The battle of the sexes is fraught at the best of times – and no one had a keener sense of its absurdities and tragedies than Pina Bausch. Her work, from the seminal Café Müller to the mesmeric The Rite of Spring, is packed with lost souls desperate for human connection, yet who often find themselves unable to bridge the divide. “I’m not interested in how people move, but what moves them,” the choreographer famously said. Instead of a showcase of physical virtuosity, her dance-theatre pieces are a snapshot of human desires, played out in all their messy glory. Hope, fear, disappointment, elation – nothing is shied away from.
Kontakthof (rough translation: courtyard of contact) is a case in point. Created in 1978 – but with its theme of social isolation given a new resonance in the aftermath of the pandemic – it’s set in a drab town hall where 22 dancers, in various dark suits, bright ballgowns and sharp stilettos, meet to torment and flirt with each other against a soundtrack of 1930s pop songs.
