Leipzig Stadtbad: next in Leipzig Ballet’s Dancing in the City’s Buildings series
With the success of Mario Schröder at the Leipzig Ballet some might be fooled into thinking he is resting on his laurels. This isn’t the case at all. He continues to create new and challenging works. Combining this with his goal to reach the people of Leipzig he has a unique series this season called “Tanz in den Häusern der Stadt” where he is creating site-specific work in private rooms, museums and shops.
It is unusual to dance or view dance in these places. Part of the experience is the context. How do we see dance when it is outside the Oper? Does it make it more personal? Does it make it less artistically valuable? How does it change the dialogue between the choreographer and the viewer? How does it affect our role in the work?
At first thought architecture is static, but when we have a closer look we see it as almost malleable. It is constantly changing: Factors like the people inside or outside and their activities make a big difference as do sound and heat. We also see the building in different ways depending on our relationship to it. What happens in our mind when we touch it? What happens when we take the time to look at the details?
The focus of these pieces is three fold: examining the architecture itself, connecting with the audience and collaborating with people in the community.
This series has already been in Fitness First and Lehman’s book store. This Sat’s experience, entitled Obstacles, will be at the Badehaus Klinikum St. Georg at 8.00. Mario sees the bath house a traditional village, “which offers a place for recreation and meeting with visitors outside the hospital rooms….and it is an area of obstacles for the dancers.” This new way of looking at the familiar coincides with the 800 year anniversary of the hospital and shows there’s life in the old girl yet. The bath house itself was built in 1913 by Otto Wilhelm Scharenberg (1851-1920) who was a master of combining beauty and functionality. For years the building housed the Leipzig Institute of Radiology. In 2005 it was returned to its original use and currently is the home to the Physical Medicine Clinic. The central hall is its showpiece and feels like you are stepping back in time. This is where “Obstacles” will be investigated.
Stories behind forgotten walls…..
If your German is up to it there is a wonderful event happening at the Soviet Pavilion at the Alte Messe this weekend. A documentary is being shown by a group of independent film makers which tells the stories behind some of Leipzig’s beautiful ruins. These are stunning architectural spaces, tunnels and cellars which have lain dormant for the last 20 years…waiting for a fairy godmother to bring them back to life (though I do like them in their ruin form).
The première takes place on 30.03.12 at 20:00. Further showings will take place on 31.03 and 01.04 – both also at 20:00.
There will also be a photo exhibition and an after-show party.
Marc Binder Scores One for Passion
Studio 54, photo: Maeshelle West-Davies
A year ago Marc Binder would have never expected to be doing this interview. He was just doing what he loved; decorating. With his own flat finished, he looked for something else to turn his attention to.
His job is to buy energy from renewable sources to sell on the energy exchange. His territory is Germany and he has a home office. Sometimes the bed is closer than the computer, so he thought it’d be nice to take a studio as an office. Once he had decorated it, it seemed a waste to use it as an office, so he offered it up as his own little guest flat for incoming visitors. Just to see what would happen, he placed it on several accomodation sites. And the rest, as they say, is history. In no time at all, he was booked between 70-80% of the time.
Since the space was a studio and the street number was 54, he decided to call it Studio 54, but you won’t find any disco balls there. Instead you enter to a tastefully designed space where you immediately feel at home.
Marc Binder enjoys a cup of tea at Studio 54, photo: Maeshelle West-Davies
In January he won Landlord of the Year 2011 from Home Away in the category of creative services. Of course he did! He has a great concept. The space is centrally located and because you are in a normal residential building, you feel like you live here rather than like you’re a tourist. The flat has a fully equipped kitchen, dining area, flat screen tv that swivels to your view no matter where you are, a full bed, a couch that folds out into another full bed, use of two bikes, free coffee and tea, wi-fi, plus free pick-up service from the airport or train station. How’s THAT for service!
Marc says that since receiving the award his hits have gone from 150 a month to 1500. Things have been going so well on Reimannstr that he’s opened another place on Paul List St. He really likes making people happy and they definitely feel at home in his space. He says the guests fall into a wide range and come from all over the world. He’s had people in for the Goth Festival to a group of four women from the US and UK who studied here and come back for a reunion every five years. Being on the German holiday rental site Fewo Direkt automatically puts you on the Home Away site and people from all over can easily find it.
One year later, and 10 years younger, he’s franchising the idea under the name of Studio 44 throughout Germany. So now you can open your own in your city and benefit from his success and he still gets to have his passion. Each location will be unique and yet recognizable through the same bedding and color scheme.