This summer sudiences across Europe have been watching the Wim Wenders tribute film to German choreographer Pina Bausch, who died two years ago. I have not discovered any clues about when or if the movie will be distributed in the U.S.
On my own miniature scale (here and here, in accordance with my own miniature powers) I also made attempts to mark the loss of this irreplaceable artist – even though my little tributes, when I look back at them, seem more than anything to resemble those goggle-eyed stuffed animals lashed to traffic barriers at the sites of car crashes.
But then just today I also came across some entirely unfamiliar & entirely ravishing photos of Pina Bausch from the late 1960s, a time when she was still actively dancing and only dreaming about becoming a dance-maker.
The source for these is an archive at deSingel, a cultural center in Antwerp where Pina Bausch frequently toured with her company, Tantztheater Wuppertal. The final photo, below, was also taken at deSingel – just a short time before she died in June 2009.
