Adventures in Hedonism - The Nelken Line

1996  - twenty-one years ago was the first time I saw Pina Bausch and it forever changed the way I saw Dance. I’m not even sure how I got there in the first place. Probably read something in the calendar section of the LA Times (I was still reading newspapers in 1996) and came across triggering key words like “German “ “contemporary” and “experimental” but I picked up a cheap ticket to the Dorthy Chandler Pavillion and ended up seeing Nur Du, a commission 3 1/2 hour extravaganza that at one point had a chorus line of dancers washing and ironing their clothes, turning the mundane repetition of chores into mesmerizing beauty. 

I was instantly hooked. And when Pina returned in 1999 to reprise Nelken at UCLA, I bought tickets as soon as they were available. Watching the dancers construct and deconstruct the stage again mesmerized me, and seeing the famed Nelken March, completely charmed me. 

I was there again in 2005, when Pina retuned to UCLA to perform Ten Chi. I had already vowed to see every performance I could whenever the Wuppertal Dance Company came to town. Little did I know, this one was going to be the last.

I grieved hard when Pina passed in 2009 - no choreographer had ever inspired me so much. The ray of hope was the knowledge that Wim Wenders was working on a film about Pina Bausch - I was there for its opening and again charmed that the Nelken Dance was featured, a piece of such simplicity and elegance that reminds me about what I love about her work, seeing the beautiful in the ordinary. The dance plays out in four simple movements, each capturing the progress of the seasons:

• Spring, the grass is small
• Summer, the grass grows tall and the sun shines
• Autumn, the leaves fall from the trees
• Winter, a shiver of cold

It repeats as the seasons do, one following the other as the years advance. A perfect line, a time line, leaving the marks of nature. 

Thankfully the Wuppertal Tanz Theater Continues, and with it, the call of the Nelken Line. Last year, tributes to Pina Bausch were being performed sponsored by the Pina Bausch Foundation as groups around the world picked up and started to perform their own variations of the Nelken Line and sharing  them on website 

I discovered that the Intrepid Dance Project was formulating its own tribute to add to the collection, and more importantly, invited to join along. 

So, here it is the Intrepid Dance Company’s tribute to Pina Bausch and her Nelken Line - traditional and circus. It’s unfortunate that Pina will not be creating any new works, but I hope

You enjoy this one, and fall a bit into her rabbit hole with me. 

Intrepid Dance Project Pina Bausch's Nelkin Line Circus Style! from Pina Bausch Foundation on Vimeo.