Nearly 50 years after its premiere, Pina Bausch's seminal work Kontakthof is being revived by the original cast in a poignant production that pairs the older dancers with projected footage of their younger selves. The show, titled Kontakthof: Echoes of 78, features nine of the original 1978 cast members performing alongside black-and-white archive film blown up to giant scale on a gauze screen. The effect is uncanny and moving, as the dancers mirror their own movements from decades ago, their younger images looming over them like ghosts.
The production was conceived and directed by Meryl Tankard, an Australian dancer who joined Bausch's company in 1978 and performed in the original Kontakthof. She admits initial fears about tampering with Bausch's work but feels the concept deepens the original themes of vulnerability, cruelty, and the quest for pleasure. Bausch herself had suggested that the original cast might return to the piece in old age, and the revival also echoes earlier stagings with over-65s and teenagers.
Tankard recalls the vulnerability Bausch demanded from her dancers, encouraging them to open up and create autobiographical material. "She hardly ever directed how you did it," Tankard says. "If she liked it, that's exactly what she wanted you to replicate." Tankard first encountered Bausch in 1978 after winning a choreography prize that funded her travel to Europe. She was handed the number of fellow Australian Josephine Ann Endicott, who was already in the company, and was invited to a rehearsal in Wuppertal. "Pina gave me this little smile and said I could join the rehearsal," she remembers.
At one point during the revival, a round of confessions sees the cast assess their personalities. Tankard tells the audience: "Resourceful, resilient, reliable." She also shares personal regrets, including that she wished she'd had children and misses her mother. The production is a technical and emotional feat, offering a rare glimpse into the passage of time and the enduring power of Bausch's choreography.
