HL Theatre: Solo Theatre Piece

Practitioner: Pina Bausch

Aspect: Repetition

Person Code: hdm519

Word Count: 2474

Length of Performance: 4:16

Assessment Date: May 2022

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Table of Contents

A. Section A: Researching Theatre Theory 3

i. Bausch’s Overarching Intentions 3

ii. Aspect of Theatre Theory - Repetition 5

B. Section B: Reflecting on Performed Solo Piece 6

i. Formulating theatre maker’s intention 6

ii. Evaluating My Performance 11

Bibliography 15

Figures

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A. Researching Theatre Theory

A.i. Bausch’s Overarching Intention

Philippina ‘Pina’ Bausch was a dancer and choreographer most known for her contributions to

the neo-expressionist dance tradition called Tanztheater, where her psychological and emotional

themes were “played out upon the bodies of the dancers/performers.”1.

Bausch’s theatre style, Tanztheater, includes a blend of dance and everyday movement with

dramatic elements reflecting real-life issues and emotions2. Tanztheater tends to not tell a story

but rather an experience3. She believed that dance was not about technique, but rather, that the

movements are “born from life. When you create a new work, the point of departure must be

contemporary life.”4.

Famously referred to as “the pornography of pain” by a New York Times critic, Bausch’s

approach to Tanztheater was immensely personal. Her choreographies focused on evoking

feelings or sensations by narrative and expression through her dancer’s movements and

gestures5. Her intention was to make her audience “feel what each gesture means internally.

Everything must come from the heart, must be lived.”6 Bausch worked closely with her dancers,

drawing ideas for her choreographies from their personal experiences. This dominating
1
Price, David W. “The Politics of the Body: Pina Bausch’s ‘Tanztheater.’” Theatre Journal, vol. 42, no. 3,
1990, pp. 322–31. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3208078.
2
“Tanztheater.” Oxford Reference, Oxford University,
www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803102050398. Accessed 6 Apr. 2022.
3
Winship, Lyndsey. “A Short Introduction to Tanztheater.” Sadler’s Wells, 2010,
www.sadlerswells.com/discover-dance/more-about-dance/tanztheater.
4
Miranda Ni, Shu-Lan. “The Development of a Genre: Pina Bausch and Late Twentieth-Century Dance
Theatre.” Texas Tech University, 2002, pp. 1–286, philpapers.org/rec/NITDO-2.
5
Maddison, Amber. Pina Bausch’s Reinvention of “The Rites of Spring” in 1975 and Its Impact on Dance.
Buckinghamshire New University, 2016, www.grin.com/document/335095.
6
Wakin, Daniel. “Pina Bausch, German Choreographer, Dies at 68.” The New York Times, 1 July 2009,
www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/arts/dance/01bausch.html.

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characteristic intensified the emotional force of her pieces, reducing it to a “soul-baring

confession.”7. Pina Bausch famously said that she was “not so interested in how they move as in

what moves them.”8.

She believed that emotions couldn’t be expressed vocally, but rather through intuitive

movements of the performer. In her own words, “It's not just doing choreography, but it's being

aware of the feelings we all have and what we are knowing. The best is just to see it." 9. She

would draw from the improvisations of her dancers in response to her provocative questioning.

Her choreographies became a nonlinear collage of the physical responses of said dancers10.

Within this lack of conventional progression, recurrent themes such as “human frailty and

brutality, the power and pity of personal relationships (particularly between men and women),

the blind force of desire, the desperate veneer of normality”11 and others appear in her work.

Pina Bausch deconstructed the barrier between drama and dance as well as theatricality and

reality. She encouraged her performers to expose their innermost selves through contentious

rehearsal methods and challenged the traditional confines of dance. All to create a performance

of visceral, raw emotion intended to shock the audience through stark movement, humour, and

pathos12.

