Tag Archives: peter pabst

ÁGUA

Performers enjoy a drink of water in Pina Bausch’s Água at BAM (photo by Julieta Cervantes)

ÁGUA
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, Peter Jay Sharp Building
230 Lafayette Ave. between St. Felix St. & Ashland Pl.
March 3-19
www.bam.org
www.pina-bausch.de/en

Dance-theater pioneer Pina Bausch would probably agree with Nobel Prize–winning Hungarian biochemist Dr. Albert Szent-Györgyi, who said “Water is life’s matter and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.”

In such dazzling pieces as Vollmond (Full Moon), Nefés, and “…como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si…” (Like moss on a stone), Bausch repeatedly explored the role of this element, the elixir of life.

Water again takes center stage in the US premiere of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch’s Brazil-inspired Água, which debuted in 2001 in Rio de Janeiro and has at last come to BAM, the company’s exclusive New York home since 1984. Água, which means “water,” is a nearly three-hour masterpiece (with a far too long intermission), combining music, comedy, storytelling, video, props, and, of course, sensational dance. Peter Pabst’s stark white stage features three large curved screens on which he projects footage of palm trees blowing in the wind, a team of drummers playing in the street, and adventures through the rainforest.

Men in everyday clothing and suits and women in gorgeous, colorful gowns — Marion Cito’s costumes are stunning — perform a series of vignettes to songs by a wide range of artists, including Mickey Hart, Tom Waits, the Tiger Lillies, PJ Harvey, Amon Tobin, Susana Baca, Caetano Veloso, David Byrne, Gilberto Gil, Bebel Gilberto, Nana Vasconcelos, and Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Tsai-Wei Tien is lifted off the ground and passed hand to hand by Dean Biosca, Oleg Stepanov, and Denis Klimuk, clad only in bathing suits and platform shoes, Christopher Tandy rows across the stage in a palm leaf, Tsai-Chin Yu asks several people in the first row where they are from and then uses a boot to predict the weather there, and a dancer in a lush red dress falls to the ground and reveals her long legs as men pass by, ignoring her. Performers break out into sudden solos that meld with the projected images that envelop them. The screens rise to reveal a surprise behind them. The women all have long hair that they use inventively as an object of sex and power.

Fire plays a continuing function, as dancers light cigarettes and candles and original Água cast member Julie Shanahan tries to set the place ablaze, explaining, “I wanted to do something really beautiful for you, but I don’t know how. . . . I wanted to go crazy. But it’s not possible.” The cast, which also features Emma Barrowman, Naomi Brito, Maria Giovanna Delle Donne, Taylor Drury, Letizia Galloni, Nayoung Kim, Reginald Lefebvre, Alexander López Guerra, Nicholas Losada, Jan Möllmer, Milan Nowoitnick Kampfer, Franko Schmidt, Ekaterina Shushakova, Julian Stierle, and Sara Valenti, attends a cocktail party, pulls out white couches to take a break, and uses hilariously patterned towels at a beach resort. They bounce off walls. They spray water at each other. They use microphones as if they’re comedians.

A handful of scenes feel extraneous, and Bausch’s highly gendered choreography can be perceived as out of date in 2023, though the company has its first trans dancer (Brito). But Água is still hugely entertaining.

Bausch, who died in June 2009 at the age of sixty-eight, displayed a passion for life and all that it offers in her work, from light to dark, creating a mélange that ranged from Café Müller and The Rite of Spring to Kontakthof and Bamboo Blues. Artistic director Boris Charmatz continues her legacy with this international tour of Água, which is, contrary to what Shanahan said, “something really beautiful.”

NEXT WAVE FESTIVAL: “…COMO EL MUSGUITO EN LA PIEDRA, AY SI, SI, SI…”

Fans will be lining up at BAM to see Pina Bausch’s final choreographed work October 18-27 (photo by Laurent Philippe)

“ . . . COMO EL MUSGUITO EN LA PIEDRA, AY SI, SI, SI . . .”
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
October 18-27
718-636-4100
www.bam.org
www.pina-bausch.de

