Pina Bausch: Dance, dance, otherwise we are lost
“Dance, dance, otherwise we are lost.”
— Pina Bausch
Pina Bausch is undoubtedly one of the most influential artists of the 20th century from Germany. She is a choreographer and dancer who created revolutionary and inspiring works to approach choreography propelled her to international fame.
Bausch began dancing at a young age. She is interested in: What moves people deep inside? What makes them happy? What do they long for? What are they afraid of? These questions interested Pina Bausch even as a child. She tried to find out what human nature is through various figures of human beings, and sublimated human problems into works from the viewpoint of observers who have excluded prejudice.
Bausch famously once said, “I am not interested in how people move, but in what moves them.” Breaking away from the restrictions of classical dances, she blurred the borders between dance and theater. In rehearsals, Bausch was always provoking her dancers into movement by asking them to be a storyteller, she delved into their past experiences by then turning into choreography. On her stage realism and surrealism did not exist in contradiction but rather as essential foils to one another.
Director Wim Wenders played tribute to Pina Bausch in his 2011 documentary Pina. A journey of discovery through dance, he takes the audience on a sensual, visually stunning journey into a new dimension.
