Now it’s finally here: the new creative leadership of Berlin choreographer Sasha Waltz at the Staatsballett – anticipated by some and criticized by others. And the season premiere of Plateau Effect by Jefta van Dinther could not have been a more daring choice for the first piece of this new era.
The Swedish choreographer van Dinther is well known in the contemporary dance scene and has been often invited to Tanz im August and to HAU theater. His pieces are known for an emotional radicalness and for not caring about the needs and expectations of the audience. Even if his work is acclaimed by critics and the dance and art world, it is not something you would take your granny or even your parents to watch. Many of his pieces are raw, sexual, rough and often accompanied by a soundtrack you would rather hear at Berghain than in an opera house.
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by Claudio | Theater
It is no secret that we are huge fans of Berlin label UY. So it comes as no surprise that we were thrilled to find out that the label plans a very special extravaganza to celebrate its 5th anniversary. Combining their passion for the theatrical and their strong connection to Berlin’s nightlife the event was recently revealed to be a dance performance at Halle (the awesome location inside the building of Berghain) that will premiere tonight!
We had the chance to witness the press preview last night and of course, took the opportunity to capture some impressions for you. You can expect a grand spectacle with lots of golden outfits, a fantastic choreography by The Progressive Wave, and a soundtrack by Dasha Rush that could not be more fitting for the location. You should get tickets for the 19h or 21h show and join the after party at Berghain Kantine.
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by Frank | Fashion
If you want to experience a truly innovative presentation of cutting-edge fashion in Berlin you need to keep an eye out for the events at TRAUMABARUNDKINO. The hidden place in Moabit has put out a series of fashion events since the last November that combines contemporary dance with fashion. Of course, there have been attempts at blending dance with fashion elsewhere before, but trust me, never have they been as cool as at TRAUMA.
Following the success of Now You May Tell That I Have Been Seen By You the fashion department of TRAUMA lead by Tanja Bombach has now put out a second event titled Catalogue of Disguise showcasing designs by Olga Khristolyubova, Aleksndru Plesco, and Tanja herself. With an impressive choreography by Franka Marlene Foth that I could easily see at the theatres in Berlin and a stellar cast of dancers the piece was a big advancement of the already pretty amazing first event. Every little detail was perfect from the designs to the performance, the hair and make-up, music and light. It’s so rare you see something as complex as this brought to perfection in each of its aspects. Congratulations to the entire team. I draw my hat.
There are no further words that will do this level of excellence any justice, so I decide to let my photo and GIF impressions speak instead.
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by Frank | Fashion, Party
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.
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by Claudio | Theater
photos: Vismante Ruzgaite.
As you know, we love interdisciplinary work blending different genres together, especially when this happens in unique places in Berlin. One new occasion to experience such a creative immersion is happening this weekend for 3 nights at the beautiful Delphi. The place has a unique history as it used to be a silent movie theater that opened in the 1920s and it was actually the last one of its kind that was ever built.
With Hecate House, a new independent genre-bending theater production written by Christopher Adams-Cohen and directed by James Darrah, the old silent movie theater will be transformed into an experimental experience that will stimulate all your senses. Led by an overarching narrative of a brother and sister who get caught in a storm in the Black Forrest and take shelter in an abandoned hunting lodge that is inhabited by a mysterious pair of twin sisters the audience gets invited to step into a responsive audio-visual landscape breaking the fourth wall of the performer/spectator experience. During the piece, you can enjoy live electronic music improvisations by Farah Hazim and Wissam Sader, as well as dance performances choreographed by Andrea Galad.
To be able to give you a bit of a preview we joined the first dress rehearsal and took some photos for you. The Hecate House premieres tonight, at Delphi with encore performances on Saturday and Sunday.
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by Frank | Theater
Dance is an expression of the body, while fashion design gives the body new form and function. Can both become one in an only and unique genre? Last Saturday the new Hybrid-Art Space TRAUMABARUNDKINO presented its first in-house production combining contemporary dance choreographies with the presentation of four young fashion talents.
We had the opportunity to experience the performance NOW YOU MAY TELL THAT I’VE BEEN SEEN BY YOU and were incredibly stooked by so much creativity from different angles coming together.
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by Claudio | Art, Fashion
On Sunday, the 11th of November 2018 you will have the chance to be part of a unique creative performance with TOOLS FOR ACTION. Their latest artistic project “Signals, Resonating Revolutions” is a collaboration with Kulturprojekt Berlin and the choreographers of Tänzer ohne Grenzen, and you can take part in this creative resistance to fight for unity and the good values in our society!
On the 11th of November, Berlin celebrates the 100th anniversary of the German Revolution, namely when the first German democracy was proclaimed in Berlin and basic rights, like the right to assemble, freedom of opinion and votes for women were established.
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by Giulio | Art, Events
What is the difference between the meat on our body and the meat on our plates? Is there really one? Why does our brain rather consider a bunch of oversized fake sausages “meat” while the real meat sits naked on top of it?
For the research to his award-winning piece Requiem for a Piece of Meat theater maker Daniel Hellmann went deep into the cruel realities of the meat production industry. What he found there was both shocking and eye-opening, and turned him and part of his team to veganism. The ways how we humans disassociate a piece of meat from what it really is – a sliced-off piece from a living creature that was killed against its will after enduring a life of torture and mistreatment – is one of the topics he dissects in his piece. But it goes far beyond the treatment of animals and blurred lines of what is the meat on our bones, the meat of an animal and the meat product that goes over the butcher’s counter. It also questions how we treat black bodies and female bodies, and how lust and desire play into our associations with meat.
Nothing that you will see in this piece is done for shock value – in fact, the realities of the things depicted in the play are by far more shocking. Yet, for some theaters, the production was too extreme so it got censored and even canceled. Luckily, Berlin theater people are not so thin-skinned so we can enjoy the German premiere tonight at Ballhaus Ost with encore screenings on the following days. Some impressions and details below.
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by Frank | Theater
Approximately 0.5 % of the Berlin population is infected with HIV. This number ranks Berlin on top of all German cities shortly followed by Hamburg. Due to effective medication nowadays you can live a long and healthy life even with an HIV infection. This has made the disease less frightening among younger generations which results in a rising number of new infections since the early 2000s.
Maybe these statistics are a good reason to take a closer look at the theater piece Aids Follies premiering today at Sophiensaele. This unusual Aids Musical takes you back to the story of Patient Zero, the first patient who was wrongly accused to have brought HIV to North America. With a collage of video documents, conspiracy theories and eclectic sound and dance performances the director Johannes Müller created a dark hybrid of different theater genres.
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by Claudio | Theater
They are the gender fluid twins in art, bold style icons, prolific artists across multiple fields. They’ve established a stimulating, brazen presence that has gained artistic recognition globally. Their unique performance act has been around for 25 years, and yet they never run out of ideas for their next outfit. This fabulous duo calls Berlin their home, and more than that, they seem to impersonate the city’s unrestrained artistry and the desire to cross boundaries. If you haven’t heard of them yet their upcoming retrospective exhibition at me Collectors Room Berlin will give you the opportunity to change that.
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by Michalina | Art, People
