dance, dance, otherwise we're lost

Jaime 2022-04-03 09:01:12

On January 7, 2012 in the West Village, New York, I waited in line at the entrance of the IFC Cinema for half an hour, looking bored across the street. There was a black open-top sports car parked there. The owner of the car was a black uncle with long hair and braids in red, playing loud rap music. He got out of the car and looked at the children on the field melancholy for a long time. I'd say he's an out-of-date rap star or something, my friend said, maybe a street drug dealer.

After entering the stage, the director himself stood in front of the black curtain, with silver-white hair and a blue scarf. It is said that 25 years ago, he went to Venice with his girlfriend to play, and was pulled to see Pina's "Mueller's Cafe". Only 5 minutes into the opening, he found himself sitting on the edge of a chair with tears in his eyes. And this kind of thing that hit his heart directly, he didn't know what it was. In moments like these, rational analysis is left behind.

The next day he asked Pina out for coffee. Tall, thin Pina, with big eyes that saw everything. "Under her gaze, I seemed to be naked. She spoke very little, smoking one cigarette after another, so I had to keep talking. I said, I'm going to make a movie for you."

A year later, he saw Pina again. She said, oh, you're the one who made the movie.

The cooperation between the two of them began, but they have not found a suitable shooting method. In the director's words (note: there are already comments from Douyou who have mentioned similar views), the film has its limitations, it is two-dimensional, and cannot express a very important element for dance, "the sense of space". It was not until the 3D technology matured that the yarn on the stage became within reach, the dancers spun and passed by with the sound of the wind, and the water in Full Moon would splash everywhere.

It is a pity that Pina passed away suddenly before the filming of the film. This film has become a memorial for the dancers who love her and the director himself. The selection and choreography of those dances in the film can no longer reflect Pina's ideas. Only at the end of the credits, Pina came out and danced for a short segment, which was a black and white video recorded earlier, with the narration "dance, dance, otherwise we're lost".

Using the words shared by several dancers in the film, Pina said to them, when you don't know how to dance, "dance for love"; when the outside world sets up various obstacles for you, "either go against or through it" ; when you're shy, find out "what you're afraid of"; when you're vulnerable, don't forget you're strong too, "find your strength". What a good teacher Pina is, that kind of feeling like "in her gaze, I seem to be naked", she sees fragility, fear, all kinds of obstacles, and then let people find love, beauty, happiness from the heart, and strength.

It can be belief, sustenance, spiritual strength, "holding your hair and dragging yourself off the ground", "imagining yourself as a flower blooming in the sun", or "falling in love with a silly hippo" ( Note, these are dance sequences from the film). It was the black uncle who drove the car to watch the kid play ball on the street. During the 100 minutes I sat in the dark, I cried a few times, and finally fell silent and said to myself "work, work, otherwise I'm lost".

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Extended Reading
  • Alexie 2022-04-05 09:01:07

    Dance is a combination of power and beauty so it has infinite possibilities (much like a movie). Pina's work reveals a union with nature and the city and all environments. Those who have been dancers all their lives are enviable, expressing their souls with their limbs

  • Kirsten 2022-04-06 09:01:06

    Wenders turns Pina Bausch dance into performance art

Pina quotes

  • Pina Bausch: What are we longing for? Where does all this yearning come from?