Tanzfaktur // Meet Performer Karoline Strys // Artists to Watch out

Meet my sweet and beautiful friend Karoline Strys.

Dance performances can sometimes be quite disturbing. The ones I’ve seen in the past have been for sure but that’s just Germany. I am always very thankful when there’s no incoherent talking thrown in.

I watched a piece of her at 15 Minuten Festival some time ago and it was calm and powerful at the same time. There is something about modern dance which I think fits very well into our modern times. The fluent unusual movements reflect life perfectly and manage to touch the inner walls of my hardened heart.

So have a look at her personal Vimeo or see her as one of the dancers in EuphOria at Odonien, a piece from last year.

Right now she is in Residenz with Maria Golding and Salim Benmammar. There will be showings today and tomorrow at Tanzfaktur with a bunch of other performance artists.  This is all part of Inkubator were young artists  take over all space at Tanzfaktur for a few weeks and turn it into an idea laboratory.

Also tomorrow, a workshop Mit-einANDER at 4.30 pm free for anybody who’s interested.

Morgen findet in der Tanzfaktur Köln für alle Performance Interessierten ein Workshop Mit-einANDER mit Karoline Strys, Maria Golding and Salim Benmammar um 16.30 statt.

Zusammen hängt der Workshop mit dem Inkubator Konzept, ein Auszug aus der Tanzfaktur Facebook Seite:

Während der zweiwöchigen Residenz INKUBATOR beleben acht junge Tanzschaffende aus Köln, Essen und Hamburg die Räumen der TanzFaktur. Seit Montag werden alle Räume zu Laboratorien, in Studios und auf der Bühne, im Souterrain und im Foyer werden Ideen und Fragestellungen entwickelt, ausprobiert, oder auch wieder verworfen. In gemeinsamen Morgen-Warmups führen einzelne Künstler*innen die Gruppe in ihre Arbeitsmethoden ein, in Feedback-Runden wird der Stand der Dinge reflektiert, beim gemeinsamen Lunch geplaudert. Dabei schaut das Team der TanzFaktur gerne über die Schulter, stellt Fragen oder versucht selbst Antworten und Impulse für die Teilnehmenden zu finden.
Die kollektive Arbeit und der Wunsch, Recherchen, Erfahrungen und Methoden zu teilen und zu vermitteln stehen dabei im Vordergrund. Am Ende der zwei Wochen steht ein erstes Showing – wir sind gespannt, was uns erwartet.

Credits: header pic from here

Sari Gelin – A Caucasian Folk Song

Für die deutsche Version, click hier.

My dearest cousin Laleh appeared on Turkish National Television performing to a Caucasian folk song and I am so unbelievably proud of her!

The song is about a presumably muslim man who falls in love to an unreachable Christian girl (sari stands for blond) and tells about his sadness.

Actually my cousin lives and works in Iran. All her life she has been a dancer and a teacher of traditional Caucasian dances but government restrictions hindered a real take off. In Iran it is not allowed for women to dance publicly if to dance at all. So professional dancers perform and teach on private bookings only, like on feasts and weddings. Iranians are crazy in that matter. They are addicted moving their body to music. This allows professional dancers a base for moderate success while due the unofficial status it stays a shady profession for women though every mother tries to get her daughter to get some lessons.

I mean this art form is highly enjoyed and valued in Iran but the performer is still not much appreciated in society!

Luckily the situation in geographically surrounding countries is the opposite and offers opportunities. The more the borders open people get invited to festivals to show off their traditional moves. And now in the fall of Laleh’s career she stands there and I am finally able to see her in TV.

In Iran we have a variety of traditional folk dances and the northern people do the Caucasian dances. Foreigners often mistake it for being Russian (it’s the kind where males dress up as Cossacks).

The men have combat like movements with lots of jumps and splits while the female ideal is to move elegant like a swan on her tippy toes. Sounds familiar? Yeah, you’re right. It’s kind of an archetypical form of ballet. There are also couple pieces where the male part tries playfully to woo the lady of his choice and it is so enjoyable to watch.

I hope you can enjoy the clip, too. Upload quality is not the best.

Still I like the idea of opposing oppression with dance. I think my cousin is really brave and she has taught so many girls this important aspect of our culture who then go out and teach others again. Women are bearers of traditions and we shouldn’t allow anybody to look down on that.

Shoe Fair in Düsseldorf – Dance School Party

Beside fashion weeks there are still regular fairs for the garment industry. While it seems to be allowed one fashion week twice a year only for each country fairs happen more often.

In Germany since the Wende a lot of brands exhibit in Berlin and enjoy the accompanied publicity circus and easier circumstances for entrepreneurs. Yet the big players of retail stayed preferably back in posh and a little old-fashioned Düsseldorf at their well established showrooms. Here it’s more about the seller and buyer. Still after done work and deals signed brands like to have some press over and offer a little entertainment.

At this years GDS shoe fair Replay organized a fun event in it’s Düsseldorf flag ship store near prestigious Kö.

The difference between Cologne and Düsseldorf hits me each time. As here everybody was so good looking and with no exception dressed nicely. The theme of the night was dance school party and for this sweet ballerina Annika Seibel made several performances at the barre in a warm up style while wearing the brands denim.

Look at her! I have a little mobile phone cam clip. It’s blurry but I think her gorgeousness still shines through.

 

The great Hans Nieswandt was responsible for the music but I muted the clip and chose one of Youtube’s audio offers so as not to bother you with the talk of my bystanders.

If you’re more a friend of HD, you can have another look at the beautiful dancer here:

Thankfully refreshment for us hungry and thirsty crowd came via cute bartenders which managed to create cocktails resembling more like boozy fruit salads. Yum so tasty!