Collection on Screen:
Let's Dance
January 8 to February 25, 2026
The cornerstones of classic musicals could be described as the breaking out of normality and the overcoming of gravity. As if by magic, extraordinary tracking shots are combined with surreally-lit, decoratively staged mass choreographies. Whether protected by stage scenery or singing and dancing on real streets and squares: Out of the ordinary movement enables the protagonists on screen and us in the safety of the cinema to constantly push the boundary between reality and imagination. Here, a room that in daily life sets boundaries opens up in all directions: Walls can be penetrated, floors become soft, and gravity is negligible category.
"A dancer who relies on the doubtful comforts of human love will never be a great dancer. Never!" Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook), the dictatorial ballet impresario in The Red Shoes (Great Britain, 1948), speaks the uncomfortable truth we don't want to hear: Dance as finishing machine for the human body. Nevertheless, on film, dance acquires an unusual, almost wavering reality which is taken to an extreme by Ginger Rodgers and Fred Astaire flying over the dance floor. With Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli, on other hand, melodramatic performances are combined with energetic, stirring movements. Be it Gene Kelly with his virile dynamic, Moira Shearer with dizzying pirouettes whirling through the scenery, or the spherical characters in South Park (1999): They all sing, dance, and yearn to cross boundaries. Since on the screen, for them – as for us in the dark – everything is possible. So come on: Let's dance! (Elisabeth Streit / Translation: Ted Fendt)
The cornerstones of classic musicals could be described as the breaking out of normality and the overcoming of gravity. As if by magic, extraordinary tracking shots are combined with surreally-lit, decoratively staged mass choreographies. Whether protected by stage scenery or singing and dancing on real streets and squares: Out of the ordinary movement enables the protagonists on screen and us in the safety of the cinema to constantly push the boundary between reality and imagination. Here, a room that in daily life sets boundaries opens up in all directions: Walls can be penetrated, floors become soft, and gravity is negligible category.
"A dancer who relies on the doubtful comforts of human love will never be a great dancer. Never!" Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook), the dictatorial ballet impresario in The Red Shoes (Great Britain, 1948), speaks the uncomfortable truth we don't want to hear: Dance as finishing machine for the human body. Nevertheless, on film, dance acquires an unusual, almost wavering reality which is taken to an extreme by Ginger Rodgers and Fred Astaire flying over the dance floor. With Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli, on other hand, melodramatic performances are combined with energetic, stirring movements. Be it Gene Kelly with his virile dynamic, Moira Shearer with dizzying pirouettes whirling through the scenery, or the spherical characters in South Park (1999): They all sing, dance, and yearn to cross boundaries. Since on the screen, for them – as for us in the dark – everything is possible. So come on: Let's dance! (Elisabeth Streit / Translation: Ted Fendt)
Introductions by Elisabeth Streit and Christoph Huber at selected screenings.
For each series, films are listed in screening order.
