Pina Bausch: Year - Title (1989 - 2009)


Palermo, Palermo (1989) 
"... Human degradation, especially what men do to women, but also the infinite capacity of all peoples to harm themselves, is, in the end, Miss Bausch's underlying theme. 'Palermo, Palermo' is low on the simulated or actual violence that has made Miss Bausch controversial in the past. She has learned to inflict pain without striking. In one of the most forceful and resonant passages, a group of men in black suits rushes in carrying Beatrice Libonati, as uninhibited a Bausch veteran as any. They support her as they place a bottle of mineral water between her knees. The water pours out as immediately as the image of humiliation."
NYT: Pina Bausch's 'Palermo, Palermo' Explores a World Beyond Logic, September 30, 1991
Telegraph: Pina Bausch: Palermo, Palermo, Sadler’s Wells, review
Palermo, Palermo, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Sadler's Wells
Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch – Palermo Palermo – London
YouTube: Palermo Tanztheater Italia 1990 (Italia)

Two Cigarettes in the Dark (1992)
""... 'Two Cigarettes in the Dark' is not devoid of cruelty: a woman bangs a man into a wall; a man spills water on the floor and treats a woman accusingly like a dog who has transgressed. But there are also bitterly comic images about escapist fantasies and domestic disputes. All appear ultimately to deal with the banal chores of getting through life. By now it is clear that each dance-theater piece by the German choreographer is a fresh installment in a serialized opus about human existence. Male-female relations receive special attention; hopes and failures are her larger concern."
NYT: Pina Bausch, but Not So Sure This Time
The New Criterion - Smokeless “Cigarettes”: Pina Bausch at BAM
Fresh Hamm: The Prada Pina
YouTube: Two Cigarettes in the Dark, Two Cigarettes in the Dark - 1

On the Mountain A Cry Was Heard (1993)
"The most memorable element of Pina Bausch’s Auf dem Gebirge Hat Man ein Geschrei Gehört (On the Mountain a Cry Was Heard) is the thick layer of special dirt that blankets the stage at Sadlers Wells – a clean soil, chemical-free, that cushions the dancers as they roll around in it. The dancers of Tanztheater Wuppertal spent most of Thursday evening flailing around in it, diving into it, tossing each other into it. That is, when they weren’t racing through the auditorium, stripping between intervals of piano playing, or attempting to scale the proscenium wall. ..."
On the Mountain a Cry Was Barely Heard: Pina Bausch at Sadlers Wells
NY Times
The Emotion Extinguisher
facebook: Das StÜck mit dem Schiff 1994 (Video)
YouTube: Das Stück mit dem Schiff

Danzón (1995)
"There is a thorny problem that exists in the dance world. Should a company that is identified with one creator, continue after that creator’s death? Take, for example, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. For 36 years, the daring and innovative German choreographer had redefined the meaning of dance theatre with her singular collision of movement, drama, text and music. ... The company performed Danzón, a work created in 1995. It’s an interesting choice for this post Bausch era, precisely because while it is one of the choreographer’s most dancey pieces, it also deals with matters of life and death. When Danzón toured the United States in 1999, Bausch even performed a short solo, so her ghost literally inhabits the work."
Danzón brings Bausch's dance back to life after her death
Critic's Notebook: Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch is in moment
YouTube: Danzón, 1995, with Dominique Mercy
facebook: Danzón

Der Fensterputzer (The Window Washer) (1997)
"The curtain opens on a set consisting of a twenty-foot-high hill of red silk flowers in one corner, an image that alludes to Hong Kong region's geography, as well as to the impending onslaught of Bauschian imagery. It is morning. A young girl greets us, repeating 'Hello, good morning' with a saccharine smile, while others go through the mundane actions of shaving, dressing, and fixing their hair with a synchronization and smoothness that elevates the actions to dance. One desperate soul attempts to please her guests--the audience--by offering coffee, food, or soft drinks. A lone window washer attemps a ludicrous task: behind a reflective sheet of plastic, suspended in a seat with squeegee and pail, he trys to keep the glass surfaces of Hong Kong's glimmering neon cityscape free of grime and glare. His lonely toil, contrasted with his later appearances as a well-dressed, pipe-smoking, poodle-toting gentleman, reminds us of the gap between rich and poor, worker and dandy. - Kelly Hargraves"
Stanford
Sanjoy Roy
WhatsOnStage
British Theatre Guide
Peter Lindbergh: DER FENSTERPUTZER

