Tanzwerkstatt Europa 2024: Munich Week 1 Diary
Where I danced, what I saw, and what I ate.
Photo by Chaehyun.
Tanzwerkstatt Europa (meaning “Dance Workshop Europe”) is an annual dance festival every August in Munich, Germany. Organized by JOINT ADVENTURES, it is a training ground for dancers amateur to professional. The Festival offers a selection of unique classes each year, from contemporary and ballet to vogue, heels, and even boxing over the course of two weeks.
I attended Tanzwerkstatt Europa from July 30 - August 9, 2024.
Tanzwerkstatt Europa is more local to Europe than b12, which attracts hundreds of students across the globe to its midst. In comparison, most of Tanzwerkstatt’s 100+ participants this year hailed from neighbouring countries. Nevertheless, the Festival packs an amazing lineup of workshops and public performances. What’s unique is that they use a spider network of local dance schools and artist studios to present their itineraries, instead of centering everything in one location.
This offered me the opportunity to dance in the morning, sightsee for a few hours, and round off each day with another dance session at night. I had such a wonderful time exploring Munich this way.
For week 1, I chose to attend Virginie Roy’s “Contemporary Class” (professionals) and Sandra Marín Garcia’s “Crystal Pite’s Tools & Vocabulary” (professionals).
See below for the full week 1 timetable:
Schedule from Tanzwerkstatt Europa's website. Stars indicate my classes.
This year the workshops were held at Iwanson International School of Contemporary Dance, Tanztendenz München e.V., and Halle6.
Week 1: July 30 - August 3, 2024.
July 29: Arrived by ICE in Munich from Berlin and checked into Wombat’s Hostel Werksviertel.
July 30 — Breakfast at the hostel. Hardly enough protein for me :( They didn’t even have eggs!!! Let this be a reminder to all catering services that not everyone can eat cheese.
Contemporary class at Iwanson. AMAZING. I went in slightly nervous, but the pace was just right. We spent a good half hour at the beginning just to stretch and warm up together (thank you!!!), and then we went into a sequence for the rest of class. Virginie Roy is an amazing teacher.
Lunch at Nudelhaus Sano, a tiny Japanese hole-in-the-wall. The curry was fine but still not enough PROTEIN. I walked around aimlessly for a while before fixating on this place; when you just arrive in a foreign place, finding food is such a challenge.
Then I went for dessert with a new friend from the hostel at iceDate, a vegan organic ice cream bar.
Crystal Pite repertoire class at Tanztendenz. We spent the entire class working with improvisation techniques Pite uses, in preparation for repertoire the coming days. Ironic that I have leave Canada to learn Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite’s work, but, hey, the universe works in odd ways.
Dinner at we love pelmeni at the CCC Container Collective.
July 31 — Breakfast: fresh berries from Fresh House. SO LOCAL that you can only buy with cash or a Munich-specific card (I don’t remember the name). That was an anxious start to the day.
Class at Iwanson. I'm the only participant in this class not part of Iwanson’s SOLID GROUND training camp, a more structured program with choreography, repertoire, and lectures.
I explored Viktualienmarkt and bought a marinated chili gurke as a shopping snack (upon recommendation from my hostel friend, who noticed everyone eating these things), and I feel like I’ve accomplished my München duty.
Viktuanlienmarkt is expensive, especially the shops along the outer ring. None of the signs had English on them, so I felt a bit shy about entering any of the food places. Eventually I opted for a bratwurst hot dog from a small takeout vendor called Schlemmen am Markt. The owner (I presume) and cook is a funny guy; I’d go back for the jokes alone.
Went shopping at Rewe to cook dinner for myself. All the stores close firmly at 8 PM in Munich, so I wouldn’t have had time to shop after evening class.
Class at Tanztendenz.
Dinner: cooking in a hostel kitchen for the first time. I whipped up some turkey strips and a salad. Not bad, not bad. They provided some essentials like oil and salt, but the fridge was a nightmare to go through. I was lucky there was enough space to even put my groceries in. When I labeled my 2 nutri-drinks and left them there, I had a premonition something might happen, but of course I didn’t listen to my gut.
August 1 — My drinks are gone. Both of them. Whoever took them this morning decided they couldn’t be bothered to just buy them from the grocery store for 2 EUR. At least the rest of my ingredients are there. Still not trusting a hostel kitchen ever again.
Ok. Whatever. Not gonna let this get to me.
