Philippine "Pina" Bausch (July 27, 1940 – June 30, 2009) [1] was a German modern dance choreographer and a leading influence in the development of the Tanztheater style of dance.

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Biography

Bausch was born in Solingen, near Düsseldorf, the third and youngest child of August and Anita Bausch, who owned a café attached to a small hotel. Bausch began dancing from a young age. In 1955 she entered the Folkwang Academy in Essen then directed by Germany's most influential choreographer Kurt Jooss, one of the founders of German Expressionist dance.

After graduation, she won a scholarship to continue her studies at the Juilliard School in New York City in 1960, where her teachers included Anthony Tudor, José Limón, and Paul Taylor. In New York she performed with the Paul Sanasardo and Donya Feuer Dance Company, the New American Ballet and became a member of the Metropolitan Opera Ballet Company.

In 1962, Bausch joined Jooss' new Folkwang Ballett Company as a soloist and assisted Jooss on many of the pieces, before choreographing her first piece in 1968, and in 1969 succeeded Jooss as artistic director. In 1972, Bausch started as artistic director of the then Wuppertal Opera Ballet, which was later renamed as the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch . The company has a large repertoire of original pieces, and regularly tours throughout the world.

Male-female interaction is a theme found throughout her work, which has been an inspiration for—and reached a wider audience through—the movie Talk to Her , directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Her pieces are constructed of short units of dialogue and action, often of a surreal nature. Repetition is an important structuring device. Her large multi-media productions often involve elaborate sets and eclectic music. In Masurca Fogo half of the stage is taken up by a giant, rocky hill, and the score includes everything from Portuguese music to K. D. Lang. ^[2]

In 1983, she played the role of La Principessa Lherimia in Federico Fellini's film And the Ship Sails On . ^[3]

Personal life

Bausch was married to Dutch-born Rolf Borzik, a set and costume designer who died of leukemia in 1980. In 1981 Ronald Kay became her life-long companion and was the father of her son, Rolf.

Awards

Among the honours awarded to Bausch are the UK's Laurence Olivier Award and Japan's Kyoto Prize, while in 2008 the city of Frankfurt-am-Main awarded her its prestigious Goethe Prize.

Death

Bausch, a smoker, died of cancer in Wuppertal, five days after diagnosis. ^[4] She is survived by her son Rolf and her partner.

Gallery

Pina Bausch's Cravos, 2005.

References

1. Pina Bausch Dies
2. ''The Air That I Breathe'' in ''Masurca Fogo'' (1998)
3. Cast overview on International Movie Database (fetched July 9, 2009)
4. Notice of death