Masurca Fogo (1998)
"... In 'Masurca Fogo' ('Fiery Mazurka'), which had its United States premiere on Tuesday night, Ms. Bausch turns, as in recent years, to a geographic springboard (Portugal) for still another chapter in her epic examination of life lived by all. By Bausch standards, the piece looks deceptively entertaining, with a quotient of bathroom humor. It has none of the simulated violence and confessional cruelty that shocked so many when her Tanztheater Wuppertal troupe made its New York debut in 1984. Yet 'Masurca Fogo,' to be performed through Sunday afternoon, is not fluff. Its unstated theme has to do with love, lust and desire, and much of it has a northern European view of Latin sensuality."
NYT: Sun, Surf and Sexuality In a Pina Bausch Romp
Guardian[PDF] Talk to Her! Look at her! Pina Bausch in Pedro Almodóvar’s Hable con ella
Pina Bausch & the Tanztheater Wuppertal
Masurca Fogo - Sadler's Wells

Telegraph: A place where life happens
frieze: Body Language
YouTube: Masurca Fogo - Mazurca Fogo en Teatro a Mil, Santiago, 2007

Wiesenland (2000)

"... Alongside the steady flow of water, there is also a downpour of imagery, particularly in the opening part, where the multi-layering of episodes is particularly intense. Long sequences are roughly interrupted and different strands of activity are often super-imposed so that two or more are developing simultaneously. This layering is not uncommon in Bausch’s repertoire but it seems to be more overt and more frequent in Wiesenland. The work is between 30 and 50 minutes shorter than all but one of the other nine World City pieces and yet it seems that it might contain as much action, given this overlay of scenes. It is hardly unusual for the episodes in any Bausch work to be described as sexy and funny, but in Wiesenland the balance seem to be sexier and funnier, perhaps because the sinister and melancholic themes are not so prevalent. ..."
London Dance
Laurent Paillier - Dance photographer
PINA BAUSCH: LOCK, STOCK AND BARREL
Sadlers Wells: Wiesenland
facebook: Diaporama Wiesenland

For the Children of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (2002)
"In Pina Bausch's 'For the Children of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow' at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, a dancer parts her hair with the stiletto heel of her shoe. In Ms. Bausch's world, this is par for the course. But that world is also ours, re-examined and recreated in strange contexts by a fierce choreographic sensibility and a ferocious imagination. ... 'For the Children' will strike some as mellow Bausch or Bausch gone soft. It has none of the violence that sometimes offends so many, and its few little cruelties, if any, are related to the games children play. The wit and depth are still there with a major dose of tenderness. ..."
NY Times
Flight of the scorched squirrel
Ballet Dance
The Pina Bausch Smorgasbord: Brooklyn’s Favorite Take-Away
YouTube: Für die Kinder von gestern, Fur die Kinder (Splitter) Venedig 2005 15:48

Nefés (2003)
"Pina Bausch fell in love with Turkey four years ago, and out of that love has come 'Nefés,' which her Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch performed on Saturday night as part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival. It is a dark piece, though Ms. Bausch’s sly humor and audacious visual imagination are in full play in this nearly three-hour modern-dance work. The fabled ancient city of Istanbul, gaudy and hectic, may have been the piece’s inspiration, but for all its humor, 'Nefés' is imbued with a meditative sadness. (Its title is the Turkish word for 'breath.') 'Nefés' sprawls out in a series of solos, duets and group processionals. The piece opens with a direct reference to Turkish culture, in a scene-setting tableau in which a man wrapped in a white bath towel comically cries: 'He is me! That’s me in the hamam!' over a succession of prone bodies."
NY Times
Review: Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch - Nefés - Sadler's Wells
the arts desk
Istanbul in Paris: "Nefés" by Pina Bausch
Sadlers Wells: Nefés (Video)

