The German choreographer and teacher Pina Bausch (1940-2009) has had a great influence on the development of modern dance. She came from the expressionist school of Kurt Jooss, studied briefly in New York and in 1973 was given artistic direction of the Tanztheater Wuppertal. Bausch's choreographies are rather pessimistic: after a series of disappointments, the characters desperately go down. In her
… psychological realism, Bausch eventually went so far as to make her dancers laugh, moan and scream. She also made more and more use of natural movements, which earned her some criticism. However, little of this is noticeable in Orpheus Und Eurydike (1975). The flowing lyrical movements of groups of dancers are a delight to the eye. The work does show her interest in combining different theater disciplines, in this case opera and ballet. Orpheus Und Eurydike follows quite closely the German version of Gluck's famous opera. The main characters Orpheus, Eurydike and Amor are performed by both a singer and a dancer. Gluck's 'happy ending' is of course omitted by Bausch; the work ends in despair. (CP)more
