Our sympathy and our solidarity to all people who suffer from war and its consequences.

Everywhere.

The Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch with all its employees from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Peru, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, USA

We would like to point out the following donation possibility: Medecins sans frontieres / Ärzte ohne Grenzen e.V.

On the death of Jan Minarik

On Monday we received the sad news that Jan Minarik, a former long-time member of the Tanztheater Wuppertal and Pina Bausch’s creative collaborator from 1973 onwards, died on his farm in the Czech Republic on 26 June 2022.

Two years ago, Jan Minarik and his wife Beatrice Libonati, who was also a dancer in the ensemble for many years, worked with the younger members of the Tanztheater on the restaging of Pina Bausch’s 1977 piece Bluebeard. While Listening to a Tape Recording of Béla Bertók's opera "Duke Bluebeard's Castle". Together they concentrated mainly on coaching the couples in the principal roles of Bluebeard and Judith. Jan Minarik had originally created the role of Bluebeard, along with 32 other parts. Having been one of the many former members of the ensemble who periodically return to pass on their roles and expertise to new generations of dancers, his absence will be keenly felt.

In deep sorrow,

Bettina Wagner-Bergelt, Roger Christmann and the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch

Norbert Servos wrote about Jan Minarik:

Jan Minarik was born 25 August 1945 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, where he completed a classical dance education at the conservatoire. Initially trained as a chef, he switched careers to dance to avoid military service. His first positions were at the Prague National Theatre (1966/67) and as a soloist in Brno/Brünn (1967–69) after which he emigrated, in 1969, dancing first at the Tiroler Landestheater in Innsbruck. In 1970 he moved to the ballet company at the Wuppertaler Bühnen (Wuppertal’s combined municipal performing arts venues) where he performed as a soloist using the stage name Jean Mindo under ballet director Ivan Sertić. When Pina Bausch took over as head of the Wuppertal ballet in 1973 most of the dancers left along with Sertić. Minařík remained and soon became one of Pina Bausch’s most important colleagues and one of the most distinctive dancer/actors in the newly formed Tanztheater Wuppertal.

Right from the start the roles he created left a strong impression, above all in The Rite of Spring and Bluebeard. No one could adopt such thoroughly unaffected yet dramatic expressions; few threw themselves with such elemental force into their roles. You felt fear and apprehension when he lay on his back as Bluebeard, dragging the panting Judith, pupated under layers and layers of old clothes, across the ground. Minařík showed how the horrifically obsessive count mutated disturbingly from perpetrator to victim in the end, a prisoner of his own obsessions. Minařík’s physical and emotional exhaustion at the close of the piece was never acted; it was always real.

Alongside his dramatic abilities, this impressive actor possessed an equally strong comic talent. Drag roles became a further speciality of Minařík’s. In Nelken (Carnations), in 1982/83, he posed for the Tanztheater Wuppertal’s ten-year anniversary photo in a flowing ball gown and a wonky wig as the ‘mother of the company’. By then he was just that, and also its trademark. Frequently his peculiar costumes created deliberate disruptions: as Cupid in a shiny miniskirt, as a lurching bank robber or a naked king, laconically remarking, ‘someone has robbed me.’

Minařík never ironed out his strong Czech accent, instead cheerfully cultivating it and deploying it to subversive comedic effect. That took care of the laughs, but his stoic gravity also ensured that his off-kilter performances didn’t appear merely humorous. For more than a quarter of a century he was the one who took on the role of referee or silent observer in many of the pieces, an indispensable colleague of Pina Bausch’s, never satisfied with quick solutions. He had a keen eye for dramaturgical questions during the assembling of the pieces, and surprising costume ideas. Alongside his work as a dancer, he accompanied the ensemble during rehearsals and tours as a photographer. Since 1981 he has been married to another Tanztheater Wuppertal figure, Beatrice Libonati, with whom he has two children.

Dear Friends of the Tanztheater,

We are currently preparing for the last two tours of the 2021/22 season. From 18 June we will finally be back on stage in Paris. It is the first time in 35 years that the ensemble performs one of Pina Bausch’s most important pieces from the 1970s, Bluebeard. While Listening to a Tape Recording of Béla Bartók’s opera “Duke Bluebeard’s Castle” at the Théâtre du Châtelet.

From 7 July, we will give four performances of Vollmond (Full Moon) at ImPulsTanz in Vienna. After that, the ensemble will take a summer break, returning on 17 September to launch the new season – the first under the direction of my successor Boris Charmatz – with Pina Bausch’s piece Água.

