trust
us when we say it was astonishing!)
- two female performers held accordions on their sternums.
An exagerration of breath within the simple movement
sequence made this idea effective.
- the ending: each dancer layed down in the downstage left
corner one at a time, until a pile of nude bodies became
the resonating image for the audience... absolutely breath
taking.
******************************************************
~ Met Thomas and Britta at Kani Mani Cafe Bar before going
to Bar 25.
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6/11:
~
Modern dance class with Riki Von Falken at Dock 11
(www.dock11-berlin.de)
Kastanienallee 79, Berlin
- Main focus on finding your center through relaxing, yet
grounding your body...lack of arm movement throughout the
class, but an emphasis on the continual passing of energy
through the fingertips when arms are neutral.
- Long warm up and across the floor (good amount of
repetition), and an ending combination with very
contrasting dynamics.
- Dock 11 is having a residency for a group of dancers from
Jacksonville University. If you are interested in reading
more about this collaboration, go to the Dock 11 website.
_
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6/12:
~ Modern dance class with Gabriel Galindez Cruz at Dock 11.
- pure relaxation and use of breath to 'fill up the joints,
the emphasis was on the difference between using the
muscles and the skeletal system
- we did floor work for the majority of the class.
- standing combination emphasized the applicance of his
teachings from the floor work.
- We wanted the movement to develop sooner and more...aka,
we wanted more full bodied dancing.
~ Met Aline's friend Oli for coffee at Potsdamer Platz at a
coffee joint that had to be the European version of
Starbucks (even though there are enough Starbucks here as
well!)
~
LocalKunst: a musical performance with comedy readings,
dance, and puppet shows, was broadcasted on television for
the first time. We were there for the filming of the
show...pretty exciting to see the cameramen at work too.
~ Dinner at
PanAsia am Hackesher Markt. The best Asian food ever!! (and
that is even an understatement!)
~ Then we headed to Cookies for some dancing. It is an old
movie theatre turned night club...huge dance floor and
amazing sound!
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6/13:
~
We woke up early to go get Aline's passport renewed, but
due to some complications (as usual with these kinds of
things), we will have to return tomorrow.
~ Breakfast at Einstein Cafe on Friedrichstrasse (business
people hangout...just like NYC!)
~ Lunch at Mar y Sol: Savignyplatz 5... really cute outdoor
seating and fabulous food!
~ Class at
Marameo with Riki Von Falken.
Funny story:
Thinking that the class began at 7:15, we briskly moved our
pelvises across town (literally running…) to make it on
time. Not knowing exactly how to get there, we frantically
approached an innocent woman waiting to cross the street to
ask her how to get to Koppenplatz. She kindly gave us
directions, and we took off running from there. We made it
five minutes early, only to go in the first entrance (which
is actually part of a school/theater associated with
Marameo). By the time we got directions from the secretary,
we knew we would be late- how embarrassing! We ran
downstairs and looked inside the dance studio- it was a
modern jazz class – not what we had planned on. A tad bit
confused, we went into the dressing room to change, and the
teacher we had taken a modern dance class from at Dock 11
walked in…The irony! She told us the class wasn’t until
7:45!
It turns out she taught the exact same class, verbatim…same
combinations, same counts, same corrections (but good for
our bodies nonetheless). Ahhh what a
night!
~ Met Oli for dinner at Hackesher Hof...then to Luna's
Beach Bar for some relaxation. Our feet in the sand made us
a little homesick!
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6/14:
~ Back to the passport issue. Luckily, we got it all taken
care of. We made copies and faxed them off, and decided to
go shopping for the first time since we have been in
Berlin.
- Planet Headquarters on Schlueterstrasse 35 and
Kurfurstendamm - The saleswoman was definitely good at her
job...such a cool and hip woman who gave us Berlin city
guides and free gifts!
~ Post shopping bier at Zeitlos. It was a tiki hut/bar with
sand inside. We tried to pay with change (because it was a
small bill, and we didn't have anything else in our
wallets...) The waiter gave us such a hard time about it.
