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How does Pina Bausch explore the ideas of human nature and authenticity in her work and how does this influence my creative practice?

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How does Pina Bausch explore the ideas of human nature and authenticity in her work and how does this influence my creative practice?

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From the very start, humans have been compelled to create and devour art. Whether it be cave drawings, paintings, sculptures, music or dance, art has been valued throughout history for its ability to evoke emotions. In my opinion, the best art is when the viewer is left with a variety of questions. “Art can give us a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us by providing a different perspective, challenging assumptions, and opening up new ways of thinking.” (Thomas, 2023). When given the opportunity to research a contemporary dance artist one name came to my mind instantly: Pina Bausch. This is simply due to her ability to explore and share the universal experiences of humanity such as love, loss and sorrow.

Honesty and precision. The key values of Pina Bausch. The values in which she learned during her professional dance training at the Folkwang school in Essen, led by a pioneer of the revolutionary 1920s/30s German movement Ausdruckstanz (expressive dance), Kurt Jooss (Pina Bausch Foundation, no date). Honest and precision is exactly how I would describe the works of one Pina Bausch, but what does it mean? As Bausch later put it herself: “honesty in approaching reality and precision in developing form” (Pina Bausch Foundation). Pina’s authenticity and use of human emotion enabled her to create beautiful yet disturbing works that can leave an audience speechless and uncomfortable. “She was always circling around key human themes such as fear, longing, doubt and the search for happiness, brutality of life, the innocence of childhood in contrast to the merciless of adults.” (Meyer & Black, 2018). The German choreographer was able to break down barriers between dance and theatre with her dramatic choreographed acts which combined dance, speech, music and extraordinary sets which created a revolution of contemporary dance and theatre.

During the rehearsal for Carnations in 1986/1987 Bausch asks the questions, not only to herself but to her dancers about their first loves, how they imagined love as children and how they imagine love now. To me, this feels unusual due to the experiences I have with my choreographic approach as I tend to just start moving and creating without questioning “why?”.  I find with Pina’s work there is always a purpose and reasoning to justify each move and sometimes I lost the meaning of my work due to the need to look aesthetically pleasing. After researching, watching and analysing works by Bausch it is evident to see that Pina Bausch cares more about the intention and the message behind her choreography than what looks aesthetically pleasing. By focusing on the aesthetics, I believe I lose the artistry and integrity of my choreography. The aesthetics of dance is something Pina never really cared about. She was desperate for her work to be organic and raw meaning she wanted the audience to feel emotional and uncomfortable. This was extremely unusual and forward thinking of the time as ballet was still so dominant in the dance world. To me, ballets were all about the beauty of movements showing grace and long lines. Often ballets have a clear narrative of fairy tales and romance. This is why I love Bausch’s work so much as she delves into themes which show the truth and darkness of humanity , which we can all relate to. I would say her work is more realistic and genuine. For example, In Rite of Spring, the stage is covered in soil, making her dancers dirty. This is all while the dance has an intense level of deep pulsing, darting, and panicked pacing which reminded me of a lost animal being chased by a predator. This is something you would never see in ballet.

In my opinion, I find that asking the dancers questions before they start moving is allowing them to have a deeper connection and understanding of the choreography and what they are trying to convey to the audience. Questions are also a great way to stimulate emotions and feelings which the dancer can transfer into movement. The reason Pina does this is to evoke a genuine exploration of human experience and behaviour. ‘For her, every movement was created in the mind.” (Meyer & Black, 2018) meaning no movement comes from the body but from a deep personal connection.

Repetition is a key device used in a lot of Pina Bausch’s work. Often in dance repetition is used in technique classes such as ballet as part of dance training and creative processes. During these technique classes, we often repeat pre-set exercises to help improve technique over time. by using the compositional tool of repetition choreographers can easily find ways to connect movements and movement phrases, many choreographers also use repetition to teach sequences. I find that many choreographies are just rearranged existing movement vocabularies. This is particularly clear to see in the more classical styles such as ballet and modern (Fernandes, 2001). In Bausch’s work “Repetition becomes a creative tool through which dancers reconstruct, unsettle and transform their aesthetic and social background. Repetition fragments the dancers’ experiences and the narrative of their movement sequences” (Fernandes, 2001). This suggests that repetition becomes a way in which the dancers can break the cycle of creative safety and over time it becomes a new way of moving in which a dancer can embody a transformed continuity. This is something I am eager to put into my creative practice specifically in improvisation. I often feel afraid of repetition during improvisation as I’m always trying to do something new. I also feel that repetition is a way I can stimulate ideas and develop them into something more. Using this idea of repeating and transformation I can take a single move and develop it in a much more creative way. To do this I would repeat a single movement then gradually change it, for example building up intensity or speed. In my opinion, by using repetition Pina can emphasise to the audience possible themes and relationships between the dancers as well as building tension and anticipation. That’s what makes her work stand out to me as I am constantly on edge and thoroughly engaged with the performance.

