Pina Bausch commemorated in İstanbul with ‘Nefes,’ documentary

Bausch’s choreographed piece “Nefés,” inspired by and dedicated to İstanbul, was staged by the Wuppertal Dance Theater at the Muhsin Ertuğrul Theater from June 21 until June 23. In the meantime, the documentary “Tanzträume” (Dancing Dreams), co-directed by Anne Linsel and Rainer Hoffmann, will be shown at a special screening on Friday, at the Goethe Institut in İstanbul.

“Tanzträume” follows the world-famous choreographer through her final project, “Kontakthof,” performed by teenage amateurs who have no previous dance experience in dance theater. For about a year, more than 40 students, ranging in age from 14 to 18, came together and worked with the rehearsal directors, Jo-Ann Endicott and Benedict Billiet, who were both part of the original “Kontakthof” cast, and under the direction of Bausch herself. The process was both physically and emotionally intense for the young students.

“In 1978, Bausch realized ‘Kontakthof’ for the first time, with the dancers in her own company,” Linsel, one of the documentary’s co-directors, who was in İstanbul this week, explains in an interview with Today’s Zaman.

 “Later on, Bausch wanted to re-stage the same show with seniors, 65 and older, but she didn’t have the time to wait for her dancers to grow old. So she did the show with non-professional dancers. And in 2007, she wanted to do the same thing with teenagers. When I heard that she was going to do this, I thought it would be very interesting to film,” she said.

The teenagers had no experience with dancing when they first started, which, actually, makes witnessing their evolution more exciting. “Bausch used to treat them with love,” says Linsel. “She was sometimes tough with the students; however, she always used to say that she very much enjoyed working with the teenagers. And these teenagers never feared her. They had a lovely relationship.”

The film documents how the students’ first inept attempts at dancing turn into a mature expression of movement and choreography. “As you can see in the film,” says Linsel, “they turn out to dance like professionals, and you can witness their development and how they grow up.”

During this whole process, Linsel emphasizes that Bausch always tried to reveal the essence of the individual character in every student. “Yes, they were rehearsing, yet, Bausch always advised them to remain themselves,” says Linsel. “Her goal was to reveal the genuine [person] lying deep within themselves.”

Just like the group of seniors, which have been performing the show for 10 years, the teenager’s performance has been very well received and appreciated everywhere the students have performed. “They have really been very successful,” says Linsel, “They were invited to a lot of cities, and they performed in London, Rome, Paris and Vienna. And I suppose that they are going to perform it for a long time.”

Despite the fact that both performances are very accomplished, there are some essential differences between the performances of the seniors, compared to that of the teenagers. “The theme is the same in the both shows,” says Linsel. “However, the emotions that are expressed are quite different, because the seniors have their life experiences. They are familiar with all the emotions like love, disappointment, death, desire and so on; hence, they dance with their experience. On the other hand, these teenagers have, maybe, never felt disappointment, they have not fallen in love, not touched anybody. You can see their inexperience.”

Expression of universal human values

Linsel has known of Bausch for a very long time, since 1974. “I have been following her as a journalist since then,” says Linsel. “And during all those long years, a great confidence and friendship formed between us.”

“She was such a sincere, friendly person, full of love,” notes Linsel, remembering her memories with Bausch, “and she was very patient during rehearsals -- that’s what her students always told me about her as well.”

Fortunately, Bausch had the chance to watch the film just days before her death. “Pina died on June 30. Ten days before her death, the film was completed, and I had the opportunity to show her the film. And she liked it.”

An anecdote that Linsel shared with us revealed much about Bausch’s personality. “Before the premiere, after the last rehearsal, Pina gathered all the students on the stage,” says Linsel. “She wanted to make a speech to them. And until that time, we were allowed to record any time. However, at that moment, she demanded we turn off the cameras and not record. Of course, we wanted to record such a moment, but we did what Pina wanted. So, I listened to her without my camera. First of all, she thanked all the students for participating in the show. Then, she thanked them again, since they were the ones that would make her work live forever. While she was speaking, her eyes were filled with tears, and I realized that she really did the best thing by having us turn off the cameras. Because she knew that she was going to feel sentimental, and she didn’t want to reveal everything to the public; as many people do today.”

For Linsel, Bausch was also a symbol in the art world without artificial boundaries. “She used to express the existential sentiments of the human being, death, love, hate and longing,” says Linsel. “Yes, she prepared her choreographies after she visited some different cities,” says Linsel, explaining how Bausch used to work, especially after 1986, “but this doesn’t mean that since she prepared ‘Nefés’ after she visited İstanbul, it can be staged only in İstanbul. You can stage it anywhere, in Brazil, in Mexico … because the human being feels the same thing everywhere.”

In this respect, Linsel indicates that Bausch had undertaken a political mission in relation to the human being itself. “Through her works, people can see that a human is a human everywhere; a person can feel the same feelings in every part of the world, and thus, everybody can lay their prejudices aside. What she does is world theater.”

“She represents universal human values,” confirms Cornelia Albrecht, the general director of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, director of the group performing “Nefés.”

Compared with “Kontakthof,” “Nefés” is a more technically complicated work. “Pina Bausch herself identified ‘Kontakthof’ as ‘simple’,” says Linsel, “meaning that it can be performed in one space. The others have a more artistically intense style, which makes them harder for the amateurs to perform.”

“In ‘Kontakthof’ there’s a group movement,” explains Albrecht, “and they always are doing duets, and the dancers have to do something in direct contact with each other. They do that in ‘Nefés’ too, although they have developed more individual dances, and there are dancers who bring themselves to the stage with pure emotional movement and their artistic expression. In ‘Kontakthof’ it’s always a dialogue.”