On the death of Raimund Hoghe

Only last year he was awarded the German Dance Prize, finally gaining the recognition he deserved as a choreographer. Now Raimund Hoghe has died. He was a great artist, an inspiring human being and wonderful chronicler of his famous colleagues’ careers. Above all, he was a courageous and innovative choreographer, who changed how the body is viewed in dance. From early on, he confronted his audiences with his own body and its distinctive curved spine. Many could not accept this. His credo was “throw the body into the battle” – exposing himself, making himself vulnerable, enduring the reactions of others and transforming them into art. Seeing the world differently, more honestly.

Many colleagues at the Tanztheater Wuppertal remember him from when he was the ensemble’s dramaturg and worked closely with Pina Bausch. I first met him at DANCE 2010 in Munich. Thomas Betz writes about that performance: "Set to different versions of the musical classic and featuring highly individual dancers, Raimund Hoghe’s 'Boléro Variations' celebrates his poetics of mindfulness, memory and writing-with-the-body." It was his greatest strength.

He leaves a gaping hole in the contemporary dance world and the hearts of those who loved him.

Bettina Wagner-Bergelt and on behalf of the ensemble of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch

Event information

Video-Stream from the Pinakothek der Moderne on the occasion of the rotunda project of the Collection of Modern Art: ANISH KAPOOR – HOWL (until August 15, 2021)

New Ocean Sea Cycle
Ballet by Richard Siegal

A Film by Nightfrog, directed by Benedict Mirow
Online Premiere on May 16, 8 p.m. on ARTE CONCERT

Watch the Trailer on Youtube

The choreographer Richard Siegal from the United States works on hybrid forms with his company Ballet of Difference, based at Schauspiel Köln and with myriad roots in Munich. The forms not only contain elements of different art disciplines, they also are reciprocally saturated with aesthetic and natural scientific perspectives. In his work "New Ocean," for instance, Siegal integrates a sculptural approach of dancing bodies together with ecological issues involving global warming into a mathematical system of choreography. For the museum Pinakothek der Moderne Richard Siegal is working on a choreographic form that allows the bodies of the dancers to actively engage in a dialogue with the architecture and the sculpture "HOWL."

Available from May 16 to August 14 on Arte Concert

Photos New Ocean Sea Cycle, Copyright Thomas Schermer

LET'S TALK ABOUT DANCE. Tanztheater Calling

The official podcast of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch.

How to shine? From gardening, dancing and healing bodies - with Bernd Uwe Marszan

Due to the current COVID-19 restrictions Marc and Bernd couldn’t meet in the studio.
In this home recording episode Marc and Bernd speak about Bernd’s unusual path of becoming a dancer and the moment when he was infected by movement. He recalls the various stages of his life, training, and jobs he did before finally studying at the Folkwang University of the Arts. Bernd reflects on his work with Pina Bausch and his hunger for knowledge where movements come from.
Have you ever thought about which color you are?

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Apple Podcasts

As the new season starts, we are presenting the ensemble of the Tanztheater Wuppertal in a new way: as well as offering insights into the dancers’ artistic biographies for the very first time, we are also publishing snapshots of them performing in recent works as part of our new project FACES. Each image captures an instant, a mere fraction of a second, in the transformation process that a dancer goes through when he or she dances in a piece by Pina Bausch. The black-and-white photographs are not intended to be portraits, but rather the response of another artist – the photographer Jochen Viehoff – to the dancer’s body, face and movement in a moment of rapture. It is only on stage that such heightened moments of transformation and magic can take place.

As time goes on, new photographs will be added to document the wide range of expression in Pina Bausch’s works.

Bettina Wagner-Bergelt