Berlin Trip
Updated: Feb 8, 2020
We made a family trip to Berlin last week. I started to remember the lifestyle in Germany and it felt so nostalgic. I got my first job at the Hamburg Ballet when I was 17. It was 2 or 3 years after the Berlin Wall fell. Being a young ballerina I was focusing on dancing so much (almost too much) that I was ignorant of a lot of bigger things that were happening at that time. But when I think back, it was a wonderful time for Germany and the world: the Cold War was ending and there was a special vibe & energy and people were celebrating new freedoms and there were lots of parties fueled by pure happiness. I wonder if we will ever get that again? One of the things I remember was that the German government was taking 15% or 20% (I don’t exactly remember) out from my salary every month to help East Germany catch up with the west. Now I feel proud that I was there for part of that dynamic change and that I was able to help a little in that way. Berlin is a really cool place now. Back in my last year with the Hamburg Ballet school, I went to audition there: (Komische Opera Berlin where they offered me a job and Berlin State Opera but no job offer for this one) I remember clearly that the color of the air was dramatically different passing from the old east side to the west side of Berlin when taking the S bahn. However on this trip last week we learned that the Berlin Wall has now been down longer than the 28 years it stood (since November 9, 2017). Am I old or what? The world is changing so quickly, what comes next....?