Normaly it's not clever, as a writer of the Haidhausen district newspaper, to do commercials for another district of the city but this events, of whom we will write in the further future, are so special, non-commerce and so amusing that no other city quarter newspaper will write about it. Today we will lead you to Obergiesing for a training night with the Line dance group "Munich LAD's".

"Lad", means young man or a special typ of man, and it works here for the shortening of the Clubs name "Lucky Afternoon Dancers". But all this is far of the reality! At the Club are 90% girls dancing and you will not go there in the afternoon. On thursday evening you go - cause of the years season - through the dark streets of Obergiesing to the training lessons. They are held at the restaurant "Zur Freundschaft" at the Weissensee/Corner of the Wieskirchstreet and about this special saloon you could fill feuilletons. First you have to cross the guest room: a display dummie dressed with a Dirndl is laying there relaxed over the entrance, wheels, decorated with bows are hanging under the ceiling and during the last month everything was nicely hidden from the cigarette smoke. The hall next to the guests room is normaly used for traditional bavarian theater. You can see a farmers room scenerie on the stage with a black curtain and with stored tables and chairs on one side of the stage. Chandeliers with old-fashioned lampshades with gigantic Advent wreths, with white and blue bows, underneath are making the scenerie more bright. Isn't that scary? What a bavarian originality only three kilometers away of the Marienplatz! The "Zur Freundschaft" should be included in every tourist guide immediatly. And now the waitress is comming in, an older lady, and shouting: " Now, kids, what do you want? Grandma will bring it." Everyone's ordering Spezi (mixture half Coke and half Orange-Fanta, by the translater) and Apple-spritzer. This is not of the youth of the LAD's but they have hundreds of choreographies in their heads and one beer could make trouble to dance correctely.
At the Line Dance you stand beside each other in rows with other rows in front and in the back. Normaly you will dance to strong melodious music made in Amerika. Everyone is dancing the same choreography, everyone by himself but everyone the same. This looks realy nice because: The group couldn't look more heterogeneouse. Old and young, tall and small, chubby and slim dancers, some move more widely, some shy in motions but everyone's stomping at the same time, turn the same way or snip their fingers when they have to. It's the lightness and the earthy of the music that gives you happyness. It dosn't matter if it's real country, a slow waltz, something electric or some folk-crossover music.
Cause of the effort the happyness will fade when you are on the dance floor learning your first dance. Your ears will be burning from the words like "Forward rock", "Behind side cross", "Extended Lock Shuffle" and Side chassé. The choreographies have a different amount of counts and when you have danced them you will look to another side (wall) and you have to repeat them. On the beginning you try to put step by step together without any sense and reason. Sometimes you look to the tables, to the stage, to the windows and you move without any orientation like a drunken elephant. Now you will find out that it is very helpful that you are in a row because when everyone's turning to the right it couldn't be false to stagger behind the other dancers. Everything becomes clearer when the dance will be danced with a quick music and hearable rhythms. The chaos becomes an end and you stop turning into the wrong direction to stumble over your own or in the worst case over other feet. The trainer explains everthing perfect - but sometimes it's a bit to fast and all the other, more educated, Lads, are still knowing what to dance... - and suddenly you are sure that the informations are reaching you and you start moving with instictive sureness, you feel the rhythm and Oups, why have turned everyone to the left and only you are looking to the front?
This way of dancing is a challenge for your brain and body. Good for all the overstimulated job stupids who are already feeling the near dementia in young years. After a few trainings at the "Zur Freundschaft" you can already feel that the right and left brain hemisphere become friends and the synapses who never had worked together are closed with a smacking sound. In addition you can use sparetimes during your daily routines usefully: you can hop "Kick Ball Change, Scuff, Out-Out", as advanced dance steps, on the platform or while you're waiting for the thirty copies made by the copy machine. That makes fun.
Line Dance is the perfect dance for all the poeple who like to dance together but without a needed dance partner. There are approximately ten times more women as men in Germany who like to dance to choreographed steps and figures; and there are men as well who prefer Line Dance and not ball room dancing. It's from the USA but it's not so-called from the country szene but from the ball rooms at the thirties and fouties. On the internet choreographies are spreaded all over the world for old and new music which has the advantage that a lot of line dance clubs can meet and dance easiely together. This you can have in Haidhausen/Au too. There is a course at the public school for everyone: tuesday between 8pm to 9:30pm at the Gasteig in the room 0105, tickets can be sold at the automat. It will start again on the 4th of march. At the TSV Ost the line dancers meet every monday at 8pm just for dancing and every second friday at 5pm to learn new dances. But there is not the same atmosphere at the "Ostkurve" like it is at the "Zur Freundschaft": The bavarian-american trash in front of the stage and the all through the year advent wreth can't be toped.
More Info at
www.munich-lads.de
kat