Cabaret -What really happened n Berlin II

I went to a Berlin cabaret show.  I tried to go to one that was more of a variety show, but it was sold out.  So we went to another show.  I saw reviews of the Kleine NachtRevue NSFW.  Some said it was seedy, some said it was a great throwback, some that the dancing sucked, some that it was great, that the dancers were old, that the dancers were hot, that it was tasteful, distasteful.   But what they all agreed on was the inclusion of full frontal.  It has been a negative goal of mine for some time to never go to a strip club.  But we were in Berlin, the fatherland of burlesque.

I was surprised that there were a few more women than men in the audience.  The woman next to me, was from Switzerland, attending with her boyfriend, said they had seen cabaret in Switzerland but it didn’t show quite as much skin.  The show she saw was more about the removal of clothes but they always stopped before the Full Monty.

At this show, they didn't really do much in the way of strip tease.  There were dances to tease using transparent scarves.  But primarily the costumes didn't change much from start to end.  It was more a modern dance show, which I actually like.

There were three female dancers, perhaps aged 47, 37, and 27 and one guy about 50.  The routines switched up between them.  Some were about lights, some about sparkles, mermaid themes, and traditional French cabaret themes.

It was interesting to watch the comfort level of each with being exposed on stage in front of people.  Perhaps this was due to my own monitoring of my internal comfort level in watching.  The oldest woman seemed to be a bit of an exhibitionist.  Aside from the waning of skin elasticity we all suffer, she looked great.   She did a few feats of dance that required some skill, like holding a pose on one foot and slowly doing a smooth 360 rotation on that one foot.  

The thirty-something woman seemed the least comfortable in the more lightweight costumes.  This showed primarily in her countenance and eyes; her physical grace was excellent.  Her eyes were large and slightly bulging.  But later it made me wonder if her facial expressions were intentional as she put her eyes to good use at times.  I am used to the facial expressions of the MurMonster which usually give away everything she is feeling even when she would prefer not to share.  For this reason the MurMonster does not play high stakes poker.

In a solo piece the big-eyed, thirty-something dancer dressed in a sort of alien lion costume, her eye and face movements were as much a part of the dance as the leg and torso movements.  Her eyes popped open and moved for affectation.  It did make you wonder what kind of crazy thing might happen next.

The twenty-something dancer had minimal professional dancing talent.  But she was young and perky, so I guess it doesn’t matter.

The guy reminded me of a French Mime even when he wasn’t dressed in traditional French costumes.  Perhaps it was the face makeup, or perhaps there is a classic Gaulic facial topography: flat cheek bones, and a triangular chin with a concave nose bridge terminating in a slightly large and rounded nostrils.

He was an excellent dancer short of when he attempted tap.  It was fun to watch him dance with the forty-something woman in their tango routine.  The MurMonster said she felt cheated in the end since his costumes weren’t as revealing.  She also didn’t like the shadow box routine which depicted a faux beheading in some 1001 Arabian Nights story we couldn’t understand.  I have to admit that part was a bit creepy.  Perhaps that is the role of art, to make you feel something, even if my take home emotion for the evening was the heebie jeebies.