Dance Ambassador Mira

10 years Club Oval - Crossover Dance Battle

An experience report

The Club Oval is a crossover dance battle that has been hosted by TanzZeit / TANZKOMPLIZEN for ten years. Our dance ambassador Mira was present at the Birthday Edition in October 2023 and captured her impressions for us.

Colorful light flickers through the crowd, some people are already securing the best seats around the oval-shaped stage. They are people of different ages, gathered this evening for a common interest: to watch, to be carried away. Outside, the rain beats on the dark streets, orange lantern light reflects like Fanta in the fresh puddles, and the snake grows in front of the entrance of the Podewil.

The vestibule between the door and the counter, in which the intruders wait for admission, stands on the fidgety border between windy nightfall outside and exuberant party atmosphere inside, where you can forget everything else for a few hours. Drawn into the crowd on the ground, good music and explosive dance. Just a neon green band around your wrist and you can mix with those present! People talk and laugh, order drinks or argue over the seat cushions. In the back of the room some dancers stand together, gather again before the performance or quietly go through their steps.

And then the presenter enters the stage, dressed today in a pant suit covered in colorful glitter. That fits. Because this Club Oval is not only an ordinary battle, but actually its 10. Birthday. A very solemn occasion, then. In addition, the jury also has a surprise in store, because unlike usual, the two introduce themselves to the audience through their own dance unit! Then follows the naming of today's DJ and already the first of the dance groups registered in advance enters the stage.

They are three dancers from the contemporary, a style that should not be neglected in such a battle. This is followed by three women, matched with tremendous energy and precision, who are joined by a group of only two dancers who will perform tonight despite the illness of their third member. Their play is interspersed with several acting and experimental units, a white band serves as a prop, with which they hang themselves in all drama at the end.

And everyone dances. Partly wild and exuberant, partly rather nervous and uncomfortable. Is anyone watching them? Are you now in the spotlight yourself?

Now it's again a short talk about the history of the Club Oval, in relation to its round birthday. For this purpose, a short video is also projected onto a canvas stretched on the edge. The same was originally created for the third or fifth birthday of the Club Oval, but is still great fun to watch - or just because of it. Now dance break. This means both a break for the performing dancers and an invitation to the audience themselves to use the dance floor.

A previously carefully bypassed place is now stormed by people. And everyone dances. Partly wild and exuberant, partly rather nervous and uncomfortable. Is anyone watching them? Are you now in the spotlight yourself? Well what's going on. Music is going on, that's the main thing. Everyone else dances too. What could be better than being on stage in a battle without actually being on stage?

After the break we continue with the solos. Individual dancers now improvise to partly unknown music, let themselves be surprised by the notes and surprise the audience with their performances. The different dance styles of the performers sometimes only take seconds to make friends with the nature of the songs assigned to them. And already they merge with each other, become one and the same. As if it was not the dance that was matched to the music, but the music that was matched to the dance. After all, this constantly changing sound is the only law to which he has to bow, with which the otherwise unconditional art of dance has to form a whole. But basically this is not a difficulty - on the contrary. Because the two elements dance and music are not only dependent on each other, they build on each other. As well as a good song impresses in its quality by arousing in the ears of the people the urge for dance gestures, for movement even of a small kind, so the dance needs the music with the same urgency as pure glass a silver coated background in order to be able to function as a mirror. As a mirror of feelings, in this case, or as whatever you like to see dance.

After the solos there is another break. And in fact, a gigantic cake is now carried onto the stage, decorated with two golden balloons, which form the number 10. Of course, it is not a real cake, but four packets stacked on top of each other, wrapped in glittering gift ribbon and pasted with tons of chocolate bars. Baked with love, they say. And everyone can take something. Of course, it doesn't take long for all the chocolate to disappear, and we'll continue with the next category: Duets.

However, not rehearsed, but wildly improvised. The principle works as follows: Two people from the audience draw one note each, and read the names of two of the performers who have already performed. They draw another piece of paper and thus choose a style. This is, in my opinion, the best part of the evening, when two strangers meet and in a few minutes become partly as familiar as under other circumstances in weeks not. And there are a few really funny situations, such as when a duo pulls hard rock out of the categories, or when another one first throws hip hop into the room, even though there is nothing else to read on the note than classic. The two now make one on Swan Lake and dance around the room with exaggerated dramaturgy.

Finally, the jury has to make a decision. Must announce those who are still coming to the final tonight. In the category solo dancers, two of the favorites for the final are already fixed, two more have to dance again.

And after that's cleared up, they're all dancing again. It is their opportunity to draw the audience to their side, because this ultimately also makes the decision as to which of them may win. So they put themselves into it, and all with their own method. Fill the stage with her dance and let waves of energy splash across the edge into the audience like agitated spray. A candidate even repeatedly includes objects from the audience area, for example, grabs a mobile phone with a video camera running and swings it back and forth on stage. But as different as their performances may be, they all dance to the same song.

And then it is time: The audience can now decide. Each person can send a vote to their favorite by standing in the corner of the room assigned to them, waiting for it to be counted.

It takes a little while, but finally the winner is determined. Also for teams and duos, the winners are now announced by the jury, although sometimes it seems to them clearly difficult to destroy the hopes of the rest.

But even those who do not win, certainly do not regret to have competed, and everyone gets a big applause. The winners will also receive a sum of money as ‘prize money’ and the 10th prize. The Club Oval's birthday is officially declared over. Strips of colorful light cover the floor like streamers, and outside it still rains.