Dance Ambassador Celine

I can't leave

Piece visit at the Purple Dance Festival

Janne Gregor’s play “Ich kann ́s nicht Let’s” was invited to the PURPLE Dance Festival 2026. Dance ambassador Celine was there and looked at it.

A cold evening in the middle of Berlin Neukölln. 7 p.m. started the 50th. Performance by “Ich kann’s nicht Let’s” at the Junges Tanzhaus Berlin. We were there punctually, but on site there was complete silence, only shortly before it became bustling. The peculiarity of that evening, it was a family performance, so there was a good balance between children and adults. It was very diverse because different generations interacted for a brief moment in a room.

Shortly before the beginning, you were allowed to artistically paste yourself with luminous tapes, then it went up to the place of the action. A step into the unknown, because you saw nothing of a stage or a dance floor. Behind black curtains, the location of the show only came to light. 4 dancers inside, each one corner and trapped in their own world, only became a team with time. The music was loud and unusual for many. It only seemed like a museum. The audience was invited to walk around and watch every single dancer. Then suddenly there was the first liberation of a performer in the middle of the room. It started.

The idea with the lines gave a good orientation and they invited to move along. We were divided into two groups and each had its own lines. The performers each made the movements and we made them. Unfortunately, what was very confusing for me was that after some time you lost some orientation and no longer knew which movement was being made. Therefore, the energy of the piece went down a bit, because you were only busy looking for where to go and what to do. One has seen the confusion in the audience, and many have stopped participating and stopped. The flow was lost to me as a result.

The piece started very strongly, but it slowed down a bit over time because you were so disoriented. The experiences that you were allowed to have physically were great, because many have so far no relation to the dance style Krump and it is not yet so well known. It feels unusual, but being able to feel it for yourself was great.

There were a few little sweet moments in the piece that I always like to remember. In general, it was great to see how the parents and children had a carefree time and the classic role distribution was completely forgotten. The parents had fun and so did the kids. Of course, she paid attention to the kids, but they could really live out themselves. At the beginning of the piece, there was a point where the peformers inside formed a circle in the middle of the room. In the beginning, they sat between us and looked at us attentively. Then suddenly one of the performers crossed the center of the circle inside and then the next. The first courageous child understood it immediately and jumped up and crossed too. To my surprise, the adults also began to cross and a little confusion arose. A little sorted chaos. My little moment of happiness!

What I personally take with me is that I want to dive even more into the Krump world so that I can better understand the background and feelings. I haven't seen many Krump pieces yet, but I'm very interested in learning more.