der lange nacht

once a year, every theater and opera house in berlin--from tiny avant garde hipster wet dream art house to the most stately german opera--sponsor the 'lange nacht der oper und theater' (the long night of opera and theater). for a mere 10 euro, you have access to any of these establishments and can see a 30 minute or so viewing of their current act. last night, a few friends and i did just that, managing to run around the whole city (well, run to and through many different ubahn/sbahn stations) and saw three shows.

1. qi, at the friedrichstadt palast

during my stay in berlin, i've spent a fair amount of time waiting for ubahn trains in stations all over the city. when waiting on a platform, it is easy to get caught up in the many advertisements lining the walls of each station. one of the most flashy these adverts is for the 'qi' show, a spectacular circus-type event held in the friedrichstadt palast, a huge concert/movie hall. i actually coincidentally have already been to the fp with taylor when we saw two films during the berlinale. anyways, last night we headed straight there, because the qi show is relatively expensive and let's face it, not something i would normally pay to go see. it is essentially comprised of extremely cheesy (but well sung) english broadway songs, which accompany the performance of incredible athletic feats. during the show, a state-of-the-art ice skating rink suddenly appeared from backstage and four impressively fit ice skaters proceeded to give me fourteen heart attacks as they performed intense but life-endangering stunts on the stage. in short, it was memorable, and i was quite happy to have seen it.

2. versus, at the chameleon

this performance was definitely my favorite of the night. it was a fantastically choreographed modern dance delving into the complexity of relationships. though we only saw a short bit of the show, i think i will probably bite the big one, shell out a few extra bucks for the whole show and head back to see it. i wish i had taken a video, because it was incredibly beautiful but difficult to describe. if i go again, i will definitely record some of the show and share it here. if you're in the berlin area, i seriously recommend this--it plays through august.

3. hausoper berlin

we arrived at this small venue to find it packed to the gills. the hausoper is essentially a simple room and in this case, was filled with people standing; a small area set aside for a pianist and a cellist. the proprietor, a beautiful woman probably in her mid-50s sang parts two operas and did so while wandering through the crowd. it was fascinating watch a performance while standing close enough to see the sweat and wrinkles and smiles and joy on the face of the performer. she sang a small bit of euridices and it was fabulous.

all of these performances were incredibly different and impossible to compare. though i have already remarked that the versus show was my favorite of the night, i cannot express how fun it was to see all of these performances. for only 3 euro apiece! after the show, we retired to a nice little bar and then headed to the russendisko (i didn't get back til 6 am, of course). it really was a wonderful evening; full of laughter and good friends and culture and thinking and dancing and sweat. really perfect.