''Café Müller'' is a dance choreographed by

Pina Bausch Philippine "Pina" Bausch (27 July 1940 – 30 June 2009) was a German dancer and choreographer who was a significant contributor to a neo-expressionist dance tradition now known as . Bausch's approach was noted for a stylized blend of dance mo ...

set to the music of

Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer. Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest E ...

. It has been performed regularly since its creation and in May 1978 was performed and filmed at the Opernhaus, and broadcast on German television in December of that year.

Performance history

Original production

Pina Bausch created and performed ''Café Müller'' for her dance company

Tanztheater Wuppertal Philippine "Pina" Bausch (27 July 1940 – 30 June 2009) was a German dancer and choreographer who was a significant contributor to a neo-expressionist dance tradition now known as . Bausch's approach was noted for a stylized blend of dance mo ...

. The performance took place on May 20, 1978 at the Opernhaus Wuppertal. The dance was inspired by and based on her childhood memories of watching her father work at his café in Germany during and immediately following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Televised broadcast

''Café Müller'' was broadcast on German television in December 1985. Director and choreographer: Pina Bausch Music: Henry Purcell's ''

The Fairy-Queen ''The Fairy-Queen'' (1692; Purcell catalogue number Z.629) is a semi-opera by Henry Purcell; a "Restoration spectacular". The libretto is an anonymous adaptation of William Shakespeare's comedy ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. First performed ...

'' and ''

Dido and Aeneas ''Dido and Aeneas'' (Z. 626) is an opera in a prologue and three acts, written by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell with a libretto by Nahum Tate. The dates of the composition and first performance of the opera are uncertain. It was com ...

''. Costume and Set Designer:

Rolf Borzik Rolf is a male given name and a surname. It originates in the Germanic name ''Hrolf'', itself a contraction of ''Hrodwulf'' ( Rudolf), a conjunction of the stem words ''hrod'' ("renown") + ''wulf'' ("wolf"). The Old Norse cognate is ''Hrólfr''. ...

Cast: * Pina Bausch *

Malou Airaudo Malou is a feminine given name and a French surname. As a given name, it is a contraction of the compound name Marie- Louise. The name has been well used for girls in Denmark and in the Philippines, where it is considered a contraction of María Lo ...

* Domenique Mercy * Jan Minarik * Nazareth Panadero * Jean Laurent Sasportes

Tours

*1980: Nancy *1980: Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Porto Alegre, Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires, Lima, Bogota, Caracas, Mexico City *1981: Parma, Torin, En Gedi, En Hashovez, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Cologne *1982: Paris, Vienna, Rome *1983: Hamburg 1984 Sassari, Cagliari, Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, Hamburg *1985: Paris, Venice, Madrid, Grenoble *1986: Lyon, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto *1987: East-Berlin, Gera, Cottbus, Dresden, Athens, Wroclaw, Prague, Kosice *1988: Reggio, Cremona, Bologna, Modena *1992: Edinburgh *1993: Munich, Paris, Moscow *1994: Lisbon *1995: Budapest, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Avignon, Tel Aviv *1998: Stockholm, Malmö *1999: Berlin *2002: Leuven, Geneva, Dresden *2003: Bochum *2006: Brussels, Tokyo, Athens *2007: Beijing *2008: London, Lisbon, Barcelona *2008: Düsseldorf *2009: São Paulo *2010: Seoul, Monaco *2011: Warsaw *2013: Taipei, Kaohsiung, Goeteborg, Naples, Bordeaux, Antwerpen *2016: Wellington, Nîmes *2017: Ghent, New York, Antwerp, Ottawa, Hong Kong

Summary of movement

The piece takes place on a stage strewn with chairs. The chairs are placed randomly, but cover the length of the performance space. There is a door upstage right leading to a revolving door, and doors on either side of the stage. There are six dancers, three men and three women. Two of the men wear suits, the third wears a loose white shirt tucked into trousers and dances barefoot. Two of the women, one portrayed by Bausch herself, wear long white dresses with bare feet, the other wears a dress, overcoat, and heels. The dance moves about the stage, dancers shifting in and out of duet. At various moments, one or more dance with eyes closed, rushing across the stage strewn with chairs while the other dancers rush about them moving furniture out of the way. The movement is often frantic and repetitive, halting with a feeling of exhaustion. There are themes of manipulation and dependence throughout the dance, which are realized through intense repetition as well as trust between dancers that they will keep each other safe on stage in varying states of awareness. The dancers rely on each other to clear their paths as they dance with their eyes shut, a strong example of the trust shared on-stage.

References

External links

* * https://vimeo.com/118644761