Sprockets

For those of us whose teenage years spanned the 1990s, Mike Myers means not only Austin Powers, but also a host of other characters like WayneCampbell, Linda Richman, Simon, and ... Dieter, the all black-wearing German dance party host whose absurd, minimalist dance show, "Sprockets," informed many of my impressions about what Berlin would be like. Until last night, the stereotype didn't really hold true, but Frannie organized an outing to the Kreuzberg neighborhood to witness a dance performance by Berlin choreographer Sasha Waltz.

Puppy and I arrived about 30 minutes early, so we walked around the gritty, industrial neighborhood. Loud techno music greeted us as we alighted from the S-bahn, so we walked toward the thumping beats and pseudo-Middle Eastern harmonies. We came upon a line of Berlin youth, all sporting extreme fashions like a stuffed animal hung from a bicycle chain around the neck, a metallic silver pom pom hot-glued to a shoulder, turquoise sparkle paint applied around one eye and a whole lot of black.

They were all waiting to get into some sort of outdoor rave where a DJ of some sort was driving these kids into a dance-trance frenzy. We couldn't see into the party, but from the kids' appearances, it was nowhere a sensible thirty-something like myself would be welcome or comfortable.

We met up with Frannie at the venue, some sort of converted building that fused the old and the new, and we were ushered into the dance performance area. And this dance performance was nothing short of what one would expect from a German avant-garde choreographer. The piece, called something that roughly traslated into "two country" was supposed to represent German reunification (or something). Over the course of 75 minutes, we witnessed:

* Two intertwined speedo-clad men who were torn asunder by a third man wearing a suit
* Three ladies wearing red velvet dresses stomping their feet and laughing like cackling hyenas
* A man who struggled with the dilapidated walls of a ramshackle lemonade stand
* A woman in something approximating a wedding dress flying through the air and standing on the other dancers
* A man in a tutu with an accordian strapped to his back
* A man who sang in falsetto (a castrato?)
* A segment during which coveralled men painted part of the set blue
* The tutu-man pouring water all over the set with a large, metal watering can
* A whackjob Asian lady who clutched a vinyl record while exclaiming, "Hello! I like it so much!" over and over again

Somehow, these pieces were supposed to represent something significant. For me, it brought on some confusion and amusement, but I didn't quite understand what it all meant.

Still, I appreciated the chance to witness German "dance" in all its glory, but more than that, I was pleased to witness a true German ovation - one where the audience seemed to clap forever, with multiple curtain calls. We clapped for approximately 10 minutes once the show ended. I can only imagine how long the audience would clap for something really spectacular!