Bamboo Blues
Part of the 2008 Next Wave Festival
Dec 11—13, 16, 17, 19 & 20 at 7:30pm
Dec 14 at 3pm
A piece by Pina Bausch
Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch
"To experience this is to be moved, to be carried out of the hall into another world."—Die Zeit (Germany)
The iconic choreographer Pina Bausch has brought her dance-theater works to sold-out houses at BAM, mesmerizing audiences with sensual dances under cascading waterfalls and dramatic bouts with towering heaps of flowers.
In her latest piece Bamboo Blues, Bausch is inspired by the incisive and delicate gestures of Indian dance. Softness prevails as does fabric, often brilliantly colored, always billowing. In one memorable sequence, thanks to Bausch's unparalleled use of metaphor, humor, and kinetic wit, the dancers send-up the intricacies of the dothin (a long cotton wrap) to hypnotizing and affectionate effect.
But finally, it's movement that provides the momentum. When a lone woman describes an arc with her arm, abruptly stops, then launches into a crystalline solo—all power and light—we are there, transported to the India of our dreams.
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
Running time: 140min with intermission
Tickets: $25, 55, 75, 85
Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch
Set and video design by Peter Pabst
Costume design by Marion Cito
Musical direction by Matthias Burkert and Andreas Eisenschneider
A co-production with the Goethe-Institut in India.
Portraits of Pina Bausch Dancers
Peggy Jarrell Kaplan discusses her history photographing Pina Bausch's dancers. More
Tanztheater Wuppertal Site
The electronic home of Pina and her world-renowned dance company. In German. More
The New Yorker on Pina Bausch
New Yorker writer Joan Acocella profiles Pina's 2006 return to a little theater in Brooklyn. More
The New York Times Review of Néfes
"Light-dappled" satin dresses, roaring Istanbul traffic, cascades of water—Bausch's last BAM appearance was simply stunning. More
Interview in Ballet Magazine
Pina, short for Philippine, talks dance in this interview from Ballet Magazine. More