Pina is a captivating and submersive tribute to German dance pioneer Pina
Bausch, featuring the performers of the Tanztheater Wuppertal company she
ran for 36 years. From director Wim Wenders (The Buena Vista Social Club,
Wings of Desire), Pina takes the audience on a sensual, visually-stunning
journey of discovery, drawing us deeply into the unique and inspiring art of
Bausch, who died in the summer of 2009, as Wenders started the film.
Wenders takes his camera on stage with the legendary ensemble and also
follows the dancers out of the city and the surrounding areas of Wuppertal,
near Dusseldorf, giving the film a magical quality, turning dance into
cinema.
Members of Bausch’s company talk about her unwillingness to explain herself in words, remembering instructions like “Dance for love” and “Go on searching” and “What are we longing for?” Wenders has found a way to translate Pina Bausch’s entrancing art of movement, gesture, speech and music into film, while seamlessly interweaving her presence through her dancers’ memories.