During my time researching for this essay, I was able to rewatch some of Pina’s greatest works again however, this time watching it I was critically thinking about some of the choreographic choices she made, and asked why she made such choices. I also considered how these choices made me feel as an audience member.

One of the dance pieces I was able to watch was Café Müller. Using six dancers (three males and three females) this heartbreaking and emotionally intense piece originally premiered alongside three other works by other members of the Wuppertal company: Gerard Bohner, Gigi-Gheorghe Caciuleanu and Hans Pop. Even though all four contributions were separate pieces they all fell under the same title of Café Müller. (Servos, 2008). The dancers perform on a stage that I would describe as a battlefield of wooden chairs and tables, that are all arranged randomly around the set. At the back of the stage, there is a glass revolving door. All these elements add up to create a set that overall obstructs the dancers' movements and pathways, preventing large groups of dancers from being formed. Why did Pina Bausch decide to have a set like this? As I begin to ask this question to myself, I notice how empty the stage looks. By using a stage full of empty chairs and a minimal amount of dancers Pina can emphasise the feelings of human absence signifying a void of not being able to make contact with people. As an audience member I can see that when the dancers are running through the obstacle course (with their eyes shut), another performer is flinging and moving the tables and chairs out of their way. This is creating more space and prevents the others from getting injured. This scene is filled with tension as I constantly worry if the chairs will be moved away in time. This shocking event meant that I was engaged with the entire performance. I believe that the set tells part of the story, giving us (the audience) a clear insight into the themes of this particular dance: absence and desperation for human contact. Without the set, the message wouldn’t have been as clear. This shows how important set design is to choreographies and how it can change an intention or help develop a story.

Theres a duet during this choreography that I adore. The movement is a repeat sequence that over time transforms into becoming choreography that is more frantic and exhausting. This not only kept me engaged throughout but also felt like I was being put into a hypnotic trance. To me, the relationship between the dancers had an overall sense of longing and desperation. It was as if they were stuck in this boring routine of life that they couldn’t get out of, yet they were so desperate to change the pattern. Repetition was clearly used to show the development of two characters and the over all piece. it was clear there were themes of dependency and manipulation which are achieved by repetition. Watching this choreography, I felt very much like an outsider looking into this peculiar café and watching the stories unfold before me. loneliness, longing and tension, I was taken on a rollercoaster of emotions.

In conclusion, Pina Bausch will remain one of the most influential choreographers in the contemporary dance industry. This is due to her ability to convey organic human emotions and experiences to an audience through music, set and choreography. She was extremely forward thing for her time and to me she remains an artist that I will continue to use as inspiration in my creative practice as one day I desire to have an audience feel the same powerful way watching my work as I do watching Pina Bausch.

References

Fernandes, C. (2001) Pina Bausch and the Wuppertal Dance Theater the aesthetics of repetition and transformation. New York: Peter Lang.

Meyer, M. and Black, P. (2018) Pina Bausch the biography. London: Oberon Books, Limited.
Pina Bausch Foundation (no date) Pina Bausch, Pina Bausch Foundation. Pina Bausch Foundation. Available at: https://www.pinabausch.org/person/pina_bausch (Accessed: April 17, 2023).

Servos, N. (2008) Pina Bausch: Dance theatre. München: Kieser.
Thomas, P.V. (2023) Why do humans make art - history value, Tutorials Point. Available at: https://www.tutorialspoint.com/why-do-humans-make-art-history-and-value#:~:text=Art%20can%20give%20us%20a,loss%2C%20joy%2C%20and%20sorrow. (Accessed: April 28, 2023).