7
Roy, Sanjoy. “Step-by-Step Guide to Dance: Pina Bausch/Tanztheater Wuppertal.” The Guardian, 8 Apr.
2010, www.theguardian.com/stage/2010/mar/29/dance-pina-bausch-tanztheater-wuppertal.
8
Bausch, Pina. “What Moves Me.” Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy, 2007,
www.kyotoprize.org/en/laureates/pina_bausch.
9
Manuel, Diane. “German Choreographer Pina Bausch in Rehearsal” [Stanford, California]. Stanford
News Service, 22 Oct. 1999, news.stanford.edu/pr/99/991020bausch.html.
10
Miranda Ni, 166.
11
Roy, 2010.
12
Ashley, Elizabeth. “The Ongoing Influence of Pina Bausch.” Dance Informa Magazine, 31 May 2011,
dancemagazine.com.au/2011/06/the-ongoing-influence-of-pina-bausch.

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A.ii. Aspect of Theatre Theory - Repetition

One of Bausch’s dramaturgical and choreographic techniques is the use of physical or verbal

repetition13. In Pina Bauch’s choreographies, she begins with an emotion, and then builds a series

of gestures around it, using repetition to accentuate, expand, and examine them from different

points of view. The repetition can range from simple repetition of gesture sequences to the

repetition of an entire image. Brecht was a practitioner that influenced Pina Bausch’s work,

which is reflected in the purpose of the repetition, a means of alienating movements so the

audience focused on one singular gesture or scene14. Not only that, but gestural repetition

anchors the audience’s attention to a certain emotion or underlying intent. The concentration on

the underlying impulse of the gesture forces them to experience the same feelings again and

again. Additionally, changing a gesture sequence’s classic constraints allowed the audience to

view different perspectives and levels of expression15. As Pina Bausch explained, “repetition is

not repetition, ...The same action makes you feel something completely different by the end."16

13
Miranda Ni, 20.
14
Miranda Ni, 21.
15
Climenhaga, Royd. Pina Bausch. New York, Routledge, 2009.
16
Kisselgoff, Anna. “Pina Bausch Dance: Key Is Emotion.” The New York Times, 4 Oct. 1985,
www.nytimes.com/1985/10/04/arts/pina-bausch-dance-key-is-emotion.html.

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B. Reflecting on the Performed Solo Piece

B.i. Formulating theatre maker’s intention

Intention: Inspired by Pina Bausch’s elements and structuring devices, I intend to use repetition

to demonstrate the recurrent symptoms and internal conflicts of a person suffering from body

dysmorphia. The intended impact I want to have on my audience is to have them experiencing

and empathising with the emotional and mental struggles of a person with Body Dysmorphic

Disorder (BDD).

My choice of Pina Bausch as the practitioner for my piece was inspired by her intensely

emotional performances influenced by the performer’s personal experiences. I admired her use of

physical symbolism to convey a feeling or message to the audience, to avoid passively watching.

Rather, I wanted them to experience the vulnerability of the performer. I felt like this was

particularly relevant to my intention, and planned to use her techniques to devise my

choreography from my personal experiences. I felt that psychiatric disorders could not be

expressed narratively, but conveyed physically. Pina Bausch believed that emotion moved the

body. Similarly, I believed that disorders such as BDD could also physically impact.

I chose the intimacy of my school’s Blackbox studio as my performance space because I

intended the proximity to involve the audience in the experience. It allowed the audience to view

the performance from a more personal lens, elevating pathos, hence evoking empathy.

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Process of Developing the Piece

The first step of my process was finding the inspiration for my piece, which was derived from a

discussion I had with my mother about our respective experiences with eating disorders. During

my research about theatre practitioners, I came upon Pina Bausch’s Rite of Spring, a performance

that deeply spoke to me. I was inspired by her unconventional use of repetitive visceral gestures

as a means of emotional expression. Particularly in Rite of Spring, some of her gestural

repetitions reminded me of certain patterns involved in psychological disorders such as BDD,

where one might elive the same experience over and over again.

