Life and Dance in Berlin

When you move to Germany's capital Berlin as a dance student to complete your professional dance progam or your 5-month intensive program you will be immersed in the world of one of Europe's most creative and vibrant cities, also called the City of Unlimited Possibilities.
Berlin has always attracted artists and creative people from all over the world. Despite the rising cost of living, Berlin is still one of the most livable cities in the world. This is not surprising, because Berlin has something to offer for every taste.
Berlin is now the largest municipality in Germany with 892 square kilometers as well as the most populous city in the European Union.
In fact, Berlin was once formed from many small villages, some of these village centers can still be found in today's districts. Despite its size, all districts can be easily reached by Berlin's extensive road network.
Berlin is a cultural metropolis, party metropolis, fashion metropolis and green capital all at the same time.
You can turn nights into days in Berlin, but you can just as easily go for a walk in the beautiful Berlin forests and numerous parks, and even swim in some of Berlin's lakes. Berliners love their strikingly large number of street trees, which make a green cityscape.

Accommodation in Berlin

If you are moving to Berlin to participate in one of our dance programs, you will need to find accommodation in good time.
Unfortunately, our academy does not offer any accommodation options.
Finding affordable apartments has become a difficult task the past years.
Countless tiny studio apartments for students have sprung up, most of which cost at least € 800,- per month!
Unfortunately, some of our students have had some bad experiences with certain Facebook portals. There seem to be more and more scammers out there. Even though searching for a shared apartment via social media can be quite fruitful, you should be careful: don't transfer the full rent in advance if you can't be 100% sure that the room on offer actually exists!
Sometimes rooms become available from our graduates, so you can ask us if we have heard of anything.

Start to look for a room in a shared apartment ontime

It makes sense to start looking for a room in a shared apartment in good time, both if you are coming to Berlin for just a few months and if you are coming at the start of your dance studies. Many Berliners rent out rooms in their apartments, but many agencies that rent out student rooms (at a higher price, of course) have now joined all the rental portals.
Portals for searching for rooms in shared apartments in Berlin include (some are in german only, please use translator):

wg-gesucht
studenten-wohnung.de
berlinovo.de
Immobienscout24 (also for temporary accomodation)
Immonet.de (student apartments)
housinganywhere.com (more expensive, but sometimes there might be something of interest)

Contemporary dance in Berlin

Berlin has a large independent and international theater scene with more than 35 independent venues. Famous companies such as Sasha Waltz & Guests, Constanza Macras/Dorky Park and the cie. Toula limnaois are also based in Berlin. Approximately 400 dance and theater companies work outside the structures of the state and municipal theaters. Many of the independent projects are financially supported by the Main City Culture Fund and other grants. This offers an optimal environment for you to explore contemporary dance in all its variations.
Nevertheless, to this day not all of the more than 2,400 dance professionals achieve a sufficient annual income through stage productions alone, but must additionally secure their livelihood through dance classes and workshop offerings.
Since 2000, Berlin has had its own association for contemporary dance, which represents the interests of freelance dancers, choreographers and artists. The association is also responsible for the Tanzbüro Berlin (Dance office Berlin). The Tanzbüro is a central contact point for the dance scene in Berlin and offers artists many free consulting services.

Culture

The cultural offerings in Berlin are extremely diverse. The city has about 200 museums, of which the Berlin Museum Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the largest museum ensemble in the world. Furthermore, you will find 400 galleries, eight major symphony orchestras, three opera houses, about 150 theaters and stages and more than 90 cinemas.
The oldest musical theater is Berlin's famous Friedrichsstadtpalast with one of the largest theater stages in the world. Musicals are also performed in the former Theater des Westens. In addition, you will find cabaret stages, children's theaters and Berlin's independent venues.

Dance

The Berlin State Ballet has three famous houses at its disposal: the Deutsche Oper, the Komische Oper Berlin and the Staatsoper unter den Linden. Many of the more contemporary and experimental productions are presented by Hebbel am Ufer (known as HAU for short), which also has three stages: HAU 1 (formerly the traditional Hebbel Theater), HAU 2 (formerly Theater am Halleschen Ufer) and the backyard stage HAU 3 (formerly Theater am Ufer). The three theaters were merged in 2003.
Other interesting stages for contemporary dance include Dock 11 and Eden, Halle Tanzbühne Berlin, Tanzfabrik Berlin and Uferstudios for contemporary dance, where we, too, present our Balance 1 dance performances.

Food and drink

In every district in Berlin there are countless restaurants, cafés and bars. Here you will not only find German cuisine. International cuisine is everywhere in Berlin due to the many settled cultures: Turkish, Indian, Italian, African, Chinese, Mexican cuisine, and so on.
More and more dishes for vegetarians and vegans are offered.
The so-called Spätis ("laties") are also part of Berlin life. Unlike a normal kiosk, Spätis are often open around the clock for Berliners, even on holidays or weekends. So for Berliners, Spätis are like supermarkets, meeting places and Internet cafés all in one.
In addition to the normal supermarkets, there are markets of all kinds in many parts of Berlin: market halls, weekly markets, organic markets and flea markets, where it is worth shopping. Of course there are also international supermarkets e.g. with Asian or African specialties.

Berlin is without doubt one of the most attractive cities in Europe for dance students, but finding affordable housing needs time