He lectured us for about ten minutes until Aline had to
defend herself. We walked out and told him we would never
return...So if you are ever in Berlin, do NOT go here!
~ Went to
meet up with Thomas and some friends at Hackesher Markt
~ We
went to a park area lined with lounges/cafes/bars. We
bought some meat to have a barbeque, played frisbee and
foosball…What fun.
~ A dancer for the Friedrichstadt Palast came as well. We
were only able to speak with her briefly, because someone
stole her purse- a horrible situation. Make sure you always
have an eye on your things (especially in tourist areas!).
No city is as safe as it is portrayed to be.
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6/15:
~ Lunch at a lovely little Italian restaurant around the
corner from the apartment. It was called Mondo Pazzo
(Schluterstrasse 52 and Mommsenstrasse)...truly authentic
(we were surrounded by native Italians). After a very
pleasing meal and some ice cream, we returned to the
apartment to do some research. Aline made several phone
calls to universities, libraries, and choreographers in the
city to make appointments. Needless to say, it was a very
productive afternoon. Our schedules are officially packed
with things to do, places to go, and people to see!
~ Dinner at En Passant on Savigny Platz. Thomas and his
business partner Nick met us before going to Strand Bar
Gut.
~ Met a group of Nick's fraternity brothers (interesting to
compare and contrast German fraternities to American ones)
~ We all went to a place called Maxxim (..."the art of
nightlife"!) for dancing. The weather was bad, so we said
our goodbyes and went home early.
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6/16:
~
Aline found a phone number of a Berlin based choreographer:
Birgit Asshoff. She called to ask about any performances,
but there was no answer, so she left a message. Birgit
called back within the next five minutes! She offered to
speak with us over coffee Wednesday of next week! How
exciting! Ahhh!
~ Went to the Mime Centrum Berlin: Movement, Theater, Labor
(also houses one of Berlin's largest dance archives)
c/o Quartier 73
Schoenhauser Allee 73
D - 10437 Berlin
Tel: +49-(30)-4465 18 60/61
Website: www.mimecentrum.de
- There was a festival going on all day with open classes
and informal showings of pantomime, martial arts, contact
improvisation, modern dance, and modelling.
- We watched a pantomime showing...definitely something
new. It was interesting to see the similarities to dance.
The director briefly explained the separation of the body
into 5 parts that could be placed in different ways to
express different emotions. The pieces were from historical
repertory that the students of the school learned and
performed.
- We also sat in on an open contact improvisation class in
hopes of something exciting and new. They took the first
fifteen minutes to do a 'warm up,' which consisted of the
teacher directing the students to massage eachothers arms
to feel the muscles, joints, and skin...15 minutes and
counting, Nicole and I looked at each other and decided to
leave. Where was the sharing of weight, or any movement for
that matter. Oh well, maybe they just take their time to
build their mind-body awareness.
- Aline had called the day before to ask about her
research, and a woman had recommended Herr Wittenbecher, so
we asked around to find him, and sure enough, he was there-
busy directing the events of the day, yet took the time to
sit down with us in his office to answer some questions. We
clarified the specifics of the research topic in
preparation for a filmed interview on Monday. He also
offered to find a few other contacts for us (famous
choreographers: Jo Fabian, Tom Schilling, Irina Paus), in
addition to putting several documentaries aside for us to
watch next week. Jackpot!
~ After this exciting meeting, we headed to RadialSystemV,
where a collaborative performance of musicians of
Rundfunkor Berlin and dancers from Staatsoper Berlin was to
begin at 8 pm. We arrived approximately one hour prior to
get tickets. Unfortunately, we arrived to a long line of
hopefuls...We waited and waited- but no luck. Right at 8
pm, everyone from the ticket line left, and we stood there
confused and let down. We politely asked if there were
other performances we could get tickets for, and the lady
rudely responded that there were no other performances.
Tough luck we suppose. (P.S. We had called this morning to
reserve tickets, but there was no answer...)
