Research- Pina Bausch/Tanztheater

Pina Bausch and Tanztheater

Tanztheater first originated from expressionist dance in Germany. Many aspects such as theatrical methods of stage performance, creates a unique style of dance through performing.

Pina Bausch and Tanztheater Wuppertal

Bausch very much highlighted emotional and pyschological features within her dance productions, and how she could incorporate set, props and costume to initiate emotion amongst an audience. As she had worked alongside Rolf Borzik, they both followed the idea of the importance of connection to reality through their work. With this in mind, both Borzik and Bausch creatively considered colour schemes of both set design and costume, and how costume in particular could portray the concept/theme to those unaware of her philosophies, and outlook of approaching Tanztheater from a different perspective.

Throughout several sections in our project the audience is exposed to the developing history of World War Two. The set consists of a simple back drop with the colours typically being black closed curtains and black flooring. This darkness can instantly portray a sense of negativity, and hostility, which are key emotions, particularly within the fighting section of our piece. Our piece opens with a noncognitive speech, with various snaps of scenes, of civillians fighting amongst each other, marches and troops. The costume during this section was distinctive to each personality of each dancer as there was a sense of freedom travelling through a journey to soon be a restricted life. The colours among the company were kept the same, as we were instructed by our choroegraphers to wear dark, earthy colours such as greens, blacks and burgundy red.

As the third section commenced, a costume change is apparent, as dancers are now soldiers fighting in war. The colour scheme was strictly black and green. Long sleeved, fitted army shirts were worn, with black bottoms. The transition of costume showed that all dancers held the title of a soldier, fighting for their country. This very much kept in touch with the theme/concept, as well as the realism of the historical context, and this links to Pina Bausch's way of working with her dancers and through her movement.

The predominant prop used through each of the sections were the suitcases. Again, the style and colour of which the suitcases had to be, played an important role to the character, and theme of the piece. Characteristics such as; How

were dancers able to portray their chracater to the audience, using the suitcase, and how did this add texure to the set and the performance. Suitcases of various shapes and sizes were used to differentiate the personalities of each 'soldier.'

For the fight section, the lighting is changed to red, to depict a sense of bloodshed, anger and violence amongst the fighters. Although costume remains the same, the colour change impacts the mood of the piece as well as the content of the movement which can prove to be effectual to the audience. This may make the audience feel sad, anxious or even intrigued. As a company we worked with our artistic directors to ensure realistic scenes of reinacting the life of a civillian.

The letters were very much composed upon each dancers individual characteristics. As this prop was more personal, dancers were to produce movement to represent the emotions they felt whilst writing their letter. This could include a range of emotions such as happiness, worry, fear or even perplexity. Another apsect considered, was spatial awareness with not just other dancers, but also with the letters. How could proxemics affect the way in which one moves through space, and how could this be powerful to an audience.

Overall, both students and teachers worked alongside each other to highlight snaps of dance theatre, not necessarily speaking, or chanting but through props, costume and set design. In some of the sections, how could students interlink varous theatrical aspects for example perhaps using the costume as a prop onstage. We all very much considered how our emotion had an effect on the audiences' emotion, and how the variety of this could captivate the attention of them. Students continuously analysed, critically, how we could use theatrical methods to add a difference to the movement, historical content and context, and the overall story being reinacted through dance.

Pina Bausch- Vollmond

Below, is an attachment of a section of work called Vollmond, created by Pina Bausch in 2006.

Vollmond means full moon, which also means high water. We see water as a prominant prop throughout the video clip. The water is used in different ways for example, we see the dancers throwing water in an upward motion from plastic buckets, and additional to this we see water used as rain, as well as puddles of water which appear to be on stage left and right. The main prop within the piece is a giant rock, fixated in the middle of the stage, of which dancers perform on and around. The more common themes of this piece, are symbols of life, and sex. Bausch very much portrayed this through cyclical behviours, where dancers are continuously running in and out of the space, and throwing water amongst each other. The lighting is dark, which represents the darkness of the full moon and the circular shape of the moon also has a connection to the idea of an 'infitnite cycle of life.' Each dancer is dressed in a different colour, which may show the audience each individual's approach on life through the colour. An example of this could be that the colour yellow, may show happiness and this is how one may approach an everyday lifestyle. Another aspect that is also apparent are the costumes of the female dancers. They appear to be in long, elegant dresses, which may highlight the gender stereotypes in respect of women. The solo performer (who is also a female), wears a strapless long black dress. She continues to dance around men which may demonstrate femininty in contrast to masculinity, and how this could or could not be acceptable in society. The costume in particular will clearly show the female body, but also the freedom and comfort the female experiences as she performs.

Evidently, we can see that Pina Bausch was specific in using nature and various weather forms to create an intricate set design. Amongst this, Bausch took issues such as gender inequality and colour to creativey tell a story through her dancers.

I very much took an interest to this clip in particular, because Pina Bausch took a unique approach in creating a piece of movement, highlighting both posititve and negative topics. The use of water in different forms, was also intrguing to me, and I was partiucularly interested in how dancers used this as a prop in the space. Pina Bausch as a choreographer and director was very inventive in producing Vollmond.

How will this inspire me to incoporate creativity in my final major project?

I will study the concept/theme of my piece (World War Two/The Blitz), in detail, and will use various perspectives in regards to my chosen character and how the personality of my character will differ through the scenarios of the project. I will research diffferent motifs to incorporate, particularly for my letter solo. I will consider the colour scheme, and work both with others and independantly to record ideas through practical and theory work. Engaging in substantial and necessary research will be ongoing in order to demonstrate development and progression of my ideas. I will use my initiative to thinking creatively for strengths, weaknessess and areas for improvement as both a choreographer and artistic director.