Germany

Pina Bausch: A revolutionary choreographer

Celebrated solo dancer

As founder and head of Tanztheater Wuppertal, Pina Bausch changed the world of dance with her interpretations. In her acceptance speech for the coveted Kyoto Award in Japan in 2007, Bausch said, "I still have so much ahead of me." It wasn't long after that she passed away, aged 67. The Bundeskunsthalle Bonn opens its exhibition on her life and work this week, celebrating her achievements.

Pina Bausch: A revolutionary choreographer

Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor

"I can't express a building or anything like that through dance," Pina Bausch once told German journalist Roger Willemsen in an interview. "I am dependent on having to go where the People are." This picture shows Bausch's 1960 performance of "Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor" at the Juilliard School in New York, based on a choreography conceived by Doris Humphrey in 1938.

Pina Bausch: A revolutionary choreographer

'Tablet' by Paul Taylor, Italy 1960

Pina Bausch came to the industrial German city of Wuppertal in the mid 1970s. It didn't take long for her Tanztheater Wuppertal to gain global recognition for its poetic interpretation of everyday situations through dance. Bausch is recognized as one of the most important contemporary choreographers. "There are many very simple things which only a very good dancer can do," she once said.

Pina Bausch: A revolutionary choreographer

The art of choreography

Pina Bausch is pictured here in a choreography by Antony Tudor in Berlin 1962. "All I've ever wanted to do was dance," Bausch once said. "When I choreographed, I did it because I wanted to express something through dance that meant something to me."

Pina Bausch: A revolutionary choreographer

Back to the Lichtburg

The exhibition in Bonn houses a recreation of Bausch's erstwhile rehearsal space. "Our rehearsals take place at the Lichtburg theater, a cinema building left from the 1950s. On my way there, I always encounter so many sad-looking, tired people at the bus stop along the way. I try to incorporate those feelings in our productions," said Bausch.

Pina Bausch: A revolutionary choreographer

Putting her questions on stage

German choreographer Pina Bausch, born in 1940, revolutionizedthe world of modern dance, though she insisted that she had never planned to define a new style or direction in performance. "The formarose on its own out of the questions I had," Bausch said. "I'm not really interested in human movement, but much more in what moves humans."

Pina Bausch: A revolutionary choreographer

Spring offerings and full moons

Pina Bausch's work lives on, moving from stage to stage around the globe. You can catch her lively choreographies like "Frühlingsopfer" (Spring offering) or "Vollmond" (Full moon) on tour - or come to her Tanztheater Wuppertal in Germany.

Pina Bausch: A revolutionary choreographer

Intimate relationships

The exhibition in Bonn presents the highlights of Pina Bausch's career while also examining her methods. Her close relationship with the dancers in her ensemble remained a cornerstone of her work and built the base of much of her inspiration, as was the case in her in the 1983 production of "Nelken" (Carnations) at the Palais des Papes in Avignon, France.

Pina Bausch: A revolutionary choreographer

Be yourself

The Bundeskunsthalle Bonn published a book on Pina Bausch to coincide with the exhibition. Packed with evocative quotes and speeches from Bausch, it explains the core of her method. "It is important to me to present the essence of my dancers on stage, so people can know them. In these choreographies, you have to be yourself. No one is required to act." The exhibition continues until July 24.

Author: Gaby Reucher, Stefan Dege / ss