Tuesday, 30 June, 2009| Comments | Make A Comment | Share on Facebook
The Guardian is reporting that German choreographer Pina Bausch has died today aged 68 news confirmed by Tanztheater Wuppertal's official website. Ms Bausch was diagnosed with cancer just 5 days ago.
During a choreographic career spanning more than 40 years, 36 of those years as director of Tanztheater Wuppertal, Ms Bausch created 24 full length works many of which were grandiose in scale.
For her 1982 production 'Nelken', re-staged many times over the years, the audience was greeted with a stage covered in thousands of planted flowers to say nothing of the dancers, stuntmen and four German Shepherd dogs that also took part in the performance. The work lasted for two hours with no interval.
Prior to that work, in 1976, and to much acclaim Ms Bausch re-created Igor Stravinsky's 'Rite of Spring', going one step further than most by covering the entire stage in wet dirt for the duration of the performance. That work was later re-created for Paris Opera Ballet in the late 1990's.
Such was the complexity of her work it was often difficult to decipher just what was going on. It was always far deeper than simple choreographic spectacle.
The company itself was located in the most unlikely of places. Wuppertal is a mainly industrial area in north west Germany.
The last performance listed by the company was 'Ein Stück von Pina Bausch' on June 12.
