Polonaise hand in hand: All guests of the folk dance evening came in traditional costume and created a hearty atmosphere in the Oberschleissheim community center. © Dieter Michalek
The district's folk dance evening in Oberschleissheim showed how much joy Bavarian customs bring.
Oberschleissheim/Landkreis – "Attention, now there's oncoming traffic. Take it by the hand and through the bottom." No! This was not a disaster control exercise conducted by Magnus Kaindl in the community center. The dance master of the Munich Department of Culture led through the polonaise. The polonaise, the Polish national dance, in which the couples move through the hall in a round dance, was just one of many pleasures that dance master Kaindl had given the guests. Just watching was not allowed! Whether polka, landler or zwiefacher, from waltz to turner - at the folk dance evening of the district in the Oberschleissheim community center, the guests experienced Bavarian joie de vivre and dance tradition in the flesh.
Folk dance evenings like this are part of the cultural work of the district of Munich. Rainer Klier, head of the district cultural affairs, is keen to convey Bavarian folklore to the people, dances and pieces of music that have been handed down from earlier times. A task that, as he emphasizes, "is very close to his heart".
From turners to polka: The musicians of the Lower Bavarian Musicians' Regulars' Table hit exactly the right note and brought a lot of momentum to the community center. © Michalek
For the evening in Oberschleissheim, Klier had borrowed dance master Magnus Kaindl from the city of Munich. Kaindl from the Department of Culture, who has been tried and tested in similar events in the Bavarian metropolis, shares Klier's passion for bringing traditional dance and music closer to the local people: "The best way to do this is through a low-threshold offer like this folk dance evening in Oberschleissheim."
Basically, Klier is not only concerned with keeping Bavarian folk dances alive. "At home in the district of Munich" is the name of a new format of the district cultural department starting in July. Regional products, local markets, events typical of the country, dying professions, alpine handicrafts. "Everything is far away from the mainstream," says Klier. Have you ever experienced a quill embroiderer, visited a soap manufacturer or a lederhosen factory? Supporting niche genres such as the band contest of the Kreisjungendring is the cultural mission to which Klier has dedicated himself with skin and hair: to bring customs together with youth as far as possible and to promote young artists in particular. "We want to show that culture in Bavaria is diverse," adds Klier.
Even the youngest visitors had a lot of fun. © Dieter Michalek
Meanwhile, the dancers move gracefully and majestically through the figures of the polonaise. They all wear traditional costumes. "Same game again," shouts dance master Kaindl: "Four times left, two times right and then eight." "We all want to be very funny tonight," Hubert Zellner, the volunteer district folk music curator, had initially called out to the dancing couples under his twirled moustache. Then it started with the polonaise.
Dance master Kaindl was never worried about not being able to motivate people. "Whoever comes to us also wants to dance."
