Pina on Tuesday at Grace Street Theater

VCU Department of Dance and Choreography co-presents Pina directed by Wim Wenders on Tuesday, February 26th 7:00pm at the Grace Street Theater, 934 West Grace Street, Richmond VA in association with the VCUarts Cinematheque. Tickets are free and no advance reservations are required. Run time is 1 hour and 43 minutes. An official selection of […]

February 25, 2013; 2:26 PM • by Fan of the Fan

VCU Department of Dance and Choreography co-presents Pina directed by Wim Wenders on Tuesday, February 26th 7:00pm at the Grace Street Theater, 934 West Grace Street, Richmond VA in association with the VCUarts Cinematheque. Tickets are free and no advance reservations are required. Run time is 1 hour and 43 minutes.

An official selection of the Berlinale, Telluride, Toronto and New York film festivals, and Germany’s 2012 official entry for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, Pina features interviews with and performances by Bausch’s beloved original company members, and offers an indelible image of an artist who went the full distance in her uncommonly rich creative life. Longtime members of the Tanztheater recreate many of their original roles in such seminal works as “Café Müller,” “Le Sacre du Printemps,” and “Kontakthof.”

Revolutionizing the dance film just as he did the music documentary in Buena Vista Social Club, Wim Wenders began planning this project with legendary choreographer Pina Bausch in the months before her untimely death, selecting the pieces to be filmed and discussing the filmmaking strategy. Impressed by recent innovations in 3D, Wenders decided to experiment with the format for this tribute to Bausch and her Tanztheater Wuppertal; the result sets the standard against which all future uses of 3D to record performance will be measured.

Not only are the beauty and sheer exhilaration of the dances and dancers powerfully rendered, but the film also captures the sense of the world that Bausch so brilliantly expressed in all her pieces.