Gespräch mit dem Tänzer und Fotograf Milan Nowoitnick Kampfer

Im August 2021 habe ich ein kurzes Interview mit dem Tänzer und Fotografen Milan Nowoitnick Kampfer geführt. Das Gespräch wurde zuerst auf der Website des Dachverband Tanz Deutschland veröffentlicht, kann aber gerne noch eine größere Leserschaft erreichen, sodass ich es hier ebenfalls teile.

An autumn full of Dance

I have worked for months on the relaunch of the website of the German Dance Association and I am a bit proud to let you know that it is online since September 10 and available in German and English. Now you can actually find a lot of information about dance networks in Germany and our working areas. There also is a short interview available that I did with the (dance)photographer Milan Nowoitnick Kampfer, who developed the pictures series for us.

International Dance Day 2021

I have had some long working days…we had a press conference yesterday at Dachverband Tanz (where I work)…but I don’t wanna miss out the chance to celebrate the International Dance Day with you. I didn’t dance myself today, but at least I saw this wonderful movie “Incarnation of Dance” about this years dance ambassador Friedemann Vogel while having dinner. He is one of the most talented dancers in the world and of cause I love his eyes! Last year he was honored at the German Dance Award (www.deutschertanzpreis.de).

https://www.international-dance-day.org/idd21iod.html

Here is the message from Friedemann for this year’s International Dance Day celebration:

Friedemann VOGEL
Ballet Dancer

“Everything starts with movement –an instinct we all have –and dance is movementrefined to communicate. Much as flawless technique is important and impressive, itis ultimately what the dancer expresses inside the movement that is the essence.As dancers, we are constantly on the move, aspiring to create these unforgettablemoments. Regardless of the dance genre, it’s what every dancer strives to achieve. So,when all of a sudden, we aren’t allowed to perform anymore, with theatres closed andfestivals cancelled, our worlds come to a standstill. No physical contact. No shows.No audiences. Never in recent history has the dance community been so collectivelychallenged to stay motivated, to find our raison d’être.Yet, it is precisely when something precious has been taken away from us that wetruly appreciate how vital it is what we do, and how much dance means to society atlarge. Dancers are often celebrated for their physical prowess, when in fact we aresustained even more by our mental strength. I believe it is this unique combinationof physical and psychological agility that will help us overcome, to reinventourselves to keep dancing, and to keep inspiring.”

For more info: friedemannvogel.com/

Photo: Friedemann Vogel | Copyright: Roman Novitzky

Virtuelle Tagung: Tanz in Bildern

Entschuldigt, dass ich Euch heute so viele Infos schicke…wenn ich doch nur mehr Zeit hätte zum schreiben. Vom 28.-30.01.2021 läuft eine virtuelle Tagung “Tanz in Bilder – Plurale Konstellationen der Fotografie”, zu der man sich noch anmelden kann. Ich habe da gerade einen tollen Link zu einem virtuellen Rundgang durch eine Ausstellung erhalten, die über Miro realisert wird. Das alles weiß ich, weil es vom Institut für Theaterwissenschaft der Universität Leipzig in Kooperation mit dem Tanzarchiv Leipzig e.V. veranstaltet wird und da habe ich studiert. Als Alumni teile ich das also auf die letzte Minute sehr gerne!

Video Dance Festival 2021

Just a quick tip for all the dance lovers out there who are board to death, because theaters are closed. The 5th edition of the VideoDance Festival started. You can now spent your time watching 102 little dance videos and vote for your favorite dance video artist. Artists from 19 countries submitted clips in this difficult pandemic time and from what I understand there are three categories: freestyle, mobile and professional. You can vote by pressing the LIKE button on youtube. I just came across this Festival, because a friend is participating. Check out Irina Lermann. I met her during my time with the Atlantic Ballet Atlantique Canada. The company can not perform at the moment – like so many others.

Tomorrow is the Question

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  Mask on, or pub closed.

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  View from Oberbaum Bridge to river Spree

It’s my third week in Berlin. You might wonder: how is she doing!? Well, since last week Berlin is a Corona risk area. Congrates I thought. A poster poped up on my way to work saying: Mask on. Otherwise pub closed. (German government campaign) The poster next to this one is an advertisment for traveling by the toruism industry. Interesting I thought. A few days later the city of Kassel became a Corona risk area as well…since this week the numbers increase everywhere in Germany. All big cities are Corona risk areas by now. I walk a lot in Berlin and try different routes while walking from home to work in the morning and back home again in the evening (40 minutes one way, if I daydream a bit and make pics). I hope it is more secure than using a bus or a metro. Living in a big city also means that coffee to go makes sense again. It makes sense because I stand so often on red traffic lights. I acctually have time to sip my coffee without spilling it over my jacket.

