Dance Ambassador Jalda
Slam Battle & Club Oval
An experience report
The first dance events I was allowed to attend as a dance ambassador were two battles that could not have been more different.
Together with a few friends I visited the slam battle at Theater Strahl. When we came into the cozy room, it was already very crowded and we could only squeeze ourselves between other spectators inside on the floor. For this we sat very close to the stage and could observe the different participants inside: young and older, professional and those who were on stage for the first time (one of the participants was even addressed on the street just before). The evening was introduced by two motivating moderators who explained in detail the course and rules of the battle. In addition, the beat boxer Mando was introduced, which was one of my personal highlights. He alone produced the music with his mouth for the whole evening and made very special sounds that reminded, for example, of seagulls or gurgling water.
The names of all participants inside were thrown together and pulled, forming random pairs, each competing against another pair. The poetry slammers inside began with their pre-written texts. For me it was the first time I heard Poetry Slam live and as a person who likes to write, it was very inspiring. The texts dealt mainly with difficult topics and were sometimes very personal, they told, for example, about the demented mother or the first meeting with the unknown sister. After the poetry slam, the dancer had a short time to talk to the beat boxer. The dance was improvised and was intended to take up the poem of the partner, the partner creatively. Of course, the sad lyrics influenced the dance implementation and I noticed that especially impulses, cycles and the contrast between traps were recurring elements. However, everything varied very much depending on the dance style, because everything from hip hop to experimental was there.
Nevertheless, I found it refreshing that in the end a few funny but still profound poetry slams were performed, through which also very entertaining dances came about.
We as an audience also formed part of the battle, as some viewers inside had received signs with numbers from one to ten, including my friends and I. After two pairs had competed, we should evaluate the appearances with the signs. So it was decided who would move forward. When there were only two couples left, we took a twenty-minute break, during which we spectators were allowed to dance inside and the other teams had to write a poetry slam and come up with a choreography. The results were impressive and both teams deserved the win. All in all, it was a sympathetic and beautiful evening.
Poetry & Dance Slam Battle © René Löffler
Club Oval
A week later, the Crossover Dancebattle Club Oval took place at the Junges Tanzhaus Berlin. Even the room looked very different from the one in the Theater Strahl. It was bigger and around the well-known oval stage everyone was sitting or standing. It was also very crowded but the atmosphere was more reminiscent of a party with bar and colorful headlights.
The moderator introduced the two jury members at the beginning and both briefly demonstrated their dance skills, for which there was a lot of applause. Then we started with three groups showing their choreographies. These were very different, one of the groups had a very experimental style, in which the dancers bent their bodies impressively and seemed almost a bit scary. Since the dancers were surrounded by the audience from all sides, they often stood facing you with their backs, especially because my girlfriend and I were sitting opposite from the jury, which was a bit of a pity.
This was followed by the solo part, in which there were a lot of participants inside, but unfortunately this led to the fact that they only had 40 seconds on stage. So there were extremely many impressions, but only a little of it remained in my mind. I probably could have recorded less, but slightly longer performances better. However, what I remembered were the many super impressive breakdancers. I've never been so excited about the dance style before, but in this battle I really liked the mix of complicated twists and playful reference to the audience. I still recognized some participants from the slam battle, but the mood was more competitive than in the Theater Strahl, which was perhaps due to the fact that all dancers were in a similar age group and already seemed more experienced.
Club Oval © René Löffler
Improvised duets
After the solos came my personal highlight: the improvised duets. Two dancers were always drawn, who had to dance to a music that did not correspond to their dance style, for example to classical or rock. It was entertaining and I felt like the dancers were having fun too.
During the breaks, the DJ hung up and there was a lot of dancing, which I like, because I am always particularly inspired after the performances. After the last break, the jury selected four dancers for the final. Two of them were breakdancers who totally convinced me again. Subsequently, the four were to leave the room and the audience voted on who should win. I was for the talented break dancer Mashka Antonuik, who actually won the solos. We also took a picture with her.
The battle impressed me even more than the first one, but both experiences were super exciting in their own way.
The Slam Battle with Theater Strahl is a project of Offensive Tanz für junges Publikum Berlin, funded by TANZPAKT Stadt-Land-Bund, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion. Many thanks to Club Oval.