- RadialSystemV
Holzmarktstrasse 33
10243 Berlin
Tel: +49-030 288 788 588
Website: www.radialsystem.de
~ We left to go meet Thomas and friends for Nick's cousin's
birthday celebration at a bar (the Jagermeister girls
hosted the event, handing out free shots and gifts!). It
was a fun family event with good music, food, and drinks. A
group of us then went to another night club where flashing
images were projected onto the walls surrounding the dance
floor. An elevated stage was used as the DJ booth. There
was also terrace out back right on the river. We realized
when we went outside that we were right down the street
from RadialSystemV (where we were about 12 hours prior).
~ We took the S bahn back home Sunday morning. (This crazy
Berlin lifestyle is something we still haven't adjusted
to).
_______________________________________________________________________
6/17:
~ Sleep, eat, sleep, take a bath, and go back to sleep.
Charging our batteries for a week of research!
_______________________________________________________________________
6/18:
~ Meeting at Mime Centrum with Herr Wittenbecher @ 2 pm
- He gave us a documentary to watch called "Tanz In
Deutschland: Vereint im Pas de Deux"- a film by Marina
Bartsch-Ruediger and Gabriele Conrad.
- The interviews were with individuals who were part of
either the West or East dance scene when there was still a
separation. They spoke of the importance of classical
training over modern dance, in addition to the unspoken
requirement to graduate from a dance school/conservatory
which acted as a boarding school that guaranteed the
students jobs as professional dancers. After some
explanation of what it was like to be a dancer before the
Wall came down, the interviewees talked about how that
safety of getting a job decreased after the Wall came down.
Even more competition arrived, making it more difficult to
find a place in the schools. (odd- b/c we have also heard
that most dancers fled the East...something to think about-
and ask our next interviewees)
- Even though the outside separation is no longer there,
there is still a sense of restriction within the community.
- Documentary included interviews with: Arila Siegert,
Ralph Boock, Johann Kresnik, Elke Paula, William Forsythe,
Joerg Simon, Susan Barnett, Hanne Wandtke, and more...
- The structure of the documentary was extremely effective.
It introduced each person with a brief clip and their name
at the beginning. Then it developed with more extensive
interviews with each.
~ After we finished the documentary, Herr Wittenbecher
entered the room with a list of seven contacts for me to
call for interviews! Most of them being incredibly
established in the dance scene here in Germany and
throughout Europe. I am really excited, and hope that they
will have the time to share some of their experiences with
me!
~ We also watched a documentary called "Pina Bausch- Dass
Ballett in Deutschland" that was made for the 25 year
anniversary of the Wuppertal Tanztheater. It told of her
impact on dance, her initial reasoning to make dance,
audience responses to her work, her relationship with her
dancers, etc...Fascinating stuff- I wish I had had this
film when I was writing my modern dance history research
paper! Oh well... I still loved it, and will always and
forever love Pina.
~ Inspired from watching these great films, we decided to
get some footage of the Mime Centrum before grabbing some
dinner.
~ Dinner at a friendly little Italian restaurant called
Fellini Ristorante-Pizzeria on Gleimstrasse 30
~ Mozied around in search of a suitcase for Nicole...not
only did we find one, we found one for a mere 39 euros
woohoo! (Berlin has reasonable prices for everything from
food to shopping- great city for us
soon-to-be-poor-and-starving-dancers haha= joke...but not
really).
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6/19:
~ Breakfast at Jules Verne
~ Off to Oranienburg. We walked down Linienstrasse looking
for an art gallery we read about in a brochure. Every other
door we passed was an art gallery! We decided to start from
the end and work our way back.
- Zak Gallery: "Africanized Honey Bees" by Pawel Ksiazek
- Esther Schipper Galerie: "Are Your Coming or Going,
Around?" by Angela Bulloch
- C/O Berlin- Cultural Forum for Photography
- Institut fur Auslandsbeziehungen: Lust auf Raum- Neue
Innenarchitektur in Russland (display of interior
design/architecture in Russia)
- Kicken Berlin: "denn Bleiben ist nirgends" by Jitka
Hanzlova and "Palast" by Ryuji Miyamoto
- Kunstagenten Contemporary Art Gallery
- several others that were not open to the public due to
the setting up of new exhibits.
