DANCE COMMUNISM - BOOK (by Hendryk Gericke)

Between 2005 and 2007, several exhibitions, a book, and a cinematic documentary titled "too much future" spotlighted a previously little-explored chapter of East German sub- and counterculture. Since then, numerous publications on punk rock in the GDR have been added alongside the monotheistic cult surrounding the West German underground of the 1980s. Among the many books published, a few neither myth-ridden nor autosuggestive sing the eternal refrain of hackneyed punk clichés, nor reflexively intone a lament of victimhood. The underground was never a strategy, at least not the punk underground. It was intoxication, elemental force, and an immoral feast for the senses, for which one paid because one gave nothing to the state.

"Dance Communism" exclusively portrays punk bands that were active illegally and consistently countered the obligation of state classification with a playfulness that disregarded any permission. To reproduce the soundscapes of a counterculture in texts, it is not enough to limit oneself to processing band histories. The individual portraits make a passionate attempt to create a kaleidoscope that reflects the bands through themselves as well as through their cultural and socio-cultural environment.