THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London until February 21, 2026
If it’s February it must be Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch at Sadler’s Wells! Since the death of the legendary dance maker in 2009 there have been annual visits from the company, keeping the flame alive and introducing her to eager new audiences. The company first performed at this theater in 1982 then there was a fallow period of nearly 20 years when she seemed to prefer Edinburgh. Thankfully the company has been a regular visitor since 2002.
This, Bausch’s penultimate piece, was first performed in 2008 and is making its London debut. It united her with longstanding designers Peter Pabst and Marion Cito who present some of their more elegant work here. It also boasts seven of the original cast members, some of Pina’s most charismatic and experienced dancers such as Julie Shanahan, who could have walked off a ‘40s film noir set, or the Spanish firecracker Nazareth Panadero, hilarious here in a blonde wig, like an Almodovar refugee – her life enhancing husky drawl and impeccable timing provides so much of the comic uplift.
Yes, comic, because even though many might consider Bausch’s work dark it isn’t, it just lays bare both life’s sweetness and severity. This piece is also suffused with an undercurrent of melancholy but it’s never self-indulgent. It’s quite mellow and obviously the work of artist in the autumn of their life. It has a wry wit and to borrow from Bob Dylan while it might posit that “people are crazy and life is strange”, here there seems to be a quiet sense of resignation.
Men, who she never held in high esteem, are mostly annoying, bordering on the predatory. But here it’s as if she zaps ‘em like flies, while her women plow ever onwards. Crucially, they’re not saints either and are often as ditzy or needy as the men. Her great female stars, joined by some impressive younger artists (the stunning Naomi Brito is a standout) parade in on high heels, dressed in sensuously slinky evening gowns, flicking their flowing locks and commanding the stage.
Pabst’s design fills the stage with a vast expanse of billowing white voile enhanced with even more explosions of white fabric fed by industrial wind machines. This combined with the usual, perfectly chosen soundtrack (an eclectic mix of everything from Portishead, Lisa Ekdahl and Gustavo Santaolalla to Ryuichi Sakamoto and more) adds up to a feast for the senses. There’s even a projection of a ‘30s German movie classic, the comedy Der Blaufuchs (The Blue Fox).
Like all Bausch’s pieces this is structured as a series of quickly moving vignettes, often very personal stories, some verbal, some just movement, which might appear disjointed at first, but the total always adds up to more than the sum of its parts.
For the uninitiated, ‘Tanztheater’ blends dance and everyday movement with theater, speech, music, and design. As she famously put it Bausch was “not interested in how people move but in what moves them” and the company she created allowed her to invent works of vivid imagination on a very grand scale. She truly broke the mold and influenced whole generations of theater, film and video artists ever since.
For the balletomanes (never fans of Pina!) who complain about there not being enough steps, well, Act 2 here is predominantly dance and it is riveting.
All of life’s emotions are here, parts will puzzle you but that’s the point, the responses to her work are always very personal. For those new to her work this valedictory piece is a great place to start.