- We also stopped in what we assumed was a second hand
shop, but it turns out it was a used costume shop run by a
professional dancer. We got to talking and she had some
schools to recommend, as well as her card. She just
recently started her own agency for dancers, artists, and
models.
*Powerful Event
Daniela Titz
Joachim-Friedrich-Str. 22/23
D-10711 Berlin
Phone: +49 (0)30 460 670 88
Website: www.powerful-event.de
~ By the time we got back to the U Bahn, Aline had
blisters. To heal the pain, we stopped for some ice cream:
cinnamon, chocolate, coffee, and marzipan mmm.
~ We went back home to make some phone calls to the
contacts we had gotten from Herr Wittenbecher. No success.
Out of 7 people, 0 answered. We left messages for everyone,
and hope we can meet with at least three of them before we
leave for Amsterdam on Saturday.
~ Aline took a nap and
updated the web site, while Nicole went to
Topography
of Terror, an open-air exhibition of
the street where all the Nazi headquarters were located,
Niederkirchnerstrasse 8.
~ Between 1933 and 1945 the Gestapo, the National Socialist
SS, police state, Special Units (Einstatzgruppen) of the
Security Police and SD, and most administrators and other
leadership were all located in this small area. It was
formerly home to self made millionaires of the 17 and
1800's and also Russian royalty, until the area was
transformed to fit the needs of Nazi persecution and terror
and a rich line of propaganda.
~There were thousands of plaques to read with wonderful
indepth history of each building and the
leader/administrator that lived there and the kind of
business that went on there; the original prison cells are
also open to explore. The exhibition is free and there are
also guided audio tours available.
~ There was so much to read I was cross-eyed by the end of
it all! I stayed for about two hours!
~ I love
how in a big city you can find dance any and everywhere. I
was merely walking toward the train from the exhibition
when I heard the sounds of drums bouncing off the
skyscrapers. I followed the echoes to Potsdammer Platz
where a group of maybe 10 dancers and 8 drummers had
gathered a crowd. They were awesome hip-hop dancers! I
stayed a gathered some footage for about 30 minutes then
headed home.
~ Dinner at Restaurant Brechts on Schiffbauerdamm 6...We
had what they called a theater-appetizer, including a
lovely assortment of Austrian specialties.
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6/20:
~
This morning was filled with nervous anticipation to speak
with two very knowledgeable individuals. First, Aline did a
phone interview with Professor Peter Jarchow. He was a
pianist for dance for years, and became the director of the
Palucca School in the early nineties after the Fall of the
Berlin Wall. It was unfortunate that we couldn't actually
meet with him in person, but we recorded the conversation
on the computer in order to use the information for voice
overs in our documentary.
~ Our next nerve-wracking, yet exciting appointment was
coffee with Birgit Asshoff. (We have piles of papers and
brochures everywhere. Aline had written down the meeting
location on a piece of paper that somehow got lost in the
mounds of other information...So she had to call and get
directions again- how embarassing!). Anyhow, we made it to
the cafe, and waited excitedly.
~ She arrived and gave us both a warm welcome. It was so
nice of her to meet with us- I cannot get over it. We asked
her questions about dance in Berlin, her choreography, her
plans for the future, the audition process, funding, etc.
~ She studied and trained in Berlin during the DDR times.
She told us about the challenges that came with traveling
from the East to the West. Although she travels a lot now
(choreographing, teaching, etc. in places like South
America, Spain, and many other fascinating places...), she
still calls Berlin home. Birgit says that she prefers not
to do work in Berlin due to the high level of competition.,
but there is a huge amount of creative work being done
here.
~ She works on a project-to-project basis, thus has no set
company. She chooses to work with dancers she sees perform.
If she attends a performance in which a striking individual
is casted, she approaches him/her about her work as well.
~ Birgit also brought along some photos/postcards of her
work.
~ She is working on a new website that will be up and
running soon...so check it out! Danke Birgit fur deine
zeit!