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  Overkill Shoe Store on my way to work

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  On my way to work

Overkill is actually a shoe store, but the name fits my mood quite well in Berlin. There is a lot of construction on my main route and I also saw some nice murals. I discovered the wonderful old market hall in Kreuzberg the other day and since then I buy my fresh food there. REWE, a superstore that I visited during my first week, is always very full in the evening and people don’t keep distance. They should control the number of people who enter the stores again. They did that in spring. Today Germany crossed the landmark of 10.000 new infections in 24 hours. It looks even worse in our neighboring countries. They also do way more testing compared to spring and say that we need to considerate that fact as well.  

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  Kreuzberg

Work is ok. I am teaching myself the content management system Typo3 (thanks to Youtube) and make good progress, so I can already work on the website of the Dachverband Tanz. What I like most are all the dance books in our office. It’s like a very little dance archive. Whenever I find a few minutes I take a book out of the shelf and that gives me inspiration or creates motivation in my mind. The German Dance Prize was not canceled last weekend and it was a great Gala in Essen with reduced tickets availlable due to Covid-19 (200 or so instead of about 1000 tickets that they sold last year for this event). I only saw the stream, but my collegues did a great job!

Choreographer and Dramaturg Reimund Hoghe got the main prize. Friedemann Vogel (Ballet), Raphael Hillebrand (Streat Dance/Hip Hop) and Antje Pfundtner (contemporary dance) received special honors for their work. They all deserve it! I was espacially impressed by Friedemann Vogel who danced a scene of Boléro at the Gala that you also can find on youtube here. Enjoy the arts for a few minutes! He really is one of the best ballet dancers in the world at the moment and he is 41! He looks like 27 however. It is not fair. I would love to see the full performance of “Boléro” in Stuttgart one day.

How do you guys like the new wordpress user tools? It’s driving me nuts and I hope I am not the only one…I find it way more difficult at the moment. They change these designs too often. Same with facebook.

PS: ARTE has a lot of great content at the moment. There is a documentation called: “Trump and the New York Time. In search of the truth.” And a lot of dance programming. Dance goes digital and TV it seams. Never before I saw so much dance content availlable on the internet.

Spaces in times of Corona

I know I am not the only one, but I MISSED MUSIC IN MY LIFE SO MUCH THIS WEEKEND! I haven’t been in a dance studio since march. Usually I would have a chance to go out and dance in pub in the summer or go to a concert or dance in a theater after an opening night. Not this year. Some days Covid-19 is driving me nuts.

Tanz abseits der Großstädte – Ivan Alboresi kreiert in Nordhausen fragile Momente

[English Version below]

„Tanz ist ehrlich, er kann nicht lügen, er kehrt das Innerste nach außen.“ (Ivan Alboresi)

Durch eine Vertretung am Theater Nordhausen hatte ich die Gelegenheit den Ballettdirektor Ivan Alboresi und die zwölf Tänzer*innen der Compagnie kennenzulernen. Eine echte Entdeckung, die mir mal wieder zeigt, dass es sich wirklich lohnt auch in die Kleinstädte zu fahren. Die Premiere des Tanzdoppelabends “Tanz! …Oder zerbrechlich in unserem Inneren” mit Choreografien von Ivan Alboresi und Itzik Galili am 21.02.2020 war großartig und das Nordhäuser Ballett ist eine kleine Perle.

Rain keeps the land green

Finally, after six weeks of sunshine, we have got some rain! I enjoyed the smell and the view of fresh green trees when I cycled downtown today to order new glasses. The situation downtown is strange. The huge stores (that are not allowed to open all their floors yet) claim on commercials to present there full selection on the reduced 800 square meters now, which is simply not possible and not necessary. So why put out these signs?

Ballett-Elektro bis Corona: der März war kurz

[No full English version available. Sorry! A few sentences at the bottom of this post.]

Als ich Anfang März zur Tanzplattform nach München fuhr, war das noch in Ordnung. Da gab es in Deutschland noch keine große Zahl von Covid19-Fällen und freute ich mich, dass das Festival eben nicht abgesagt wurde. Auf dem großen Empfang im Goethe-Institut für akkreditierte Fachbesucher erfuhren wir, dass die Absage tatsächlich bis zum Vortag noch diskutiert wurde, aber (fast) alles, konnte wie geplant stattfinden. Man wusch sich akribisch x-mal am Tag die Hände und hielt etwas mehr Abstand, aber so richtig große Sorgen machte man sich da noch nicht.

Network event in Munich

Tanzplattform Deutschland / München im März 2020 – vor Corona