Bausch, Pina

DANCER, CHOREOGRAPHER (GERMANY)
BORN 27 Apr 1940, Solingen, Nordrhein-Westfalen - DIED 30 Jun 2009, Wuppertal, Nordrhein-Westfalen
BIRTH NAME Bausch, Philippine
CAUSE OF DEATH lung cancer
GRAVE LOCATION Wuppertal, Nordrhein-Westfalen: Evangelischer Waldfriedhof, Krummacherstrasse, Varresbeck, Elberfeld

Pina Bausch was the daughter of restaurant owners from Solingen. She performed for the guests from an early age. When she was fifteen years old she entered the Folkwangschule in Essen. After she graduated in 1959 she continued her studies in New York and performed there at several theatres.

After two years in New York she joined the new Folkwang-Ballet as a soloist. In 1968 she did her first choreography and in 1969 she succeeded Kurt Jooss as the company's director. In 1972 she became the artistic director of the Wuppertal Opera ballet, later known as the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. There she staged "Café Müller" (1978) and many other works.

She had married the set and costume designer Rolf Borzik, who died in 1980 of leukemia. After his death she met Ronald Kay, with whom she had a son in 1981. In 1983 she was La Principessa Lherimia in Fellini's "And the Ship Sails On".

In 2009 she was involved in preparations for the documentary "Pina" by Wim Wenders. But she died five days after she was diagnosed with cancer, two days before the shooting would have started. The documentary was released in 2011 in the USA.

Images

The grave of Pina Bausch at the Evangelischer Waldfriedhof, Wuppertal.
Picture by Androom (27 Jul 2013)

 

Sources
Pina Bausch – Wikipedia


Bausewein, Kaspar

Published: 10 May 2015
Last update: 29 Mar 2022