Ten Chi (2004)
"... A giant whale tail sticks up in the middle of the stage, with hump and dorsal fin at the back. The first half of the work contains a lot of swimming actions, as if the stage were a sea, but the overriding sense is of falling asleep: Dominique Mercy snores softly at the front row, as if encouraging them to drift off; Helena Pikon turns a man into a big bear and snuggles down on to his back; a goodnight kiss leads to a lullaby chorus of kissy noises as the cast search for imaginary songbirds. Hushed music and a slow, continuous fall of white petals impart a dreamlike quality to the sharper second half."
Guardian
NYT: An Olympian Twirl Around the Globe
Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch – Ten Chi – London
Ten Chi, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Barbican Theatre
Renate Stendhal
DailyMotion: Ten Chi
YouTube: JAPON CREATION TEN CHI

Vollmond (Full Moon) (2006)

"It’s been over a week since I saw Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch perform Vollmond (Full Moon) at Brooklyn Academy of Music, yet many of the images from the piece – and the endless downpour of water – still linger in my memory. ... But the twelve dancers were utterly mesmerizing as they frolicked, climbed, kissed, yearned, tumbled, and flung themselves through a nonstop array of dream-like vignettes set against a rainstorm. A large boulder and a dip in the stage to create a flowing river transported the audience to a separate, mystical setting far from earth. At full moon, these fierce spirits let themselves go."
Dancing Perfectly Free
Interview Working with Pina Bausch
Guardian: Tanztheater Wuppertal – review
YouTube: Vollmond (Full Moon) - -parte 01, parte 02, parte 03. Dominique Mercy solo 2007

Rough Cut (2007)
"... The Berliner Festspiele always brings the most stunning and creative shows to Berlin. Tonight, was no exception. All the energy that emanated from this dancing performance flooded the audience, giving them no other option than hanging on and enjoying the ride. The female dancers, in colourful ball-gown style dresses, run, jump and somehow float around the huge stage. The male dancers, many times carrying, throwing and spinning these beautiful creatures, seem infatigable. This passionate combination of woman and man on stage, interlacing their bodies is very liberating. However, I was sometimes melancholic when the facial expressions and body movements were full of sad emotion. The music also emphasised this feeling."
My Journeys
Dance Photos
Reportage : ROUGH CUT de Pina Bausch
Choreographer Pina Bausch Stages 'Rough Cut' Portraying Korean Culture
[PDF] Rough Cut: Phenomenological Reflections on Pina Bausch’s Choreography

Bamboo Blues (2007)
"Pina Bausch’s 'Bamboo Blues' (currently at the Brooklyn Academy of Music) is, like most or all of her work, an incoherent dreamscape. Sometimes strikingly picturesque, always fluid in its comings and goings, it switches between episodes of sensual impulsiveness; coy, catwalklike audience-awareness; rushing scenes of harrowing need or anxiety; and diverse aspects of melancholia. Even this much analysis is risky: Ms. Bausch, who has been a leading figure in world theater (not just dance) since the 1970s and is the director and choreographer of the Tanztheater Wuppertal in Germany, is the most deliberately vague of artists."
NYT: Glimpses of India, Eruptions of Chaos, Flashes of Choreography
Brooklyn Rail: Pina Bausch Returns to BAM with Bamboo Blues
Telegraph - Pina Bausch: A vision of life’s humour and pain
ballet dance
YouTube: Bamboo Blues@Spoleto52 Festival dei 2Mondi
facebook: Bamboo Blues

…como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si…” (2009)
"The moment the curtain rises on Pina Bausch’s masterpiece, '…como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si…' at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, we see a woman on all fours; a primal position that feels both demeaning and funny, all at once. By beginning the evening with this pose Bausch conveys that this work isn’t about the ethereal women of Marius Petipa or the idealized women of Balanchine. Instead, Bausch is interested in what it means to be a contemporary woman—and there is nothing otherworldly about it. Similar to Marcel Duchamp’s scandalous work 'Fountain' (1917), a porcelain urinal turned upside-down and placed in a museum, Bausch has her dancers reenact everyday female rituals, turns them on their heads and sets them on a stage: a woman applies makeup while a man pours a bottle of water on her head, and a woman sitting at a restaurant eats her meal beneath the table."
The Dance Critic
NYC Dance Stuff
NYT: The Swan Song of Pina Bausch
Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch
Review: The Last Testament Of Pina Bausch
YouTube: "...como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si ...", creación de Pina Bausch

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