~ Met
Thomas ...We all got on the S bahn to go to Club de
Visionaire. This is a huge dock area with a stranded old
boat used as seating areas for loungers. There is also an
upper level to sit up on and look down at the crowd. It
also has a lovely view of fishermen and a line of
restaurants across the canal. One of which we ended up
eating at...really spicy curry soup and chicken satay.
~ After this, we met with
Britta and a friend of Thomas'. We all went to the
Badeschiff (a pool in the river. Just look at the pictures
and you will understand...
_______________________________________________________________________
6/21:
~
Today we went to the DDR Museum to further our research.
The exhibit consisted of examples and explanations of
aspects of people everyday lives in former East Germany.
Everything was hands on, from closets of clothes to actual
television shows with propaganda, to a furnished apartment,
and everything in between. There was also a listening
device set up to show how the citizens were often bugged
and monitored by the Stasi.
~ We got so caught up with reading every word on every sign
and looking at the memorabilia that we didn't realize it
was pouring rain outside. We contemplated taking a taxi
back to the train station, but then figured we could save
the money and just walk there...It was a refreshing
experience to say the least. haha.
~ After drying off, we began organizing, packing, and
cleaning in preparation for our next adventure...
Amsterdam!
~ Tonight is a performance of "Koerper" (Body) by Sasha
Waltz and Guests at the SchauBuehne on
Kurfustendammstrasse.
******************************************************
*Performance Review*
CAUTION@%*#
You are now
entering the longest reveiw we have ever created. We
challenge you to get through it all!
~ Company:
Sasha Waltz & Guests
-
Dancers: Davide Camplani, Juan Kruz Diaz de Garaio Esnaola,
Luc Dunberry, Annette Klar, Nicola Mascia, Joroen
Mosselman, Virgis Puodziunas, Yael Schnell, Claudia de
Serpa Soares, Xuan Shi, Takako Suzuki, Laurie Young, Sigal
Zouk-Harder
~ Title: Koerper
~ Choreographer: Sasha Waltz
~ Venue: Schaubuehne am Lehniner Platz
~ Music: Hans Peter Kuhn
-
miminalist with raw mechanical sounds that acted as a
monotonous background. There were times where it would go
to the back of your mind, and you forgot there was even
music until there was silence. The pauses of sound and
light changes supported the fragmented structure, yet the
music embodied similar themes throughout. Sounds taken from
everyday life: natural and manufactured, such as raindrops
and the machines of an assembly line. At times the constant
and unchanging tone became unnerving…we got the point.
~ Light: Valentin Galle,
Martin Hauk
-
Changes of both extremes: from cave light to bright
interrogation light. Created a nice contrast to the
soundscape.
~ Costumes: Bernd Skodzig
- birthday suits, sheer two piece suits with nude, pink,
and blue pieces of fabric abstractly placed on various
parts of the body. Black business suits, single rectangular
panels that covered only the anterior side of the torso,
nude underwear (with one dancer in a dark color), black
full and long skirt (almost Martha Graham style, except
topless), …You are probably wondering how these different
ideas worked, and how many dancers were in this piece haha-
well, they were constantly changing from one outfit to the
next- almost for every entrance.
~ Set: Thomas Schenk, Heike Schuppelius, Sasha Waltz
-
A large (two stories tall!) versatile wall made of plank
wood. It was used as a chalkboard and a pegged 12 x 7 x 2
playground.
- A panel was removed to reveal the dancers squirming,
almost aquatically in slow motion throughout the small
pegged playground. Some even entered from above!
Two men, one wearing a
long, black cloak the other wearing a two-piece suit, began
dancing as the audience settled into their seats. They
incorporated small, sharp, isolations of the head, breath,
and partner manipulation. Sasha Waltz took a wonderfully
sculptural look at levels throughout the piece. Fingers and
nude limbs popped out of holes on either end of the wall;
purely abstract and slightly humorous against the very
serious business going on with our fully clothed men. The
men continued their sequence of entering from behind the
wall, groundwork, then inching their way to the other end
of the wall with sneaky tactics and changing of the leader.
