BAM Next Wave Festival: "Café Müller/The Rite of Spring" by Pina Bausch, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch
Company:
Pina Bausch, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch
Café Müller/The Rite of Spring
Sep 14—Sep 24, 2017
Dance
Pina Bausch, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch
Part of the 2017 Next Wave Festival
In 1984, Tanztheater Wuppertal made its New York debut at BAM, performing what would become the two most iconic works of Pina Bausch’s extraordinary repertoire. More than three decades later, the company returns with a landmark restaging of that historic double bill.
In the autobiographical Café Müller, a sleepwalking woman staggers, arms outstretched, through a dark, cramped restaurant. Amid the plaintive swell of Henry Purcell’s arias, a cast of devastated characters plays out a litany of tender cruelties as they lift, drop, and chase each other in a feedback loop of perpetual disappointment. In The Rite of Spring, Bausch’s ferocious interpretation of Stravinsky’s notorious work, 32 dancers prowl a dirt-covered stage in a hyper-physical carnival of fear and desire. Widely considered a masterwork of the 20th century and among the best incarnations after the riot-spurring original by Vaslav Nijinsky, Bausch’s Rite explodes with singular musicality, sexual charge, and the raw force of its stark tableaux.
Café Müller (1978)
A piece by Pina Bausch
Music by Henry Purcell
Directed and choreographed by Pina Bausch
Set and costume design by Rolf Borzik
Collaboration with Marion Cito and Hans Pop
The Rite of Spring (1975)
Music by Igor Stravinsky
Directed and choreographed by Pina Bausch
Set and costume design by Rolf Borzik
Collaboration with Hans Pop
Photo: Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch by Ludovica Bastianini
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