An Air of Archaic Pageantry
by Beat Rice
I remember standing in line for ages to see Pina at TIFF in 2011. I also remember getting turned away because it sold out so quickly.
Director and Choreographer Pina Bausch passed in 2009. Her work and vision lives through the company, the Tanztheater Wuppertal, and her dancers, who have come to Toronto to present Kontakthof at Luminato.
Bausch’s almost three-hour piece takes place in a dancehall with 21 dancers. During the evening there are countless variations of encounters, pairings and full group numbers. A recurring theme in the piece is the standard of beauty, and how it exists differently for the male and the female. There is one moment where a few of the women struggle to make it across the stage in their high heels.
