Pina Bausch’s pieces Cafe Muller and The Rite of Spring both were so different than the dance form I am used to experiencing. That being said they were truly intriguing works of art. The Rite of Spring did strike me as the more conventional piece compared to Cafe Muller. A true challenge was trying to figure out the message she was trying to send through her two pieces. In Cafe Muller, more action generally was occurring with the younger women in a white dress, but I found myself looking towards the older women in the white dress in the corner for her reaction to the younger woman’s action. At some point, I noticed that she was repeating the younger woman’s actions, but almost lagging behind her. The younger dancer also had a male dancer helping her by removing the chairs and tables out of her way as she blindly walked or danced. The dancers were amazingly able to expertly assimilate these props into their performance throughout. I thought this was very meaningful as I believe that the theme of dependence is thoroughly evident in this piece. Also, it was interesting how the older women had no one to do this for her. I believe these chairs represented the obstacles one has to go through life and Bausch is trying to show us that life becomes easier when you have someone to help you clear the obstacles. There was a lot of repetition whether in actions, movements or in dance and this repetition added to the general mix of confusion and curiosity of the audience. As for the Rite of Spring, this piece was more orthodox as it has more uniformity and more synchronized dance. There was more conventional ballet choreography. It was interestingly done on a floor of soil and the dancers all were covered in soil by the end of the performance. The choreography made sure that there was a separation between the dancer whether it was by gender or attire. There were more rapid and sharp movements which amplified because of the great number of dancers, these movements and separation gave off the sense of aggression. In this performance, there was also a formation which had all the dancers working together at some point. I think that through this performance Pina Bausch was almost trying to tell us about traditional roles in society and rules in the society like the women at the end who wore the scarlet colored dress, and danced till her death. Through the performance, the cloth was passed from women to women and at some point men take it, but the women get it back and I thought the women were protecting it, but really they were the ones to embody it as I believe it represents sacrifice. Both performances had very similar aspects to them like repetition and the existence of gender differences, yet they couldn’t have been more different. In both Bausch is trying to send her audience an important message.
I completely agree with your point about the incorporation of the chairs into the choreography of”Café Müller,” in that they are meant to represent the dependent nature of the relationship between the man moving them and the woman colliding with them. In clearing her path, the man establishes his role as the protector who attempts to shield the vulnerable sleepwalker from getting hurt. I also like your point about the use of repetition in “Café Müller” which was meant to inspire feelings of confusion from the audience and build suspense. One observation which I found most interesting was what you wrote about the character Pina Bausch was meant to play. Throughout the performance, I would only occasionally glance at her character and so I didn’t find anything noteworthy about her movements. However you point out that they were repeating the actions of the other sleepwalker, at a more lagging pace. I feel that this gives Bausch’s character more significance in the performance than I originally thought she held.