For more than thirty-five years, German choreographer Pina Bausch changed the face of dance theater, creating unique, memorable, mind-bending works for her innovative and influential company, Tanztheater Wuppertal. Going from the simple to the sublime, the experimental to the monumental, Bausch staged pieces that combined movement and music with dialogue and humor in thrilling ways. Bausch died in 2009 at the age of sixty-nine, leaving behind a lasting legacy captured in such seminal works as Café Müller, Kontakthof, Danzón, Masurca Fogo, Nefés, and Vollmond (Full Moon) as well as her longtime friend Wim Wenders’s Oscar-nominated 3-D documentary, Pina. From October 18 to 27, the final piece she choreographed, “…como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si…” (Like moss on a stone), will be performed at the company’s exclusive New York home, BAM. There is nothing quite like experiencing a piece by Bausch, who infused her creations with unexpected twists and turns, social commentary and sexuality, and an overriding love of life, in all its forms. This final work was inspired by the folk music and legends of Chile, featuring a cast of sixteen, with set design by the great Peter Pabst and costumes by Marion Cito. It should be a fond farewell to a true legend.

Anna Wehsarg and Rainer Behr share a tender moment in “…COMO EL MUSGUITO…” (photo by Stephanie Berger)

Update: Clouds of both happiness and sadness hung over BAM’s Howard Gilman Opera House as Tanztheater Wuppertal performed the final work choreographed by Pina Bausch, who died in 2009 shortly before “…como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si…” (Like moss on a stone) opened. Part of her international residency series, the evening-length piece was inspired by the company’s visit to Santiago, Chile, and features a wide-ranging score, including songs by Chico Trujillo, Victor Jara, Congreso, Mauricio Vicencio Alquinta, Rodrigo Covacevich, and Mecánica Popular as well as Madeleine Peyroux, Count Basie, and the Cinematic Orchestra. Under the leadership of artistic directors Dominique Mercy and Robert Sturm, who promise to keep the company moving forward, “…como el musguito…” is chock-full of Bausch’s trademark touches, both humorous and romantic, but it focuses more on pure dance than usual, with a large number of solos, duets, and trios taking place within the arc of a narrative that examines the never-ending battle of the sexes. On Peter Pabst’s white overlay that occasionally breaks apart into sections like ice floes, the men, in dark pants and shirts, and the women, in elegant, colorful gowns and long hair, kiss, grope, bark, tell jokes, line up on the floor, and run around in circles. Chairs, poles, water, rocks, potatoes, and trees appear onstage, then disappear in a series of sketches that are reminiscent of Laugh-In, only with much better choreography. One of the many joys of Bausch’s work was its unpredictability, and that is as true as ever with “…como el musguito…,” which offers surprises galore. Tanztheater Wuppertal is part of BAM, part of the Brooklyn family, as this long-sold-out run once again proves. As the performers left the stage, it was hard not to shed tears of joy and sadness, though it should be fascinating to see what the company comes up with next as they face the future without their founder, who changed the face of dance theater forever.

VOLLMOND (FULL MOON)

Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch returns to BAM without their fearless leader (photo by Jan Szito)

Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
September 29 – October 9, $25 – $85
718-636-4100
www.bam.org
www.pina-bausch.de

Back in 1984, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch performed at BAM for the first time, presenting DAS FRÜHLINGSOPFER and LE SACRE DU PRINTEMPS, and over the years the insanely entertaining German troupe has returned with such memorable evening-length pieces as DANZÓN, MASURCA FOGO, NEFÉS, and last year’s BAMBOO BLUES. And for Bausch, evening-length really means evening-length, as many of her productions run between two and a half and three hours, and they rarely if ever lag. Instead they’re filled with offbeat humor, playful dialogue, unusual props, wild stage designs, and, of course, creative movement. Bausch died in June 2009 at the age of sixty-eight, so this will mark Tanztheater Wuppertal’s first BAM appearance without their endlessly innovative and always elegant director and choreographer. VOLLMOND (FULL MOON) will run at the Howard Gilman Opera House from September 29 through October 9, but tickets are already scarce, so act quickly, whether you’re a fan of contemporary dance or not, because you’ll find lots to love regardless. Bausch’s twelfth show at BAM features set design by Peter Pabst, costumes by Marion Cito, and musical collaboration by Matthias Burkert and Andreas Eisenschneider, with an eclectic score that includes songs by Magyar Posse, Cat Power, Amon Tobin, René Aubry, Alexander Balanescu, Tom Waits, Siegfried Ganhör and to rococo rot, Jun Miyake and Sublime, and others. There will also be a lot of water.