I am taking my leave after almost four seasons as artistic director of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. It was an honour and a great pleasure to work with this ensemble, to revive Pina Bausch’s oeuvre and show her vital, vibrant legacy to Wuppertal and the world. Not to mention the thrill of commissioning new works (Ectopia and Schlafende Frau) and the joy of assimilating a great variety of artistic impulses: from African dance, from the independent dance scene, from urban dance, music, theatre and the visual arts, in the UNDERGROUND and under construction series, and in collaboration with the Sculpture Park Waldfrieden or the Von der Heydt-Museum (where our joint exhibition featuring works by Senga Nengudi opens on 21 August).

There are many wonderful memories and experiences I will carry with me from these years – inspiring encounters with great artists as well as with young, dynamic, inquisitive newcomers.

I would like to thank you, dear friends and audiences, for your interest, your enthusiasm and your loyalty. They helped us through difficult times such as the coronavirus pandemic and the effects of the flood in Wuppertal. We have always been able to rely on you, as one would hope from good friends.

I wish you and the entire ensemble the very best for the future: success, artistic challenges and extraordinary encounters with dance.

Warmly,
Bettina Wagner-Bergelt
Artistic Director

Remote Wuppertal

The internationally renowned and multi-award-winning artist collective Rimini Protokoll will be in Wuppertal in September and October with its urban performance walk Remote X as part of the preparatory phase of the future Pina Bausch Centre under the direction of Bettina Milz. The collective invites citizens on a group audio tour developed by Stefan Kaegi and directed by Jörg Karrenbauer.

A group of 50 headphone-wearing people sets off into the city – guided by a synthetic voice like the ones in our satnavs. Along the way, binaural recordings and film scores provide a soundtrack for the urban landscape. From the outside, the group’s progress through the city looks like a precisely timed choreography. From the inside, it feels more and more like a collective film. With every step, the computerised voice sounds more familiar. But who is speaking? Who are we following?

Tickets are now available.

Kulturkarte Wuppertal, Kirchplatz 1, 42103 Wuppertal; Tickethotline +49 (0)202 563 7666

Further information here

Tickets Água

The international coproduction with Brazil, Goethe Institut São Paulo and Emilio Kalil from 2001 Água - A Piece by Pina Bausch opens the season 2022/23.

The performances at the Opernhaus Wuppertal take place on September 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24 and 25.

Tickets are available now.

Ticket hotline +49 (0)202 563 7666

Boris Charmatz is new director from September 2022 on

Dear Boris Charmatz,

It is the end of a long, intensive search and also a new beginning. A process at the end of which we have the pleasure to welcome you as the future director of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch.
One of the tasks we faced when we took over the artistic and executive directorship of the company in January 2019 was to work with the ensemble to initiate the search for a new, permanent artistic leader. One that would make a new beginning possible. Our ambition was to allow the ensemble’s expertise and experience to influence the process in a democratic way. Even the people who publicly doubted us and grew impatient at our slow progress did not deter us.
The fact that the selection committee with its two elected representatives of the ensemble and the Board of Directors came to a unanimous decision shows that the process worked, even if there was much impatience at the end.

In you the ensemble has found an internationally renowned artist with a bold aesthetic – and someone who has long been interested in exploring and promoting our 20th century dance heritage.
We are happy for you because you will find that the working conditions here are wonderful. People who have always dedicated themselves exclusively to dance. Above all, we are happy for the ensemble because it can now look towards the future with you. An artistic future that is exciting and different and unexpected.
Pina Bausch was a brave artist who gathered brave people around her to follow her on her sometimes-difficult aesthetic journey. We wish you the same – that everyone will walk this path with you with courage and confidence!

With best wishes,
Bettina and Roger
Bettina Wagner-Bergelt, current Artistic Director, and Roger Christmann, Managing Director

Speech Boris Charmatz Press conference10/21/2021

Boris Charmatz discours conférence de presse 21.10.201

LET'S TALK ABOUT DANCE. Tanztheater Calling

The official podcast of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch.

Season 1

Why do we dance?

In this first season, Marc Wagenbach spoke with dancers, staff, and guest artists of the Tanztheater about Pina Bausch, dance as an art and form of expression, backstage secrets, the role of art in social and political debates, personal stories, the past, the present, and the future.

Süß und Sauer mit Bettina Wagner-Bergelt

Sweet and Sour - with Bettina Wagner-Bergelt

Gestrandet an der Wupper - mit Barbara Kaufmann

Stranded on the Shores of the Wupper - with Julie Anne Stanzak

Stranded on the Shores of the Wupper Part II - with Saar Magal

Warten auf den Weihnachtsmann - Weihnachtsspecial mit Roger Christmann

Waiting for Santa - Christmas Special with Oleg Stepanov

Me, Myself and I - with Julie Shanahan

Approaching Anna - with Stephanie Troyak

Being on a journay - with Dean Biosca

In the moment - with Christopher Tandy

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