The second step involved finding stimuli for my gestures. I conducted research to identify key

emotional or behavioural patterns that encaptured the struggles involved in BDD. I watched short

documentaries and interviews with people recovering or suffering from BDD, taking note of

emotive quotes, everyday behaviours, and any recurring thoughts or feelings. Additionally, I

reflected on any behaviours or feelings I had when I suffered from my eating disorder,

comparing them to those I read. Using these, I planned to develop gestures that, when repeated,

would express my underlying intent.

The third step of my process was applying my research physically

through experimentation. I intended to explore some key quotes,

emotions, and behaviours from my investigation by devising

gestures that expressed struggles involved with BDD. While

filming myself, I would read a quote, behaviour or emotion and

devise a gesture based on my interpretation of the stimulus (Figure

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1). I found however that, like in Bausch’s performances, gestures vary in behavioural and

emotive expression17. Gestures expressing behavioural symptoms were very literal. For example,

I represented the obsession of checking oneself in the mirror18 by repetitively distancing and

returning to the mirror.

Emotive gestures were more metaphorical and physically more

abstract as feelings are internal. This made finding emotive

gestures more difficult. In order to physically “live” those

emotions, I had to embody them. For example, for disgust, I

created a detailed list of the things about my body that disgusted

me. Using a mirror, I inspected these body parts, intuitively

responding to my feelings. One emotionally influential quote

derived from a documentary was, “I felt like the hunchback of

Notre dame.”19 When interpreting the quote physically, I

uncomfortably twisted my limbs and fingers at unnatural angles and attempted to walk (Figure

2). Every time I repeated this gesture, my body would contort in a different way, however the

effect of embodying the ugliest and most disturbing version of myself progressively intensified

the disgust in me.

17
Climenhaga, 117.
18
CNA. “Living With Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) | Strangers In My Head | Mental Health.” YouTube,
uploaded by CNA Insider, 8 Jan. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr6bsE-G978.
19
BBC. “Seeing Myself As Ugly: What Body Dysmorphia Feels Like.” YouTube, uploaded by BBC Three,
7 June 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPXvm0fOE-0.

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Some gestures or movements were very physically exerting. To train my endurance, flexibility,

and balance, I engaged in several exercises such as running 3-4 times a week, stretching every

morning and evening as well as yoga.

The final step of my process involved experimentation with

lighting and music. During my experimentation with

lighting, my mentor and I would experiment with lighting to

inflict certain emotional responses from me. These

instinctual responses were incorporated into my piece,

enhancing my emotional experience while performing. She

would, for example, shine a direct light on me that felt

exposing, and my natural response was to retreat into the

shadows (Figure 3). The attention of the light evoked shame

and discomfort, a feeling that was often mentioned in the

personal stories of people who had suffered from BDD. The lighting was also used to

emotionally reinforce my gestures.

I chose the music for my piece last because I felt that I wanted to avoid any influence from other

stimuli while developing my choreography. I wanted my movements to come from the internal

stimuli, such as feelings, rather than outside sources. I chose “Summer 78 (Instrumental)” from

the soundtrack of Goodbye Lenin! I felt that the repetition in the song complimented the

repetition of my actions. Additionally, the buildup of the intensity of the music complimented the

intensity and tempo of the gesture sequences I had developed, creating tension within the piece.

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I received some valuable feedback from my mentors after previewing my performance. The

biggest piece of feedback I received was that I was limiting the effect of the repetition by not

variating the gestures in tempo and intensity. Without it, the repetition did not create new effects

or offer different perspectives of the same gesture.

I took my established repetitive gestures and further developed them by incorporating the

elements of tempo and intensity to make the effect more potent. During my experimentation with

tempo, a same gesture was done moving from a slow to fast tempo. Similarly, I repeated a

gesture sequence at different levels of intensity to play with tension. An example of this was the

transformation from slowly and gently caressing my body into violently slapping it all over at a

hurried pace. By gradually increasing the tempo and intensity, I converted a tender gesture into a

desperate, aggressive one (Figure 4). Both helped create different perspectives of the same

gesture, creating new effects within the audience.

