Artist Talk
Inspired by the subtitle Schlagerballett of an early work by Bausch and her ‘Tanztheater’, Joana Tischkau’s new piece exposes the contradictions in the German cultural canon and its national narratives: Bausch’s company was often celebrated for its diverstiy, thanks to its many international dancers. What underlying projections and constructions contribute to the appeal of this ensemble as an artistic product for a German audience? And what was it like in Wuppertal back then?
As part of the Artist Talk, Joana Tischkau discusses with special guest Elisabeth Clarke (choreographer and teacher, former ensemble member of Tanztheater Wuppertal) and Eike Wittrock (theatre and dance scholar) a critical, previously untold perspective on Pina Bausch’s working methods, questions of racism and exoticism in Bausch’s artistic legacy, as well as the potential and difficulties of its appropriation.
born in 1953 in Berlin, New Jersey, was exposed to the performing arts from an early age. In 1969, she joined the School of American Ballet in New York. Her move to Europe came at age 17, when, in 1971, she was accepted into Maurice Béjart’s new school Mudra. In 1974, she began an artistic relationship with Karlheinz Stockhausen, lasting 16 years, including as soloist in Inori and Licht. In 1976, Pina Bausch invited her to join Tanztheater Wuppertal, of which she says: ‘One thing I learned from Pina was how to truly see, not just to look at things.’ She has remained active in performing and teaching.
is an artist, choreographer and director. She completed her bachelor’s degree in dance and acting at the School of Media and Performing Arts at Coventry University in England. During the master’s programme in choreography and performance at the University of Gießen’s Department of Applied Theatre Studies, she developed an artistic practice that combines the fields of discourse on racism, feminism, popular culture and Black German identity, and dispenses with didactic approaches in negotiating them. Her pieces PLAYBLACK, BEING PINK AIN’T EASY, Colonastics, DMSUBM, KARNEVAL and YO BRO have toured across Europe and were invited to various festivals, including Tanzplattform Deutschland (Munich & Berlin), Impulse Festival NRW, Wiener Festwochen, Radikal Jung Festival in Munich and Brecht Festival in Augsburg. In 2024, Joana Tischkau received the Tabori Prize from the German Performing Arts Fund (Fonds Darstellende Künste).
is Professor for dance studies at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna. His research focuses on media aspects of dance history and looks at the transitions between dance, performance and queer movement history, for example, in his essay Tanztheater von hinten. Queering Pina Bausch, published in: Lehmann/Rost/Simon (eds.), Staging Gender. Reflexionen aus Theorie und Praxis der performativen Künste, Bielefeld 2019.
In German