
Paula Citron and Katja Schneider
The previous day the choreographer Christian Spuck had given a talk at the Goethe-Institut about his upcoming collaboration with the Grands Ballets Canadiens. The day after on March 19 was the premiere of Isabel Mohn’s „ Le Home Project” at Tangente, the sixth German-Canadian dance co-production sponsored by the Goethe-Institut Montréal in the last four years.
So when Katja Schneider and Paula Citron met, there was plenty going on at the Canadian dance laboratory. First, Caroline Gagnon, coordinator of the blog, and I were invited to listen in on their exchange and to ask questions. Then, the dance critics retired to have a private chat between themselves. I am sure that they reviewed dance in Canada and Germany with an even more critical eye. Most certainly, they also talked about dubious classifications such as „Euro-Trash“, the lack of quality in dance schools, the necessity to start teaching dance at school, and about old stories and new trends.
At first they talked about their shared love for Pina Bausch – her successes, her special talent to put desperate situations on stage, and her unique comical sense. After Bausch died on June 30. 2009, both dance critics had written about Bausch in their blogs. Katja Schneider had seen „Nelken“ in 1980. Paula Citron had discovered Bausch’s „Café Müller“ in 1984. For both of them it was the discovery of a new language of dance. „Suffice to say that Pina Bausch changed the way I looked at dance theatre“, confessed Paula Citron. „A seismic impact in fact. Often imitated, she remains the original.“ When working on the seminal German-language ballet reference “Reclams Ballettführer” a few years ago, Schneider watched again several of Bausch’s productions. Shortly after Bausch’s death, Schneider confessed to miss already the questions Bausch used to ask in her work.
In their meeting Paula Citron and Katja Schneider covered the big names in Canadian and German choreography: William Forsythe, Eduouard Lock, Raimund Hoghe, Ginette Laurin, Sasha Waltz, Marie Chouinard. Also, they spoke about the discoveries on their many travels, the young talent they saw, also outside the large cities. Especially Paula Citron does not miss a beat between St. John’s in Newfoundland und Victoria in British Columbia. Katja Schneider, as a professor at university, is also actively involved in the study and teaching of dance. Her new book about dance in schools based on projects at schools in Munich, was just published.
When they finally met in person, Schneider and Citron shared recent experiences about the latest international productions. „Have you seen the recent production of the Cedar Lake Contemporary Company in New York?” „ What do you think about Isabelle Pauwelyn and the performances of the New ImagiNatives in public spaces in Brussels?”
Dear Readers, with their weekly blogs, Paula Citron and Katja Schneider have entertained you, informed you, and they held your attention. This became obvious from the increasing number of visitors to our site. In the first weeks we counted only 1,500 hits, but the number grew steadily to reach an average of 10,000 hits per month by the end. Several thousand dance enthusiasts in Canada and Germany followed the dance scene in both countries for one year. Katja Schneider cast her net wider at times and wrote about events in Poland or Israel. Paul Citron could not and did not want to exclude classical dance from her entries. From Katja Schneider we learned about new books about dance. Paula Citron gave us a first-hand account of a convention of dance schools in Canada that was also attended by the Dresden-based Palucca School.
The perspective of the dance critics about dance in the other’s country was especially interesting, for example when Paula Citron wrote about Sasha Waltz, and Katja Schneider reviewed Isabel van Grimde and Andrew Turner.
I thank Paula Citron und Katja Schneider very much for their willingness to serve as the Goethe-Institut dance bloggers, their critical openness and courage to be subjective, which are the trademarks of a good blog.
But I also want to thank you, the reader, for your loyalty. You can continue reading articles by Katja Schneider in the leading German dance magazine „tanz“. I would like to point out in the June issue the candid interview with Marco Goecke. He is currently working on a new production with Grands Ballets Canadiens that will be brought to stage in the spring of 2011 and is supported by the Goethe-Institut Montréal. In addition to Paula Citron’s dance reviews in „The Globe and Mail“ you will also find Citron’s texts on her personal blog www.paulacitron.ca, which was inspired by our blog.
I hope, dear reader, that you will continue to stay tuned to tanz-de-ca. This summer several new authors will be added to our sections „When I think of dance from…“ and „Three questions for…“ There is also news about Christoph Winkler. From July 26 through August 13, 2010, within the residency program of the Goethe-Institut, Winkler will develop a new work in collaboration with the dancers Luke Garwood from Canada, as well as Christine Joy Ritter and Martin Hansen from Germany. The world premiere will take place on October 1, 2010, at the Sophiensäle in Berlin.
By all means, we will keep you updated about dance in Canada and Germany.




When I flew back from Poland last Sunday, I left a country in mourning. The students at the Dance Department of the State Drama School where I teach in Bytom came to their exams dressed in black. Some of them wept. The plane crash near Smolensk not only took the lives of the Polish president Lech Kaczynski, his wife, high-ranking politicians, military leaders, advisors, and family members of Kaytyin victims. It also refreshed the nation’s trauma of having lost its elite yet once more.



Old Men Dancing is as advertised – 11 middle age guys performing choreography by some of Canada’s best dancesmiths. It’s an endearing show with the wily official title “Wiser and Still Gorgeous (Do Not Resuscitate)”.
The live performance focused on group bonding, and men being boys. There was everything from slow dancing to the martial arts, told mostly through a series of duets. They both welcomed each other and challenged each other in what was a very human, if male, story. Robert Kingsbury was responsible for the evocative music mix that included sound effects and snatches of songs.
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