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“It [GWD] is a good way to get in touch with the themes of water through feeling rather than through intellect.” Audience member, Berlin
Water Locale
Spree River and Canal Systems (planned Hauptbahnhof Riverside at main railway station)
Audience Site
Insel der Jugend ~ Area of Bundespressestrand ~ Humboldhafen and Hauptbahnhof (planned Rachel-Hirsch-Ufer, south of main station)
Time of day for performance
5 p.m.
History of site and related water issues
Berlin is a “Water City”, with the Spree and the Havel as the main rivers. The huge canal system gave Berlin also the name: “Little Venice”. The audience site points out some of the significant characters of Berlin: Insel der Jugend, a little island in the waters as a part of a recreation park in the former East of Berlin and the area around the new Main Station of Berlin, core of the new urbanity of the City, park and party locations at the Spree River.
The River Spree, close to the Hauptbahnhof, has been changed in its run to build the station. That is a symbol who we deal with water in the capital city of Germany, we make it suitable to political needs. We also want to make a statement here against selling out water rights. A lot of people cross that site to visit the city or to leave it. So we intend to reach a lot of people with our dance and music here. It is in the middle of that huge city, and that city is called the Venice of the North because of all the water, lakes and rivers and the huge amount of bridges!
The Choreographers
- Eva Blaschke
- Katrin Geller
- Kersten Pfaff
- Heike Kuhlmann
- Sibylle Günther
- Kerstin Reinhardt
The Music
The music is composed By Henry Mex. He comes from New Music development. We can use some compositions from GWD 2011 as well as some of his pieces for philharmonic orchestra and new compositions for this site. Also this time we have Lifemusic. Christoph Renner and his Drumming band Drum Kitchen will join our team and performance especially for the last two sections, to make them even more lively. We are looking forward to see how composed parts and live parts enrich each other.
The Performance
The three groups did different rituals on three different sites on the water: one group with water-bottles and drinking, one with giving water over to each other using little pots, one with washing cloths directly in the river Spree. On the way away from the ritual-starting place we dealt with different themes of water like: drying out fields and dying plants, using water for machines in industry and the streaming actions of water in the city, that connect people. When we were connected we used the global water dance material to create the dance and took parts out of it that fit. Our composer dealt with making the music fit to the modern place in front of the main station. The last part we did in four directions; inspiring the audience all around us to join.
Directions to site of the performance
From the main railway station of Berlin you head south, go 500 m over the Washington Square to the Riverside on Raje-Hirsch-Ufer and you are there. You see the Reichstag, the Kanzleramt and the Funkturm on the other side!
Local website
The Music
Composer Henry Mex and local musicians