Pina Bausch collection

1980-1999

Philippine Bausch was born in Solingen, Germany in 1940. She first studied dance in the Solingen Children's Ballet. At age 14 Bausch began studying under Kurt Jooss at the Folkwang School in Essen, Germany. In 1958, she studied on scholarship at the Julliard school of Music in New York, where her teachers included Anthony Tudor, José Limón, Alfredo Corvino and Margret Craske. While in New York, she danced with the Metropolitan Opera and worked with choreographer Paul Taylor. In 1962 she returned to Germany and joined the Folkwang Ballet, where she later began choreographing and, by 1969, was named its director. In 1973 she moved to the Wuppertal Tanztheater.

Wuppertal remained Bausch's home base throughout her life, although her dance company traveled frequently to London's Sadler Wells Theater, Theatre de la Ville in Paris, and Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. Her dances typically incorporated dream-like or absurdist elements, elaborate sets and portrayed dramatic emotions. She frequently collaborated with her life partner Rolf Borzik, a set and costume designer, until his death in 1980. Her notable works include a version of Igor Stravinsky's Ballet Le Sacre du Printemps (1975), performed on an earth-covered stage; Café Müller (1978), inspired by childhood memories of her parents' hotel and restaurant; and Nelken (Carnations) (1982), which included a field of real flowers and several live dogs.

Her distinctive style has been influential upon many choreographers, dancers, and other artists. Bausch's work appeared in Pedro Almodóvar's film Talk to Her and Wim Wenders made a documentary about her, Pina – Dance, Otherwise We Are Lost, in 2011.

Pina Bausch died in 2009 in Wuppertal, Germany.