PINA BAUSCH
Pina Bausch was born 1940 in Solingen and died 2009 in Wuppertal. She received her dance training at the Folkwang School in Essen under Kurt Jooss, where she achieved technical excellence. After two years in New York, initially with a scholarship at the renowned Juilliard School of Music, then as a dancer at the New American Ballet and at the Metropolitan Opera House Ballet, she returned to Essen in 1962 on Jooss’ request as a soloist at the newly founded Folkwang Dance Studio. Soon after, the director of Wuppertal’s theaters, Arno Wüstenhöfer, engaged her as choreographer, and in autumn 1973, she renamed the ensemble the Tanztheater Wuppertal. Under this name, a controversial change at the start, the company gradually achieved international recognition. Its combination of poetic and everyday elements influenced the international development of dance.
Awarded some of the greatest international prizes and honors, Pina Bausch is one of the most significant choreographers of our time.