Friday, May 25, 2012

Tage Tanz Festival Potsdam

Last night John and I met up with Shannon and Jüergen to go to the opening night of a dance festival at the Schiffbauergasse arts complex in Potsdam. They drove us there and we treated them to dinner at the lakeside boat/restaurant, the John Barnett, next to the complex. It was a clear, balmy evening - just right for a night out.
It was by contacting dancer/choreographer, Shannon through a mutual friend in Toronto that John and I found our fabulous place in West Kreuzberg. This was our "thank you" treat.
The John Barnet restaurant features Central European cuisine.  John and Jüergen ordered schnitzels with roast potatoes and a side salad
 and Shannon and I had the bratwurst with mustard and potato salad.
After dinner we  met up with their friend, Heather, who like Shannon is a Canadian who fell in love with a German and has moved to Germany.
Heather is a costume designer and her husband, a dancer, has been pivotal in the development of the arts complex and the Tage Dance Festival. But the lights are going down in the Schinkelhalle. Let's go in.
Here's the official teaser for the German premiere of the acrobatic dance/theatre group, Un Loup Pour L'Homme from Lille, France, who have been in residence in Potsdam to create the opening-night dance piece, Face Nord.
Afterwards everyone poured out into the cool night air to talk about the performance.
We all agreed that we'd just seen an powerful, energetic and enjoyable acrobatic display although Bill and Shannon thought that the piece lacked the essential resolution that would have qualified it as "dance".
At the after-party,
Jüergen treated us to drinks
and we wandered down to the band performing near the shoreline.
The 30 degree temperatures of the day gave way to the cool breezes from the lake. Nice place for a cultural venue!
Soon the place was surrounded by sound of the Turkish-inflected jazz rock of [Budzilla] BudZillus.
The Buds have a great look as well as a great sound,
 and soon had the crowd on their feet!
Thanks for a great night out, Shannon and Jüergen!

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Thank Sean Dixon for supplying us with the correct name of the band. In Sean's honour please enjoy this BudZillus official video: Der Untergang.

9 comments:

  1. Glad you are enjoying, Jody! Please have a look around.
    Sean -- thank you so much for the name of the band. I got nowhere with Budzilla, but BudZillus is all over the internet -- complete with an interesting documentary.

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  2. you two tomatoes are great! super reporting.i could imagine people scrambling to hire you to document their wedding.
    Heather.. not anonymous i just couldnt figure out what profile to post under.

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  3. So fun! the dance, the music, the food and drink yippee!! Also it makes me want to fall in love with a German man and move to Berlin.

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  4. Thanks anonymous/Heather. It was a great time. And Shelley, we do wish you could have been there - maybe you'd have met that German guy!

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  5. Delightful post about a lovely evening! Much "liked" :-)

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  6. Oh my goodness this is awesome! With your permission I would like to pass this wonderful post to Ute, my German co-worker, who would love to see this band and the ambiance.

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    1. Glad you liked it Mariana. Please pass our posts on to anyone you like -- that's what they're for. This band was great and there are lots of videos, and even a documentary, on youtube. Great Euro-turkish vibes!

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