Pina Bausch is a legend of dance theater. For four decades, she translated life—joy, fear, love, doubt, pain—into the language of contemporary dance, rethinking every aspect of choreography and theater. She rejected linear dramaturgy, the usual work routine, classical sets and costumes, and began asking the troupe questions to which each dancer responded with their body.

'I'm not interested in how people move, but in what moves them,' she said. How has Pina Bausch's art changed? Who made up the Tanztheater team, and what were rehearsals like? What can Bausch's productions tell us about the state of German—and other—society in the 1970s–2000s? Sociologist, dance theorist, and professor at the University of Hamburg, Gabriele Klein, has studied the choreographer's work from every angle and immersed it in its cultural, historical, and sociopolitical context. And, most importantly, she showed how to look at and understand dance in a new way.

'Pina Bausch's Dance Theater: The Art of Translation' is the first book in the publishing series of the International Festival of Contemporary Choreography Context. Diana Vishneva, dedicated to research into contemporary choreography, theory, and history of dance. The book was published with the support of the Goethe-Institut in Russia.

Author: Gabriele Klein
Publishing House: Individuum
Year: 2021
Number of pages: 448
Cover type: Hardback
Translator: Natalia Bakshi
Age group: 18+