Café Müller
Pina Bausch
In 2023, Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels is supporting the Théâtre de la Ville to present Café Müller by Pina Bausch.
Café Müller is a fundamental part of the dance landscape and its history in the 20th century. This timelessly beautiful piece marked a turning point in Pina Bausch's work concerning reality and everyday things. Today, old and new company members share this approach, but the soul of the choreographer - who performed it until 2008, only one year before her death - remains more palpable than in any of her other works. The collapsing bodies, the depth of feeling, and the sweet melancholy of Purcell's Arias - all leave indelible imprints on the light of our longing and fragile hearts.
Photo : © Jochen Viehoff
About the artist
Pina Bausch
Over the 36 years in which Pina Bausch (1940—2009) shaped the work of Tanztheater Wuppertal, she created an œuvre that casts an unerring gaze at reality, while simultaneously giving us the courage to be true to our own wishes and desires. Bausch was appointed director of dance for the Wuppertal theater in 1973. The form she developed in those early years was wholly unfamiliar. In her performances the players did not merely dance; they spoke, sang, laughed, and cried. Dance-theater evolved into a unique genre, inspiring choreographers across the globe and influencing theater and all forms of dance in the process. Its success can be attributed to the fact that Bausch made a universal human need the key subject of her work—the need for love, intimacy, and emotional security. Bausch's unique ensemble, now led by Artistic Director Boris Charmatz (with the joint leadership of Managing Director Roger Christmann), maintains Bausch's groundbreaking artistic vision.
Photo: © Ursula Kaufman