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B.ii. Evaluating My Performance

Overall, I am very satisfied with the audience’s response to my performance. I remember being

nervous after performing, because of the long silence following it. It was later explained to me

that it was a response to my performance, that the audience had taken a moment to “let it sink

in”. It was mostly described as “moving, but extremely uncomfortable to watch”. Some

admitted to tearing up or flinching because of the “emotional intensity”. In many of the

discussions I had with my audience after viewing the performance, people confessed to having

personally related to the performance and “felt the hatred and revulsion” the character felt for

their body.

In my piece, I wanted to explore the power of repetition to align with Pina Bausch’s belief in

emotional expression through physicality rather than narration. Just as Bausch used repetition to

strengthen the meaning of a gesture20, I believe I deepened the emotional meaning of the gestures

in my performance. Not only did my use of repetition “elevate the emotional intensity of

certain images” but it also “forced” the audience to “relive the same disturbing sensations

over and over again” until it was “overwhelmingly difficult to watch.”

For most, the repetition of “various” movements demonstrated “the continuous struggles the

characters deal with” in regard to their body image. For others, it was “the repetition of [my]

pace and intensity of movements increasing, then decreasing” that signified the way the

“effects of BDD can increase and decrease, but they never go away.” I intended to choose a

plethora of gestures to repeat so I could play with the intensity and tempo to deepen the meaning

20
Copeland, R.(1990). In Defence of Formalism. Dance Theatre Journal, Feb 1990, 4-37.

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of each gesture. To my audience, the pace and intensity of my repetitive gestures helped

“indicate the character’s progression of her hatred towards herself.” and “built up

tension.”

For example, one of the most mentioned

gestures was the pushing of my legs down

(Figure 5). The gesture started off gentle,

then slowly escalated to the violent

slamming of my knees to the floor,

“almost as if hitting herself.” My

audience interpreted the meaning of this

repetitive gesture as “trying to remove

parts of her that she felt disgusted by.” This feedback made it fairly apparent that my intention

was achieved.

Although the performance didn’t follow a narrative, my audience was able to “follow [me] into

the mind of this young person” and “experience her progressively worsening mental

condition” until she was “practically torturing herself.” They commented that the

performance was “emotionally exhausting” as they felt that they “got to live in her world for

a little bit.”

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 Bausch used the “workings of the stage

as a means of engagement”21 in her

works, something I believe I did as well.

Many commented that the lighting

greatly influenced their experience of the

performance because of the atmosphere

it created. For example, the red lighting

created an “atmosphere of desperation

that sent chills down [their] spine” and

created a “feeling of fear”. I expected

the many different emotional experiences and interpretations my audience had due to the

abstractness of Tanztheater. Another key piece of feedback I received was the way my audience

“felt the journey as {I} took [them] to an awful state of mental distress” because of the

paradoxes I held throughout the performance. They believed that the “way I used contrast was

effective in maintaining [them] engaged.” Some paradoxes mentioned were the “beautiful

dress in contrast to those jarring shapes and forms when contorting [my] body” and the

“wearing [of the] old hoodie, where [my] movements were elegant and smooth.” This

showed the conflict within the character as she struggles with her body image. My audience

admitted that, “even if [they] hadn’t truly experienced what the character was going

through, [they] felt [they] stepped into her shoes.” This relates to the part of my intention

where I aimed for my audience to experience the struggles of BDD through the performance.

21
Climenhaga, 1-2.

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 My audience’s response to my

performance was generally very

sentimental and empathetic. There was a

plenitude of comments about certain

gestures or movements that they

“identified emotionally” with. For

example, one member of the audience

shared that “having recovered from an

eating disorder, many gestures [I] used such as shuddering away from the light and curling

up into the foetal position were key moments that I identified with emotionally.” Other

people who had not experienced something akin to BDD, were still able to empathise with

certain emotional images onstage. They understood “the feeling of being overwhelmed” and

could relate to the “feeling of not wanting to be in your own skin.” The concept of my

audience connecting familiar emotions to certain gestures, despite having not experienced the

struggles of the character, was interesting to me. Although I didn’t expect there to be so many

different emotional interpretations, I am glad that the piece resonated with my audience. I believe

that the kinaesthetic experience of my performance was reliant on this empathy. This response

was an important one because it exhibits my intention of having the audience experience the

performance by providing sets of images that would create an empathetic response.

