In 1984, Tanztheater Wuppertal made its New York debut at BAM, performing what would become the two most iconic works of Pina Bausch’s extraordinary repertoire. More than three decades later, the company returns with a landmark restaging of that historic double bill.
In the autobiographical Café Müller, a sleepwalking woman staggers, arms outstretched, through a dark, cramped restaurant. Amid the plaintive swell of Henry Purcell’s arias, a cast of devastated characters plays out a litany of tender cruelties as they lift, drop, and chase each other in a feedback loop of perpetual disappointment.
In The Rite of Spring, Bausch’s ferocious interpretation of Stravinsky’s notorious work, 32 dancers prowl a dirt-covered stage in a hyper-physical carnival of fear and desire. Widely considered a masterwork of the 20th century and among the best incarnations after the riot-spurring original by Vaslav Nijinsky, Bausch’s Rite explodes with singular musicality, sexual charge, and the raw force of its stark tableaux
