Pina
In Vienna, Loris and I had a discussion about what kind of art we are not particularly into. For me, it’s theater (it makes no sense, but I rarely go out to see a play). For him, it was dance and ballet especially. Well, I love dance and ballet especially, but there are some limitations to that. Most of all, I don’t really get modern dance. For classical dances, I simply love the beauty of how it looks. Mostly it’s an esthetic appreciation – I like to look at beautiful bodies moving, I am in awe at the excellence of primaballerinas and how they execute these movements. I like how a ballet tells a story in movements, especially “Onegin” is simply wonderful when told in movements instead of words, and that is even more amazing considering how much I love Pushkin’s text. I love Giselle’s madness scene and found it incredibly intense last time I saw it. But that is where it ends. I think that dance can be great at evoking emotions, but only when I see them. For most modern choreographies, I simply have no idea what it’s supposed to mean, what the dancers are trying to express and it puzzles me how all those raw emotions going into them largely escape me.
“Pina” explains that a bit, but while I was very interested in these people’s stories, I couldn’t quite see what they meant. For the most part of the film, I was just enjoying the imagery, the beautiful choreographies and the incredible comfort of watching a visually stunning 3D film on a big screen sitting in Pixelmatsch’s living room. Pixelmatsch, the biggest Lokalpatriot this world has seen, also loved all the shots in Wuppertal. The only thing that irked me a little bit was the way everybody spoke about Pina Bausch. They treat her like a saint, which is a little disturbing to me. I agree, however, that she was a wonderful choreographer, and I liked many little details in her choreographies. My favorite choreographies were the “Seasons” (The part illustrating winter is the best!) and “Café Müller”, with its very lovely repetition of couple interactions. All in all, it was an awesome experience.