When the panel of the wall was removed to show the dancers
maneuvering around as if they were 10 snails moving around
in the dirt I was in awe. Actually, it was the first time I
have ever really experienced Claustrophobia without being
in a small space myself!
One woman was left in the pegged playground. She spoke
through the glass but we could not understand her until the
glass shield was lifted. She spoke about her body, then
walked down and met another female dancer downstage with a
set of paint, sponges and stickers. They appraised each
others’ plastic surgery needs. They circled the “problem
area” and stamped a sticker of the cost of “repair”; a
measure of the value of the body and the price of
perfection.
Two torsos came out riding on the legs of another cloaked
dancer. Both torsos had a very unique reaction to their
independent lower half. The both halves of the body
eventually went to the ground and created interestingly
impossible body half connections. The body halves switched,
then dissipated. The original bottom halves of the
characters came out from underneath their partners to
reveal themselves. After grabbing a few dining plates, they
stood downstage: one facing the audience and the other
facing the back wall. More and more dancers entered,
getting plates, and walking over to create two single file
lines behind the downstage characters. Everyone then
imploded into two tight huddles. They wrapped their arms
around the person in front of them, clanking the plates to
create a unique new layer to the soundscape. Arms extended
out with hands holding plates, drawing circular designs in
the air. Then they repeated this again: implosion and
expansion. They stacked the plates onto the leaders’ piles
and left to different parts of the stage, taking on new
motional and emotional characteristics leading to…
**Chaos #1 (Yes, there are more to come):
ϖ
Dancer
throwing plates on the ground of the stage left balcony-
the shattering noise adding yet another sound to the
collage.
ϖ
Another dancer
on the stage right balcony wore a ski mask and did quirky
movements with his head and neck.
ϖ A
woman downstage right crawled underneath a pair of red
door-like floor boards. The qualities conveyed a sense of
struggle and oppression.
ϖ
Dancers were
pacing around the stage, speaking over each other.
~ With each dancer doing
something different, the overall picture of the stage
became overwhelming, forcing you as a viewer to make
choices as to what to focus on.
Then a naked Hispanic woman entered the stage slowly and
silently. She spoke about her body and how she is pretty
satisfied, how she inherited certain traits from family
members…Then another man entered wearing a black suit and
brought her a sheer red dress to put on. She continued her
speech including body parts. The theme of the “partner body
talks” was to speak about one body part, but point to
another. A translator/interpreter would stand nearby to
demonstrate the correct name to body part correlation…just
in case the other got too confusing.
There was a whole section where the dancers grabbed/pinched
the skin of another dancer around the pecks, the back (near
the shoulder blades), the upper hamstrings, forearms, face,
etc… to actually lift the person off the ground!!! This
caused quite uncomfortable reactions.
Three nude dancers came out one after the other. Two other
characters in full business suits lifted the nude dancers
up horizontally to be measured. A long stick with chalk on
the end of it was used by a new character, a woman wearing
a long black skirt, to measure the nude dancers. The
outlines of the dancers decreased in size, creating a
pyramid-like design on the black board.
**Chaos #2:
ϖ
Falling to the
ground, lie flat, stand up, spin, then repeat…the pace and
intensity increased.
ϖ The
massive wall came tumbling down. The fall was so dramatic
it made the world stop spinning. It fell inches from the
chaotic dancers and the audience!
ϖ
But now there
is a whole new pallet to work with, a huge ramp was created
by the fall, the highest point stage left descending toward
stage right.
The dancers walked up the board in a line and continued to
use this platform as a space to show various shifting
geometric patterns.
Everyone exits the stage except for two couples (one on the
platform, and the other on the main stage). Most of the
movement incoporated the motif of falling and catching,
sharing of weight through the supporting of various body
parts. The use of quirky expressions made this sections
somewhat humorous as well.
**Chaos #3:
ϖ Continuous clapping
ϖ Stuffed animal taken apart by a dancer who then proceeded
to stuff his own clothes with the cotton (stuffed animal
--> stuffed man...pretty hilarious).
