KitKatClub

The pact of the dance floor and the body

«Do what you want but stay in communication» is not a brochure slogan: it is the house rule that Simon Thaur and Kirsten Krüger put into motion on March 1, 1994. The name takes the Kit Kat Klub from the musical Cabaret, but the project was contemporary: to fuse the trance of Goa sunrises with the frankness of Berlin SM clubs. Whoever enters agrees to exhibit themselves, to consent, and not to disguise what happens on the dance floor as normality.

CarneBall Bizarre, the night that sustains the building

Saturday concentrates the identity of the venue. The CarneBall Bizarre —the KitKatClubnacht— applies a strict dress code: no street clothes, no jeans or sneakers; fetish, latex, leather, gothic, costume, or glamour. Kirsten Krüger has been the door filter for decades. The club insists it is not a swinger club: there is sex in plain sight, but the focus is on dancing, the mix of the public, and a hedonism that calls for communication. Since the spring of 2024, the weekend opens at 20:00 by the pool, to enter without the early morning queue. On Sunday, without a break, comes the Nachspiel, a daytime after-hours that the club itself presents as one of the most veteran in Berlin.

From the Turbine to the Heinrich-Heine-Straße platform

The first stage was the Turbine on Glogauer Straße, in Kreuzberg. In 1999 the club jumped to the Metropol at Nollendorfplatz; in 2001 to the Malzfabrik in Schöneberg; since July 2007 it has occupied the former Sage Club, above the Heinrich-Heine-Straße U-Bahn, with the address at Köpenicker Straße 76. In 2019 an eviction was announced that did not take place: the operators signed a direct contract with the owner. On March 2, 2024, the Disco Bizarre celebrated three decades of continuity.

Multiple dance floors, water, and black light

The venue opens into multiple indoor dance floors —the main one with a stage— plus an outdoor area with a pool and sauna. Between 1995 and 2014 the painter Der Träumer (Vigor Calma) covered the interior with erotic painting under ultraviolet light. There is a cloakroom, play areas, and a videowall. The phone usually stays outside: the instruction is to be in the room, not to document it.

Electronics beyond the fetish

The first repertoire was trance and goa. Today the program mixes techno, house, and trance with queer nights like PiepShow, Gegen, Symbiotikka, Electric Monday, and Unity. In 2001 the Carneval Erotica took hedonism to the street. The KitKatClub is not a touring brand: it is a physical venue that has changed walls without letting go of the idea.