IN THE SPOTLIGHT: GFB poster girl Nina de Lianin’s show has finally been added to Ball programme
GFB Weekend late additions: Nina and more Friday parties
Nina de Lianin, the In Strict Confidence singer and Dominatrix MC, has finally been officially added to the German Fetish Ball show line-up on Sunday June 8. The schedule for the whole weekend has now expanded to include no less than four different events on the opening Friday, and there have been changes to Saturday’s events too — see Stop Press items at the bottom of this story.
Nina’s involvement was first signalled months ago when she became the official face of the 2014 weekend, featuring on its website masthead, posters, flyers and other promo materials. However, her name has only just appeared on the Ball programme in the site’s most recent update, published less than a day ago. She’ll be doing a musical performance, and hints that she might also be in one of the fashion shows.
Elsewhere on the GFB site, sharp-eyed observers will notice that the weekend schedule has expanded to accommodate no less than four events on Friday June 6, the opening night of Berlin’s fetish festivities.
Originally, the evening offered one confirmed official event — the strict dresscode GFB Kick-Off Party at Insomnia — with a ‘pencilled-in’ Kinky Cocktails whose details were yet to be announced. Subsequently it transpired that the cocktail slot would be filled by Savage-Wear’s tenth birthday celebrations at Rooster Berlin. The party is being organised jointly by latex designer Haydee Sparks and her old partner Alex Heim, erstwhile organiser of the now-defunct Berlin Fetish Weekend.
Then around two weeks ago we learned that two more Friday night slots had been announced by different promoters. One of them — Cabaret Bizarre: The Fool — marks the first appearance of this Swiss ‘dark cabaret’ night in Berlin, which will take place at the city’s Bassy Cowboy Club.
With a number of well-known performers from the London, Berlin and international alt-cabaret scenes — namely Joe Black,Clea CutThroat, Roxy Diamond, Miss Crash and MisSa Blue— this event also scores points for featuring , who’ll be delivering her set before heading back to London for TG’s own boat party the following evening.
Cabaret Bizarre promoter Fabrice Noir is confident that his event does not compete directly with any of the other offerings of the big Berlin weekend. “Cabaret Bizarre follows a totally different concept from the GFB,” he told me. “We are not a fetish party in the original sense, as we allow all sorts of oddities. Our door policy is very open-minded. We are rather a Weimar-inspired cabaret with a twist, and of course a quite strong influence from the alternative fetish scene.”
Though there’s no compulsory dresscode, Cabaret Bizarre guests are encouraged to dress up and those that do will save €2 on the admission price.
The final addition to Friday’s line-up is a masquerade party thrown by Alter Ego (dresscode: masks and fetishwear or black tie) at Cookies. Little further information on this offering is available, but Alter Ego parties are well established in Berlin, and you can check out previous events via Google.
Some Berlin scenesters have expressed concerns that Friday’s elevation to packed, multiple-choice evening may not be good news for the official GFB programme. However, René ofXklusiv, the GFB organiser, told me that he was relaxed about the extra options now on offer, and had happily added their details to Friday’s schedule on his GFB website.
“We can’t expect clubs to close on any date, just because something cool is going on and new promoters are attracted by the crowd we attract,” he said. “That is how it is. So instead of opening a new confrontation and deciding who is in and who is out, we added those nice people who approached us to the schedule. But for the promoted official events we are sticking to the ones we always had good co-operations with.”
While he was of the opinion that too much diversity kills a weekend — “There has to be a clear structure” — some diversity was good, he felt. And since Berlin famously thrives on its “wide offer”, some additional choices might be “pretty cool”. All in all, he concluded, he didn’t anticipate any adverse effect on the GFB Weekend. More details from the GFB website below, or from the individual event URLs. TM
Martin Pelzer, host of Saturday’s FetishGuerilla Revolution party, has just informed us that this year, the venue will have a room for non-smokers. It’s the Dragon Floor, where TG DJ Jimmy Mofo will be playing. Ironic name for a non-smoking area, you might think, but non-smokers who had problems with the venue’s air quality last year will surely be prepared to overlook that. Thanks Martin!
The venue for Saturday night’s GFB Play-Night has been changed. The party, which was originally at de Sade, has now been moved to DarkSide Berlin, Nostitzstr 30, 10965 Berlin. Other details remain the same: 9pm start time, advance tickets €30 per person, strict dresscode (sensual erotic/fetish/BDSM), and couples/entourage only.
Tags: Exhibitions, Fashion Shows, Latex, Models, Parties, Performance Artists
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