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 couldn't have been more different.
Together with a few friends I visited the Slam Battle at Theater Strahl. When we arrived in the cozy room, it was already very crowded and we could only squeeze into the floor between other spectators. For this we sat very close to the stage and could observe the various participants inside: young and older, professional and those who were on stage for the first time (one of the participants was even approached on the street shortly before). The evening was initiated by two motivational moderators, who explained in detail the process and the rules of the battle. In addition, the Beat-Boxer Mando was introduced, which was one of my personal highlights. He alone produced the music for the whole evening with his mouth and made very special sounds, which, for example, were reminiscent of seagulls or gurgling water.
The names of all participants inside were thrown and drawn together, 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 that I heard poetry slam live and as a person who likes to write, it was very inspiring. The texts mainly dealt with heavy topics and were partly 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 supposed to take up the poem of the partner, the partner creatively. Of course, the sad lyrics influenced the dance performance and I noticed that especially impulses, circuits and the contrast between traps were recurring elements. However, everything varied a lot depending on the dance style, because everything from hip hop to experimental was there.
Poetry & Dance Slam Battle © René Löffler
Nevertheless, I found it refreshing that in the end some funny, but still profound poetry slams were performed, which also resulted in very entertaining dances.
We, too, as an audience, formed part of the battle, as some spectators inside had received signs with numbers from one to ten, including my friends and I. After two pairs had competed, we should rate the performances with the signs. So it was decided who would move on. When there were only two couples left, we went into a twenty-minute break, in which we were allowed to dance spectators 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.
Club Oval
A week later, the Crossover Dancebattle Club Oval took place at the Junge Tanzhaus Berlin. Even the room looked very different than the one in the Theater Strahl. He was taller and everyone was sitting or standing around the well-known oval stage. It was also very crowded but the atmosphere was more reminiscent of a party with a bar and colorful spotlights.
The moderator introduced the two jury members at the beginning and both briefly demonstrate their dance skills, for which there was a lot of applause. Then it 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 almost seemed a bit scary. Since the dancers were surrounded from all sides by the audience, they often stood with their backs facing one, especially because my girlfriend and I were sitting opposite by 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, which unfortunately led to the fact that they only had 40 seconds on stage. So there were extremely many impressions, but little of it remained in my mind. I could have recorded less, but a little longer performances probably better. What I remembered, however, were the many super impressive breakdancers. The dance style has never thrilled me so much before, but in this battle I found the mixture of complicated twists and playful relation to the audience really outstanding. Some participants inside I still recognized 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 music that did not match their dance style, for example to classical music 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. Afterwards, 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, but both experiences were super exciting in their own way.
The Slam Battle with Theater Strahl is a project of Offensive Tanz für junges Audience Berlin, funded by TANZPAKT Stadt-Land-Bund, funds of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media and the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion. Many thanks to Club Oval.
