Dance, dance, otherwise we are lost

"What treasure lies within our bodies, to be able to express itself without words,
and how many stories can be told without saying a single sentence."

— Filmmaker Wim Wenders on Pina Bausch (1940-2009)

I had a chance to ask Michael Koob about Expressionist dance, and he told me about his artistic kinship with the German choreographer Pina Bausch. Headed straight to YouTube to check out her work. How lucky we are to have access to video, for how could one really describe what we see and feel when watching dance?

Here's the English trailer for Wim Wender's 3D movie tribute, Pina.



In an interview with Le Figaro, Bausch spoke of her work with dancers, “I look for something else... the possibility of making them feel what each gesture means internally. Everything must come from the heart, must be lived.”


Gershwin's The Man I Love



Louis Armstrong's West End Blues



Danzón, a piece by Pina Bausch, featuring Songs and Arias from Francesco Cilea, Umberto Giordano, Gustav Mahler, Instrumental music from Henry Purcell, Camille Saint-Saëns, Songs and pop music from Mexico, Argentina, Greece and Portugal, Jazz music from Ben Webster, Billie Holiday, Johnny Hodges, music from America and Japan



Pina Bausch's Tanztheatre Wuppertal comes to Cal Performances in Berkeley on Dec. 2 & 3, 2011.

Pina Bausch in Danzón, photo by Maarten Vanden Abeele