Bausch, Pina

Bausch, Pina

(pē`nə boush), 1940–2009, German dancer and choreographer. After training with Kurt JoossJooss, Kurt
, 1901–79, German dancer, producer, and choreographer. Jooss was a student of Rudolf von Laban and was influenced by Émile Jacques-Dalcroze. The Green Table (1932), his most famous ballet, was an expressionistic view of the origins of war.
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, she studied in New York with Antony TudorTudor, Antony,
1909–87, English choreographer and dancer. Tudor went to the United States at the invitation of the Ballet Theatre, New York City (1939); he danced leading roles and created ballets for several English and American companies and was later the artistic
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, Paul TaylorTaylor, Paul
(Paul Belville Taylor), 1930–2018, American modern-dance choreographer, b. Wilkinsburg, Pa. Taylor trained as an artist before he received scholarships to study dance.
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, José LimónLimón, José
(José Arcadio Limón) , 1908–72, American modern dancer, choreographer, and teacher known for powerfully masculine dancing and dramatic choreography.
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, and Paul Sanasardo. She began choreographing in 1968 and in 1973 assumed the post of ballet master of the Wuppertal State Opera Dance Theatre, which became her base. Bausch became known for a rather bleak vision of humanity and neoexpressionist approach, and was also noted for dramatic, surreal stagings, e.g., in Carnations (1983) the stage was covered with thousands of silk carnations that were trampled during the performance, and in Arien (1985) the dance area was filled with ankle-deep water. Her experimental concert ballets included productions of Kurt WeillWeill, Kurt
, 1900–1950, German-American composer, b. Dessau, studied with Humperdinck and Busoni in Berlin. He first became known with the production of two short satirical surrealist operas, Der Protagonist (1926) and Der Zar lässt sich photographieren
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's Seven Deadly Sins. She also choreographed StravinskyStravinsky, Igor Fedorovich
, 1882–1971, Russian-American composer. Considered by many the greatest and most versatile composer of the 20th cent., Stravinsky helped to revolutionize modern music.

Stravinsky's father, an actor and singer in St.
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's Sacre du printemps (1975) and Bandoneon (1980). Bausch's later works, which tended to be mellower in tone and more romantic than her earlier dances, include Two Cigarettes in the Dark (1994), The Window Washer (1997), and Danzón (1999). After 1986 Bausch also created full-length pieces inspired and usually commissioned by various cities; these include Palermo, Palermo (1991), Hong Kong in Der Fensterputzer (1997), Lisbon and São Paulo in Masurca Fogo (2001), and İstanbul in Nefés (2003). In the years since her death, the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch has continued to perform her style of tanztheater [dance theater] in Europe and abroad.

Bibliography

See studies by N. Servos (1979, tr. 1984), C. Fernandes (2001), D. Mulrooney (2002), and R. Climenhaga (2008); W. Wenders, dir., Pina (documentary film, 2011).