It seems that my audience was truly able to achieve an understanding of the struggles of BDD,

and were able to relate my performance to their own lives, overall aligning with the elements of

my intention.

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Works Cited

Ashley, Elizabeth. “The Ongoing Influence of Pina Bausch.” Dance Informa Magazine,

31 May 2011, dancemagazine.com.au/2011/06/the-ongoing-influence-of-pina-bausch.

Bausch, Pina. “What Moves Me.” Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy, 2007,

www.kyotoprize.org/en/laureates/pina_bausch.

BBC. “Seeing Myself As Ugly: What Body Dysmorphia Feels Like.” YouTube, uploaded

by BBC Three, 7 June 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPXvm0fOE-0.

Climenhaga, Royd. Pina Bausch. New York, Routledge, 2009.

CNA. “Living With Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) | Strangers In My Head | Mental

Health.” YouTube, uploaded by CNA Insider, 8 Jan. 2021,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr6bsE-G978.

Copeland, Rodger. “In Defence of Formalism.” Dance Theatre Journal, 1990, pp. 4–37.

Kisselgoff, Anna. “Pina Bausch Dance: Key Is Emotion.” The New York Times, 4 Oct.

1985, www.nytimes.com/1985/10/04/arts/pina-bausch-dance-key-is-emotion.html.

Maddison, Amber. Pina Bausch’s Reinvention of “The Rites of Spring” in 1975 and Its

Impact on Dance. Buckinghamshire New University, 2016,

www.grin.com/document/335095.

Manuel, Diane. “German Choreographer Pina Bausch in Rehearsal” [Stanford,

California]. Stanford News Service, 22 Oct. 1999,

news.stanford.edu/pr/99/991020bausch.html.

Miranda Ni, Shu-Lan. “The Development of a Genre: Pina Bausch and Late

Twentieth-Century Dance Theatre.” Texas Tech University, 2002, pp. 1–286,

philpapers.org/rec/NITDO-2.

15
Morris, Gerald. “Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch Returns to the NAC!” NAC, 29 Oct.

2014, nac-cna.ca/en/stories/story/pina-bausch-tanztheater-wuppertal-returns.

Price, David W. “The Politics of the Body: Pina Bausch’s ‘Tanztheater.’” Theatre

Journal, vol. 42, no. 3, 1990, pp. 322–31. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3208078.

Roy, Sanjoy. “Step-by-Step Guide to Dance: Pina Bausch/Tanztheater Wuppertal.” The

Guardian, 8 Apr. 2010,

www.theguardian.com/stage/2010/mar/29/dance-pina-bausch-tanztheater-wuppertal.

“Tanztheater.” Oxford Reference, Oxford University,

www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803102050398. Accessed 6

Apr. 2022.

Wakin, Daniel. “Pina Bausch, German Choreographer, Dies at 68.” The New York Times,

1 July 2009, www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/arts/dance/01bausch.html.

Winship, Lyndsey. “A Short Introduction to Tanztheater.” Sadler’s Wells, 2010,

www.sadlerswells.com/discover-dance/more-about-dance/tanztheater.

“PINA’S WORDS OF WISDOM.” A-MUSED, 16 Feb. 2012,

www.philipchircop.com/post/17678380760/pinas-words-of-wisdom-im-not-so-interested-

in.

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Figures

Figure 1: Screenshot from student’s experimentation

Figure 2: Screenshot from student’s experimentation

Figure 3: Screenshot from student’s experimentation

Figure 4: Screenshot from student’s experimentation after preview performance

Figure 5: Screenshot from Student’s final performance

Figure 6: Screenshot from Student’s final performance

Figure 7: Screenshot from Student’s final performance

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