Bibliography

Bugeja, N. (2015) “A motivation to move: juxtaposing the practices of Ingemar Linda and Pina Bausch,” Theatre, dance & performance Training, 6(1), pp. 3–15.
Fernandes, C. (2001) Pina Bausch and the Wuppertal Dance Theater the aesthetics of repetition and transformation. New York: Peter Lang.
Kolb, A. (2020) “Choreography in the age of Post-Privacy: Sex, Intimacy, and Disclosure in Pina Bausch and Michael Parmenter.,” Dance Chronicle, 43(1), pp. 32–62.
Leonetta, bentivoglio (2020) “Pina Forever,” Ballet 2000, (284), pp. 22–27.
Meyer, M. and Black, P. (2018) Pina Bausch the biography. London: Oberon Books, Limited.
Pina Bausch Foundation (no date) Pina Bausch, Pina Bausch Foundation. Pina Bausch Foundation. Available at: https://www.pinabausch.org/person/pina_bausch (Accessed: April 17, 2023).
Salas, R. (2022) “Pina Bausch, a reluctant legend.,” Ballet 2000, (291), pp. 42–43.
Servos, N. (2008) Pina Bausch: Dance theatre. München: Kieser.
Thomas, P.V. (2023) Why do humans make art - history value, Tutorials Point. Available at: https://www.tutorialspoint.com/why-do-humans-make-art-history-and-value#:~:text=Art%20can%20give%20us%20a,loss%2C%20joy%2C%20and%20sorrow. (Accessed: April 28, 2023).

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Please follow the arrows to read in order. Key figures essay is green at the bottom.

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For our final performance we created a piece which used no music just the sound of our breathes which I feel was powerful. We also used the motif of dragging as the main focus of our composition. Through this process I believe that I have developed my communication skills to work with a large group of people as well as staying opened minded in trying new ideas and developing my creative composition skills.

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On thing that I believe help the group create an overall ascetic for the piece was by researching real protests that happened. As a group we watch a documentary on Act Up. In this documentary it was clearly see the protesters defusing tactics, planning and training before the action actually takes place. There is so much time and energy put in to practicing and the doing the protest that it almost reminds me of a performance and rehearsals. By watching this documentary we where able to use some movement ideas like laying on the ground and being dragged away in our own choreography. It also gave us a deeper understanding of the emotions and impacted protection can have. We look at things we could do to help us create the same atmosphere as the real protesters did. For example using silents. I believe that silence is very powers as it creates a more eerie aesthetic. As a group leader we decided that if we add music to the piece it will change the way we move we where also worried that music would remove some of the tension that we are trying to build. We did discuses however, using our breathes and maybe some other vocal sounds.

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In both these videos you can see that we are using props and material. During this part of the project nothing is set in stone meaning that everything we are doing is improvised and more of a playful manner. We wanted to try new thing and explore different ideas to see what we like and what we don’t. This is as well as seeing what works and what doesn’t. I believe that by doing this we are allowing our selfs to think more openly and try new ideas which I don’t believe we would have tried if we plan straight away what we was going to do. This means that the ideas we have are more natural and organic. After playing with different props and materials we may decide later that we want to use them in the final performance.

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Music and sound our very important aspects of choreography as I believe that it can change how you move and can change the intention of the movement/piece. For example, in this video you can hear the use of sound and rhythm to create a march like protest. This to me shows clear solidarity between us as well as being united in the same movement and making the same sounds all while following the leader of the pack.

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In this video you can see that during this exploration we are spaced out as either individuals or small groups. We then create larger groups as we clump together. You can also see that we began to interlock with each other and objects. This became a theme that we wanted to develop and explore more. We later do another improvisation task where we focus on interlock to see what we could create.

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On the first day, we began the whole project by discussing some key words that we associated with protesting. This was a really good way to being stimulating ideas and gaining inspiration. It allowed us to think about how we can embody the feelings, atmosphere and aesthetics of a protesting. Overall, we bullet pointed a lot of words which where a mixture of sight, sound and emotions. We then decided by using theses words we should pick four topics of which we could now begin improvise, create and explore some movement around. The four topics were:

·       Sound – exploring sound as a group

·       Gathering and scattering

·       Leading signals (verbal, visual,locking)

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The protest project is the very first creative process I have participated in with a large group of dancers. We were given so much creative control and this was an extremely exciting opportunity. I was able to step outside of my comfort zone, allowing me to learn so much  and develop my choreographic skills, allowing me to also develop my understanding of creative processes but I was able to understand the importance of the individual role within them.