The Heritage of Pina Bausch

The Heritage of Pina Bausch

A Film by Anne Linsel

2019 - Germany - Documentary - 1.85 - 52 min.

Languages: English , French , German
Produced by Kerstin Krieg

In June 2009 Pina Bausch died surprisingly. She left behind an international acclaimed dance company which needed to reinvent itself. But how can Pina’s work be passed on and how can her heritage be kept alive? 10 years after her death the company, the new director and important companions of Pina Bausch take the chance to look ahead.

More Films

Terrestrial Verses

A film by Ali Asgari & Alireza Khatami

2023 - Iran - Drama - 1.78 - 77 min.

Terrestrial Verses follows everyday people from all walks of life as they navigate the cultural, religious, and institutional constraints imposed on them by various social authorities, from school teachers to bureaucrats. These stirring vignettes, humorous and affecting, capture the spirit and determination of people amidst adversity, offering a nuanced portrait of a complex society.

Dancing Dreams

A film by Anne Linsel

2009 - Germany - Documentary - 1.85 DCP - 89 min.

The dance performance „Kontakthof“ bears the unmistakable signature of Pina Bausch: it deals with forms of human contact, the encounters between the sexes, and the search for love and tenderness with all the attendant anxieties, yearnings and doubts. It is about feelings, which pose a big challenge, particularly for young people. For almost a year teenagers from over eleven schools in Wuppertal went on an emotional journey. Every Saturday, 40 students, aged between 14 to 18 years, rehearsed under the direction of the Bausch-dancers Jo-Ann Endicott and Bénédicte Billiet and under the intense supervision of Pina Bausch herself. The film „Dancing Dreams“ by Anne Linsel and Rainer Hoffmann accompanies the rehearsal process culminating in the opening night. We watch the teenagers making their first, still clumsy attempts to transform the subjects of the dance performance into motion and choreography and to develop an own, individual body expression. They discover themselves in a process, which leads great personal growth. Gentle and shy but also aggressive contacts condensate to individual experiences that many of the teenagers encounter for the first time on stage. Pina Bausch has always encouraged the young dancers „to be themselves.“ It is behind their own movements, fears, feelings and desires that their personal „Dancing Dreams“ become visible. At the end each of them has not only grown up, but above all has become more self-confident, independent and more sceptical facing prejudices. Employing an unusual adjacency, the film introduces the young protagonists in sensitive ways, it culminates in drawing a portrait of an entire generation. Pina Bausch died on June 30th, 2009. „Dancing Dreams – teenagers perform „Kontakthof“ by Pina Bausch“ shows the last motion pictures and the last interview with the world-famous dancer and choreographer.

Floating Skyscrapers

A film by Tomasz Wasilewski

2013 - Poland - Drama - DCP - 2.35 - 93 min.

The story of a young man discovering his homosexuality, while his girlfriend tries to cling onto him.