Tanztheater (dance theatre)

Tanztheater, or dance theatre, developed in Germany from expressionist dance in the Weimar period, and the term appears from around 1927. Early exponents included Mary Wigman, Kurt Jooss and Rudolf Laban. It blends dance with dramatic theatrical elements and puts expression and social engagement before pure technique; it returned to prominence in the 1970s.

Pina Bausch (1940-2009) studied under Kurt Jooss at the Folkwang school in Essen and in 1973 became artistic director of the Wuppertal ballet, renaming it Tanztheater Wuppertal. Her pieces combine movement, sound and elaborate stage sets, among them The Rite of Spring (1975) and Café Müller (1978). The Pina Bausch Foundation, established in 2009, holds the rights and archives for her more than forty-five pieces.

Sources

• Tanztheater - Wikipedia
• Pina Bausch - Wikipedia
• About the Pina Bausch Foundation
• About the Pina Bausch Archives
• Geschichte - Folkwang Universität der Künste

Organisations connected with this dance

• Pina Bausch Foundation
• Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch
• Folkwang Universität der Künste

Listed as references; being listed is not an endorsement by or of the organisation.

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