Destructionist in Pina Bausch: Choreography and Directing

Abstract

This research deals with the design and directing of Pina Bausch, the founder of the Dance Theatre: that is considered by critics a new theatre genre with its own features and particularities. This genre started in the seventies of last century and still active up till now despite the death of its founder. Getting acquainted with the features of the Dance Theatre prepares for us the grounds to dig deep into further theorizing about the Post Non-Aristotelian theatre which caused a lot of deliberating by the critics since the emergence of the Dance Theatre. The researcher tries to shed light on the changes that led to the materialization of this new art genre as well as tackles the most important influences such as Rudolf Laban and Kurt Jooss, as well as American and European influences such as Brecht etc. The researcher focuses on the extent of how close or far these influences are in relation to the prevailing trends that preceded the Dance Theatre. Bausch also managed to keep her own experimentation isolated from others. The researcher as well discusses the most important features of the directing methods of Bausch and subsequently those of the Dance Theatre; these features had specifically adopted absenting both the story-telling and the Aristotelian structuring; thus no start, no middle and no end. Add to that, Bausch depended on the improvisation technique in building up the theatrical performance. She also used the repetition technique as a fundamental framework in her directing. The researcher as well discusses whether there are features of destructionist in her work taking Macbeth as example. The researcher concludes that this theatrical genre needs further studies in both the Arab and Western countries in order to comprehend it in a better manner. This study is one among others that aims at exploring the new genre taking upon itself to keep up with whatever is taking place in the world so that we can become effective doers within this mobile critique and not stay as passive recipients.