A splendid treat from Germany

Cultural extravaganza

This is all set to kick off in the City with the Indian premiere of an exciting dance performance called ‘Solo For Two’ by ‘Storm’, one of the European pioneers of hip hop, on September 24 at Good Shepherd Auditorium. Says Christoph Bertrams, Director of Max Mueller Bhavan, “Compared to all other cities in India, Bangalore is known for its dance, be it Indian or Western. This is the reason why we chose to start the series with a dance performance.”

About the event ‘Solo For Two’, Christoph says, ‘“Solo for Two’ is a humourous union of two characters brought together for better or worse.” The performance will include acrobatics, tight-rope walk and robotic movements.

As a rare treat for all those present at the conference, Storm demonstrated a few moves, called popping and locking in the hip hop terminology.

During his stay in Bangalore, Storm is also presenting a workshop titled ‘Storm Breaks in Bangalore’ for local dancers in collaboration with Attakkalari at the Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts. The outcome of this will be integrated in the opening programme of the ‘Germany and India 2011-2012’ celebrations.

Apart from this, there are other exciting events like ‘Dialogue with the Drums’, wherein Christoph Haberer, a percussionist, will perform along with Karthik Mani and R A Ramamani on September 30 at Goethe Institut.

In order to commemorate the ‘German National Day’ on October 3, there is another concert by orchestra Deutsche Philharmonie Merck at Chowdiah Hall. Marek Dziki, a member of ‘Deutsche Philharmonie Merck’, said the orchestra that will perform on that day.

He explains,“We founded this ensemble in 1966, initially as an orchestra for the employees of Merck Limited, called the ‘Merck Instrumental Group’. Over the years, this evolved into a professional orchestra and in 2003 we christened it as the ‘Deutsche Philharmonie Merck’ with Wolfgang Heinzel as the chief conductor.”

He adds, “During this concert, we will play ‘Leonore Ouverture’ by Beethoven, ‘Concerto and orchestra in D Major’ by Mozart and Johannes Brahms ‘Symphony No. 3 in F Major’.

Being a part of this with my fellow compatriots is an honour in itself and all of us are really excited.”   
 
Dance and music apart, the institute has an array of classical events lined up too to celebrate ‘The European Day of Languages’ on September 26. This is conducted with the aim of encouraging learning foreing languages among the people and also to increase intercultural understanding.

For this particular programme, Goethe Institut will partner with other foreign language institutions in the City like Alliance Francaise, Instituto Hispanic, Nordic Talks, IULE and
IFlac. 

During this entire series, entertaining and enriching events like song and dance, films, information on study and work in these countries and also special treats from each country will be held. Deputy Consul General of Germany Hans-Gunter Loffler was also present.

For details, call 25205305.