Teenagers, Pina Bausch and the transformative power of performance

In June 2009 the international dance community mourned the death of modern choreographer Pina Bausch. Her work combined dance with theatrical methods of performance using an investigation of reality as its basis. Dancing Dreams (Tanztraume), screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival this year, is an uplifting exploration of the process behind performing her innovative and challenging work.

In 2007 directors Anne Linsel and Rainer Hoffmann documented the year-long rehearsal period as a group of 40 teenagers recreated Bausch’s 1978 work Kontakthof. Against the backdrop of an industrial Wuppertal skyline, teachers Jo-Ann Endicott and Benedict Billiet help the students come out of their shells in order to intimately explore how people treat one another. The result is, as Billiet says, A Kontakthof not for adults, but for teenagers. The work is about difficult questions with no easy answers, and the dancers work hard to deliver those answers with certainty. All the feelings of tenderness and aggression that teenagers already experience are explored to maximum effect in the work. The results can be awkward (such as a shy striptease), or brutal (being slapped by bullies), but they are always truthful.

The rehearsal process is captured using the fly-on-the-wall-style, paralleled by interviews with the teenage subjects about their own lives. As they contemplate childhood memories, insecurities and feelings about love and desire, the diversity of their experience and the way it informs the artistic process is revealed. At times the subjects’ eloquence and maturity is impressive, bringing a poignant depth to the film. The dancers are not trained, and we witness their vulnerable side as they struggle with the need to let go and immerse themselves in each role. There is something extremely joyful about watching young people learn how to do something for the first time. The rewards along the way are great and we watch their confidence grow with the realisation that this production is uniquely theirs. As Jo says to one of her more withdrawn students: “where else in your life can you experience this?”

Pina Bausch appears in time to oversee the preparations for Kontakthof’s premiere. She sits observing the dancers with an incredibly thoughtful expression on her face, puffing away on a cigarette – a rare sight in any dance studio. From the inhibited early stages of rehearsal to the dazzling applause of opening night, Dancing Dreams is an inspiring testament to Bausch and her legacy.

Dancing Dreams screens 29 July, 5 August and 7 August. Also on at MIFF: La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet, a film that peeks behind the curtain of one of the world’s most famous ballet companies.