Claudio | iHeartBerlin.de

Glory – Dancing Disturbia

photos: Dieter Hartwig.

When does a dance start and when does it end? What movement is beautiful and what would you describe as disturbing? How can the body language translate into a narrative and what will the audience read in it

These are some of the questions posed by the dance piece Glory by Jeremy Wade. This piece had its premiere 12 years ago at the Tanztage festival and is coming back to Sophiensaele this weekend. The powerful duett by Jeremy Wade himself and Sindri Runudde will show you some aspects of dance you might never have seen before.

How Classical Music can give you the right Break from Reality

by Claudio | Events, Music

We all have been there: Struggling with the apartment hunt or the job situation in Berlin, questioning the stability of your relationships or just being upset because the right twist to enjoy your everyday life is missing.

Listen, I can give you the quickest antidote to all this mental bullshit. It’s classical music. Believe me!

But let’s start the story from the beginning. For two years now we have been organizing a unique picnic for our readers and writers to enjoy the classic open-air event Staatsoper für Alle in collaboration with Staatsoper Berlin.

Win a Picnic at Staatsoper für Alle with the Team of iHeartBerlin

by Claudio | Music, Theater

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Classical Music is a special treat in your everyday life. If it would be a dish it would be like a delicacy you need days to prepare and as soon as you taste it you know that all the effort was worth it.

Berlin has many places to enjoy classical music. Some are prestigious and elegant, some are more unconventional. One unique setting we have enjoyed in the past two years is the open-air classic concert series Staatsoper für Alle. Organized by Staatsoper Berlin in collaboration with BMW there will be an Opera screening on the 15th and a live concert from the Staatskapelle on the 16th of June at Bebelplatz. And the best thing is: the concerts are completely free and accessible to everyone.

Last year we started the idea to offer a little special for our iHeartBerlin readers that are as into classical music as we are. Before the concert on the 16th at 13.00, we will provide a picnic starting at 11.30h with drinks and snacks for 3×2 readers that we will pick in a raffle. So you can listen to the concert on Sunday 16th and enjoy a delightful brunch with lots of sparkling wine and us as your hosts.

Berlin has Europe in its Heart

by Claudio | Stories

At the last European Elections in 2014, only 46,7% of Berliners went to the voting booth. This number is fucking disturbing because this means that less than half of the population even cared to make Democracy work.

But in 2019 we can’t afford to be that careless anymore. In the last couple of years, the rise of populism and anti-Europeanism made it clear that we can’t go on with our lives and leave the boring government stuff to the politicians. They will fuck it up if we don’t initiate a movement and start a counter-revolution to these reactionary forces that are unchallenged.

Yesterday, we were again proud of Berlin for showing up and making noise for a progressive and positive European Democracy. One week before the elections for the European Parliament over 25 000 people walked through the city to demonstrate for a free, human and ecologically aware Europe.

Watercolors and Bubble Fun at the Mumm ArtNight 2019

by Claudio | Art

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Do you remember your first art class at school? Where you were allowed to play with watercolors for the first time and be fascinated by how the colors lose their saturation when you use more water? Now think about the whole experience with a glass of premium sparkling wine in your hand and with your best friends by your side. This is the moment you might wonder what kind of ‘results’ your art class would have brought to light back then under these circumstances :).

Once per year the premium sparkling wine Mumm Sekt releases a bottle set in collaboration with an artist. This year the collaboration is with famous fashion photographer Kristian Schuller. His design for the three different flavors of Mumm Sekt is the first time they take advantage of the medium of abstract photography. Read more about the collaboration here.

Der Palast – A Dance Competition About Gentrification

by Claudio | Theater

photos: Vismante Ruzgaite, GIFs: Frank R. Schröder.

Finding a nice apartment in Berlin has become a serious hustle. You have to compete with lots of other people for a little one-bedroom apartment for 800 Euros in Wedding – if you are lucky. All these other people have better jobs, more savings and a much more stable personality than you in stress situations. But imagine that instead of having to prove your financial security you would need to partake in a dance competition in front of your landlord to get your dream apartment in Berlin?

In the newest piece by Costanza Macras “Der Palast” that premiered earlier this month at Volksbühne this absurd scenario becomes a reality. Several couples compete in a reality show competition that reminded me of Dancing with the Stars. Of course, the whole show is not linear but more like a mosaic of all kind of little stories, dance episodes, and funny group scenes.

Sasha Waltz: Rauschen – The Machine can hear you dance

by Claudio | Theater

photos: Olga Khristolyubova.

How might the world be like if machines were kings and humans were slaves? If powers were shifted and the automatization would prevail over emotion? In her newest piece Rauschen which premiered last week, Sasha Waltz managed to create a kaleidoscopic dystopian nightmare. The main topic: the struggle of man against machine and the toxic way our society revolves around our egos.

For Sasha Waltz Rauschen is her first piece produced for the big stage of Volksbühne. A stage that has a lot of problematic theater history to carry. But her piece is time and spaceless. It does not need references to be emblematic on its own.

Fanfic-Festival – Celebrating the Queer, the Strange and the Liberating Power of Fan Fiction

by Claudio | Theater

Collage: house of killing

When I met Frank, the founder of iHeartBerlin, 14 years ago he told me he had already written his own little series of books. I was super enthusiastic and asked him to borrow it to me. When he took one out of his bookshelf I was really surprised by what he gave me. It turned out to be a little self-printed booklet telling one self-written episode of The X Files. I knew the series from TV but didn’t understand what he was showing to me. Nowadays I know: He was writing fan fiction.

The idea of being such a fan of something that you dedicate your time and energy to write your own story happening in a certain fictional universe blew my mind. But also I have to admit that my surprise was followed by arrogance. This is not “real” literature I thought to myself. But why wasn’t it real? Because it was self-published? Because it wasn’t meant to be sold to anybody? Or because I did not appreciate the originality of it since the characters and the narrative-universe already existed?

Nowadays, I have a different perspective on fan fiction. I know that it is an authentic art form that is anti-capitalistic since it does not need to be financially successful. Also, it is often queer and feminist because many of the fans from the LGBTQ community create their own version of popular stories. A gay Harry Potter? A black Hermion Granger? Why not! The main purpose is the pleasure the fan community experiences in sharing their material. Did I get you intrigued with my story by now? I hope so!

A Drink at the Opera – Photos from Cocktails & Movies with Staatsoper Berlin

by Claudio | Movies, Photos, Theater

iHeartBerlin & Staatsoper Berlin Present a Cocktail & Movie Night with Solaris

by Claudio | Events, Movies

»Man has gone out to explore other worlds and other civilizations without having explored his own labyrinth of dark passages and secret chambers, and without finding what lies behind doorways that he himself has sealed.« ― Stanisław Lem, Solaris

For many years now Berlin has opened new doors and possibilities to us as a magazine. Some collaborations where coincidences, others grew over time and space and became something as real and important as the digital work we do.

Since the re-opening of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden after its decade-long renovations, we had the pleasure to collaborate with the team of Staatsoper in several projects so far – always with the goal to open up doors and minds for new audiences to the magic of Opera, classical music and dance.

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