MR. GAGA AND OTHER STORIES

It was a balmy evening in Berlin.   We were all set to go to the Kino Moviemento <www.facebook.com/Moviemento/?>_to see the documentary Mr Gaga which is about Ohad Naharin and his Batsheva Dance Company

<www.facebook.com/events/454965208219923/> and hear the producer Heymann Barak talk about the making of it.   But first we had to eat. Culture is so much more uplifting when you’ve had a good meal!

K. knew about a new Japanese restaurant nearby called  Show Me Tepanyake, Schoenleinstrasse 11, 10967 Berlin.   We traipsed about  failing to find it and eventually discovered it, right beside where we’d started, no more than a minute’s  amble from the front door of the cinema.

The chef was Chinese but had spent five years training in Japan and boy, did he put on a performance for us!    Teppanyaki  is when the chef cooks in front of you, on a flat hot- plate.  Knives flipped, ingredients made patterns on the grill, flames shot to the ceiling and on top of all that, the food was delicious, and the wine…positively melodious.  Now we were ready for Culture.

The film was a documentary on the life of Ohad Naharin, a choreographical genius.   Take a look.<https://youtu.be/7v6tY_u-Mls&gt; and see for yourself.  Afterwards, Heymann Barak, the producer, talked about the long journey making the film turned out to be…. but worth every year it consumed!

Now, suitably high on quality dancing, we returned to the restaurant for a drink and and a chat.   The night was warm so we sat outside sipping our glasses of Reisling.   Next thing, a startlingly beautiful tenor voice,  floated out from the restaurant singing Nessun Dorma, a capella.   People  gathered on the street to listen.   The Voice charmed us with four operatic arias, all unaccompanied.  We all strained to see who was singing. It turned out to be a very young Chinese man, probably no more than 20 years of age with a wonderful tenor voice.

Dyane Neiman, the organiser for The Bear Storytelling in Berlin was with us.  She always invites a musician to perform at the storytelling sessions, so, she approached him to ask if he’d be willing to perform at a session this coming autumn.   He blushed bright red, grinned from ear to ear, and, with his very proud mammy urging him on, he agreed. It will be a night to remember.    If you’re in Berlin, Google: The Bear Stories and find out when it will happen.   And even if you can’t make it the night he is singing, go to The Bear anyway, you’ll have a great night.