What Do We Care and Why?

Pina Bausch was a woman that was not afraid to be herself and explore the human relationship physically, mentally, and emotionally. To me, I feel that Bausch is one of the few artist that defined Modern dance in a way that dancers today could be a part of; reality. Nothing moved her more than the curiosity of connection and relation between two people and the genuine offering one had and felt. She took risks in creating what was personal but not literal. What made someone smile? What made someone cry? Questions that we forget to ask ourselves once in awhile because we are scared of these emotions but Pina showed how to embrace them.

We should learn from Pina in the sense that we are human and these questions and emotions are natural. They are what makes us who we are today. She put a different perspective on dance and today, I feel that artists forget to do the same. Not all but most dance scenes today seem to have more of an entertainment aspect behind it and there aren't much companies that embrace the genuine qualities of the human mind and emotions. She shows us not to be afraid of our own thoughts and to live and explore ourselves more than we would. Bausch explores the knowing of what makes us move and live.


Her work is the most inspiring, realistic, and deals with some untouchable topics that I am afraid to explore. But she makes me want to risk what I have, experience the challenges, and overcome my personal tendencies to ignore situations that I don't want to face. Pina Bausch is a one of a kind woman that expresses so much of herself to her work that makes people, no matter how old or young, find that connection to relating themselves in her dances and choreography. That's why I think Bausch a woman to never forget and to always take time to learn and understand.

- Kao

I remember the first time I saw Pina’s work.  It was the section of Café Muller where a man comes and moves a couple into different embraces.  I got a sickening feeling deep down in my gut.  It pulled my chest downwards and my tears outward.  I have never been so pulled so far down and deeply back into my past as I was in the moment.  There are few things with the power to do that, movement is one of them.  More specifically, Pina’s ability to create the rawest authentic emotion within her work has affected people from around the world, including me, in a manner that few other things have been able to do.

As dancers, we constantly are asking ourselves what something means to us, what is behind it, where does this come from.  As people, we are expected to put on a lens, revealing only what is socially acceptable for the specific situation we may find ourselves in or to please the group of people we happen to find ourselves with.  The most beautiful aspect of Pina’s work is that she strips away the lens of social acceptance and foces out the true underlying feelings and stories that each of us, as humans, have.  This untainted raw movement is something that I long to be able to achieve.  To just be seen as I am, an ultimate goal of mine, is the exact ability that Pina had; to bring that out within her dancers is the reason I am so drawn towards her.  Pina Bausch was put on this Earth to create dance and to remind us that we are people and there is nothing more beautiful than this.

-Brenna