I sat in my narrow theater chair with my tightly sealed “theater cup” in my hand, anticipating what I was about to be seeing. I was prepared to witness emotion through dance, but I was not anticipating the overbearing lack of vocals or aggressive nature of both scenes.
After researching Pina Bausch, I understood that her main artistic goal was to express emotion through dance. In the first scene of Cafe Muller, a woman, whom was often played by Pina Bausch herself, walked aimlessly and blindly through a stage overflowing with obstacles. An unknown main appears and works endlessly to clear her path, which allowed me to make my own personal connections with this visual metaphor. I began to realize that this man’s goal was to clear the path for a helpless woman, which allows a viewer to create their own story behind each character.
It was my first time experiencing interpretive dance, and I was unsure of how I was suppose to feel. Not until after the show, I came to the epiphany that the beauty of interpretive dance was how it made each viewer feel differently. Every person in the opera house was experiencing something completely different, allowing the freedom of their own expression and emotions.
I understand now that every form of art draws out some sort of emotion in every one, even if I was unable to comprehend the overall storyline of each scene. If I were to watch it again, I would allow myself to keep an open mind, and allow my own emotions to take over.
