Gender and Sexuality in Pina’s videos

Pina Bausch was a renowned and exceptional German choreographer and dancer. She brought

down the boundaries between theatre and ballet through her dramatic choreographed works by

incorporating music, speech as well as dance.

Several aspects can be seen in Pina's works. However, in this essay, I will discuss how

Pina integrates the aspect of gender and sexuality in her work. After watching some of her

videos like café muller and the rite of spring, I will discuss how the dancer deals with gender as

far as movement patterns, aesthetics and roles are concerned. Moreover, her work also exudes

sexuality in a wild and spontaneous way.

Human relations mismatches and encounters are present in almost all of Pina’s works.

Pina uses long limbs to liberate energy from the centre of the body with no constrictions or

tensions. Also, she uses typical male and female clothes (costumes), and in one of her pieces

known as carnations, the male dancers are seen switching gender by wearing female clothes.

She uses blind couples, couples that cannot interact with each other and even people who

knowingly interfere with the couple’s interactions. She uses expressive and virtuous dancers.

Her works are theatrical and are encompassed with scenarios that are recreated on stage, for

instance, a café (Café Müller). She also chooses dancers with a theatrical background, and apart

from dancing, they can sing, sit as well as talk in different languages.
 In Pina’s version of the rite of spring, we see dancers making a rite of sacrifice in three

parts. In the first part, we have two groups, a man and women are seen, with different movement

patterns. Men are seen entering an interlude with just women on stage. One man decides to offer

all the women who will be sacrificed a red dress. In the second part, there is a lot of dancing. In

the third part, a woman is seen dying an agonizing death. There is despair anguish, and fear in

the woman as she falls on the floor. The emotions represent female fears about sex in a male-

controlled society.

The images in the rite of spring are iconic; both men and women are partially dressed,

controlling man, untied hairs, scared woman, red dress and death. Partially or partly covered

means being somewhat under control. The red dress represents blood which can be perceived as

a virgin who bleeds. A man has an active position in intercourse, whereas a woman in a male-

dominated society is scared. Death symbolizes the release after sexual intercourse, just like the

French expression "petit mort". In simpler words, the piece is all about a scared virgin who

bleeds the first time she engages in sex. She fights against herself, loses control and ends up

falling in orgasm.

In Café Müller, Pina is seen sleepwalking on the stage wearing a white tunic. Then, another

woman in white, a red-haired girl and two men appear on stage while moving independently.

The second woman and the man are seen clinging into each other as they kiss and hug. Another

man appears and tries to interfere and dictate a different kind of relationship between the two.

However, since what he wants the couple to don does not feel natural to them, they cling to each

other again in a sexual rhythm. The piece is all about separation; even after someone tries to

separate the couple, the two get back with each other and repeats the same pattern.