Dance theatre (Tanztheater)
Tanztheater, or dance theatre, grew out of German expressionist dance. The term is recorded from about 1927, the year Kurt Jooss helped found the Folkwang School in Essen, and Jooss is regarded as a founding figure. His anti-war ballet The Green Table won first prize in Paris in 1932. The form blends movement with text, drama and staging instead of relying on a purely dance vocabulary.
Pina Bausch, who trained under Jooss at Folkwang, took over the Wuppertal ballet in 1973 and renamed it Tanztheater Wuppertal. Her company combined movement with spoken word, elaborate sets and widely varied music, and made the form internationally famous. The tradition continues today through her company in Wuppertal, Folkwang in Essen and choreographers such as Reinhild Hoffmann and Susanne Linke.
Sources
- Folkwang University of the Arts - The history of Folkwang Dance Studio
- Dance Teacher - The Founding Father of Tanztheater: Kurt Jooss
- Sadler's Wells - Pina Bausch: a brief biography
- Pina Bausch Foundation - Talking about People through Dance: Pina Bausch Biography
- Pina Bausch Centre - Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch
- Wikipedia - Tanztheater
- Wikipedia (fr) - Danse-théâtre
Organisations connected with this dance
- Pina Bausch Foundation (Pina Bausch Stiftung)
- Folkwang University of the Arts (Essen)
- Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch
Listed as references; being listed is not an endorsement by or of the organisation.