The 2007 Laureates / Arts and Philosophy Category / Theater, Cinema

"A choreographer who has broken down the boundaries between dance and theater and pioneered a new direction for theatrical art"
Applying an original choreographical approach that delves into the fundamental motives of human action, Ms. Pina Bausch has established a creative idiom that taps deeply into the sensitivity of both performers and their audiences. At the same time, she has broken down the boundaries between dance and theater, and opened up a new direction in theatrical art.

Choreographer and Artistic Director Who Has Opened Up a New Dimension in the Theatrical Arts Transcending the Conventional Domains of Dance and Theater

"I'm not interested in how people move, but what moves them." Ms. Pina Bausch has always focused on the inner forces driving the body into action. While continuing to follow the precepts of German expressionist dance, she established a distinctive, holistic theatrical art of her own by infusing it with modern dance techniques of physical and theatrical expression.

Ms. Bausch used to dance as she played at the small restaurant her parents ran, and began to take ballet lessons in her childhood. Looking back, she said that physical movement suited her personality as a way of expressing herself because she was not at home with verbal expression.

Ms. Bausch was heavily influenced by the lifestyle and humanity of Kurt Jooss, who helped to develop German expressionist dance, and Antony Tudor, who was involved in the creation of psychological ballet in New York. She pursued a new direction completely different from classical ballet steps, and established the genre of "Tanztheater" (dance theater), a total theatrical art. When she started staging original works at Wuppertal, she was roundly criticized by the local audience who supported the traditional style of ballet. She began to attract international attention, however, with her performances at the World Theatre Festival in Nancy, France in 1977, and commenced tours of Europe and other regions thereafter. At her debut performance in New York in 1984, when she staged "Frühlingsopfer" (The Rite of Spring), "Café Müller," "Blaubart," and "1980 — Ein Stück von Pina Bausch" (1980 — A piece by Pina Bausch), she made a vivid impression on the audiences that packed the theater night after night.

All of Ms. Bausch's works explore the question of human identity and the difficulty of mutual understanding. The recurring motifs of solitude and alienation, male-female entanglements, and conflicts between the individual and society are universal, urgent concerns shared by all of us today. She expresses them with gestures and words that sometimes appear brutal and even violent. She is also known for her dynamic and artistic use of natural elements such as earth, water, and flowers in her stage presentations. Her creativity is manifested in the very process of composing a piece together with her 30 regular dancers, who come from a variety of countries in Asia, South America, and other regions as well as Europe. As suggested by her famous comment, "I'm not interested in how people move, but what moves them," the process begins with a barrage of questions directed to each and every dancer. The dancers respond with words, gestures, and improvised dance, and discover modes of expression in this dialogue. Asserting that she always looks for something the audiences can share, Ms. Bausch creates works that directly stimulate the audience's memory and sensibility, and never fail to jolt them to the bottom of their souls. This is also why just one experience of her performance can instantly transform people into fervent fans of hers.

Each year, the Tanztheater Wuppertal currently stages 30 performances in the home city and 30 - 40 performances in other cities inside and outside Germany. It unveils new pieces each May. It has performed more than 90 times in Japan after its first visit in 1986.

Freely taking leave of the conceptual ideas and images surrounding dance in her art, and using motifs from everyday life as springboards to dive into the human consciousness, Ms. Bausch continues to lead the dance scene in the 21st century.

For more details, see the Achievements.