Berlin Wall Rehearsal 3
Monday, June 29th, 2009Milan Kundera once wrote that “remembering is a form of forgetting.” This is so true regarding our memories and revisiting the past. I have been working on the Berlin Wall Project since last year. Some of my preparations included fundraising for the project, finding space, auditioning dancers, visiting Berlin several times, collecting images of the remaining parts of the Wall, interviewing Berliners (both from East and West), having conversations with people about the Wall, filming, dreaming and improvising movement from my impressions. In my interviews, I tried to select a broad range of people from East and West, old and young as well as male and female. I even considered sexual orientation. Throughout my interviews, I was surprised to find out how much Eastern Nostalgia had developed since the fall of the Wall. I kept hearing that on the East side it was more equal, everybody had a job as well as healthcare. People spent more time with each other and helped each other because nobody had much. I was surprised to hear this romanticized version of life in the East. I can't deny that this was the case but it seems to downplay a great deal. Everybody had a job and healthcare; and, yes, the government took care of them but at what price? Did individuals forget that more than 196 people died trying to cross over to the West? Did we forget that people were spied on by the state, their own people and even their own families? It’s amazing how times can change. I think therefore it’s important that we keep the conversation alive so that we may not forget why the Wall fell. So that we may remember....