Class was great as usual. I went back to U-Bahnhof Universität (where iceDate is) to eat at Mamma Bao, a Chinese biang biang noodle shop. They do, actually, serve bao buns, but that’s not what this “bao” refers to. In their Chinese translation, this bao means “hug.” Fun fact ;)
Then I walked along Ludwigstrasse to Odeonsplatz, the famous plaza for historical architecture. The state library, Hofgarten, various churches, and government buildings are all located along this route. I had a great time until…
I almost forgot my bag on a park bench!!! And no one told me. AGAIN. (The same thing happened last year in Italy. We won’t go into it, but obviously I have a lot of feelings about this.)
I realized as soon as I stepped out of the park and ran back to retrieve it. Luckily, nothing was missing; it was a bag of sweaty dance clothes and some other non-essentials.
There’s a saying that goes, “If you lost it, you didn’t care enough about it,” and I think that applies to more than just material things.
Thankfully, that ordeal was over quickly, and I enjoyed the rest of my day leisurely.
Another dinner of turkey and salad à la hostel kitchen.
August 2 — I’m just loving Virginie’s contemporary class so much. Every morning we spend at least a half hour properly warming up via sequences and exercises, and it just puts my body in such a healthy state for the more vigorous across the floor sequences later on.
The Crystal Pite repertoire is going well, too, but I think I have some lingering anxiety over choreography-related and improvisation classes. There’s a sense of worry for me over not being able to “improv” or, rather, improv well. It’s a mindset I have to consciously work to overcome each time I prepare for this class.
We’ve been learning a bit of the solo from Pite’s A Picture of You Falling. I saw it live many years ago in Toronto. The choreography is exquisite, but there’s a body-wave motion on the floor that I can’t for the life of me perfect, and it frustrated me quite a bit the first time we learned it. Now I’ve resigned myself and am just cruising through it as best I can, haha.
I had a late lunch at Trachtenvogl and tried Bavaria’s famous white sausage for the first time. It was … interesting. I’ll be honest — not suited to my palette, but it’s worth a try if you’ve never been to Bavaria.
Had a chill time walking along the nearby Isar afterwards and then took the bus up to Rindermarkt. I ended up on Sendlinger Strasse, a posh, high-end shopping street. I really liked the look and feel of this street, and I saw the cutest Asian dessert cafe in passing. Definitely coming back to eat here.
I was so tempted to buy a shirt from this store called Noah & Me. Maybe … maybe.
August 3 — Final day of workshops for the first week.
Breakfast-to-go from my favourite oat place in the world, Cafe Kaferkater, with a branch conveniently located in the train station I pass through. I might make it a mission to eat all the oat bowls on their menu by trip’s end.
Today was Marienplatz day. I’ve passed through the square several times now but hadn’t taken a close look around.
Like the good tourist I am, I bought a ticket for the top of St. Peter’s Tower. As soon as I started climbing up, I asked myself why I felt the need to wreck my life over.
I had doubts about the top when I saw the mass of people caged in from ground view, but I wondered if maybe it wouldn’t still be worth it. Well, yes and no. Thankfully the climb didn’t last long (you make it out as soon as you start feeling like death) — Munich’s not a skyscraper city. The view was ok, I’d say, but nothing dazzlingly different from, say, radio tower lookouts. On the upside, at least you’re not surrounded by glass.
On the downside, you’re surrounded by a tall fence, and taking photos is a challenge of agility as you twist around the metal (and if you trust your hands enough, reach through the openings). I get it. It’s for safety. What can you do?
There are so many people up there, though, that you’ll feel more like a sardine than that you had a good photo experience. I wouldn’t go again. There are better places to get a view of the city, but it’s not the worst thing I could’ve spent 5 EUR on.
I saw a huge lineup outside Cinnamood München on Sendlinger Strasse yesterday, so today I tried out their vegan red velvet (!) cinnamon bun. Hmm. A bit on the dry side, but it was still tasty, and I’ll give an extra star for vegan red velvet any day.
Something awkward happened in the Crystal Pite class today. We were rounding off our repertoire, learning the final bits, when suddenly I felt a pull underneath my scapula on a stretchy move (both arms reaching to the far side, with one behind my head). It was … odd. Disturbing. Kind of painful. I probably should’ve stopped dancing right then. But the dancer in me thought it’d be fine, so continue I did.
Little did I know I’d end up paying for that bigtime a few days later…
Week Summary: I really loved my classes. People have told me Munich is very different from Berlin, and I can see how. Life here is much slower, more relaxed. They take their downtime very seriously, if the strict 8-PM closing times are any indication (my Airbnb host later told me they have very powerful unions here).
This attitude also extends to the Festival, which I found to be more gentle-paced and self-regulated than b12 in Berlin.
The city is also much less dense. Everything is bigger, wider, and (at night) emptier. It reminds me of the Canadian suburbs, actually. Perhaps that’s why I feel quite assimilated :)
Photo by Lonely Girl, Lonely World.