ϖ Counting of strands of hair (in Spanish)
ϖ The idea of falling interpreted by each dancer- very raw
and seemingly painful at times
A woman came out (Nicole thinks it was Sasha herself) with
a hair weave that was attached to two long sticks...This is
somewhat difficult to explain- just imagine her standing
with her arms extended out to the sides, holding onto six
foot poles, her braids attached to the ends...She was
topless, wearing a long black skirt. Due to the physical
restrictions presented with this prop, there was a lack of
intricate movement. This solo highlighted the lines created
with the hair, body, and sticks. The swooshing sounds made
by the moving poles were fierce too.
More conversations/speeches about body parts with
translators...
Solo into a trio...manipulation of the soloist's body
through flips etc. It was almost violent, but the girl had
no expression throughout...heavy.
Duet by two dancers with extremely different heights and
body types. The female was probably about five feet, and
the male was practically seven feet. (Kind of reminds us of
A'Keitha and Becca). Interesting relationship developed
here.
. The glass door was brought down upstage right. Two bodies
appeared at the glass, one man behind the glass with his
shirt pulled over his head, the other a woman in front of
the glass. A long arching wide-mouthed gasp. The lighting
depicted the two characters merging into one holographic
image.
**Chaos #4: (hence the numbering system)
ϖ The dancers all entered in a clump and flocked from one
side of the stage to the next..People pacing frantically
saying yes, no, yes, no.
They suddenly split apart, filling the stage with bodies.
ϖ Random talking
ϖ Every person doing something and saying something
different from the next
The rest of the group removed planks from the floor board
to unconver a long, narrow, silver lined niche. They layed
down in a single file line, heads touching feet...
The lights dimmed to show only the couple at the glass
gasp- and the lights went out. There was a pause that
lasted about a minute before they brought up the house
lights
Although this may seem like a lot of information, there is
still so much more we are leaving out. I guess we could say
that it is one of those pieces you just have to see.
______________________________________________________________________
6/23:
-
Met Nick and Thomas for brunch on Knesebeckstrasse. 3,40
euro for the buffet, which was awesome…eggs, crepes,
sausages, salad, soup, cereal, fruit, cakes, puddings,
bread, meat and cheese, potatoes galore.
- We drove around the city in the drop-top with “Thomas the
Terrific Tour Guide”.
- It was a day of good weather and fun!
o Boat tour
o
Tacheles, an “underground” art building that houses visual
art, music, the cinema of your dreams, several galleries,
and even a small box of a room with Marley over part of the
floor (a dance studio). The back yard looks like a hippie
haven with volkswagen buses with the seats taken out and
used as couches, bonfires, and a wet-bar for the loungers
enjoying the sculptures. The stairwell reeked of beer and
piss (later on we noticed a sign that tried to detour
anyone else from committing these crimes). The walls were
covered from top to bottom with graffiti and posters,
painted images from the past, displays of the revolution,
that all came together in this tremendous collage of media!
Each floor of this six-story building had its own
extraordinary treasures.
o We went to Hinterhof des Central Kinos (near Hackesher
Markt), another underground artist area with a café,
cinema, and art gallery that features the craziest
mechanical fire-breathing flying frog sculpture in front of
the entrance.
o Home to pack and prepare for our late night adventures.
We dropped our bags off at the train station where you can
store your bags 24 hours of the day for 3 euros per bag!
o Kruegers, a funny bar with an exotic bathroom equipped
with a complimentary foo-foo drink, a dinner plate, and a
framed patch of grass with Christmas lights interlaced.
Here we met Sasha and Christian for drinks.
o We strolled around the corner to the “48 Hour Party”. 5
euro to enter and welcome to your high school dance except
with cool people and DJ Bloody Mary (what’s the second
thing you relate to that name?).
o Then we ended up around back at Greenwich, which is
actually the first bar we went to here in Berlin! Isn’t
that crazy how things come full circle like that?
o 7 am we caught a cab to the train station, grabbed our
bags, ate breakfast, and began our trip to Amsterdam