Pina Bausch’s “…como el musguito en la piedra. ay si, si, si..”is a very loose portrayal of post-modern dance. By definition, post-modernism is all about the human body. It uses mundane and everyday movements as statements that everyone can be a dancer. Music and costumes aren’t always used and complex technique isn’t emphasized in order to keep the audience focused solely on the dancers. Dances following this ideal can don’t necessarily have a deeper meaning, using movements as mere movements, not as hidden statements about society’s ills. Thus, post-modern dance is both revolutionary and simple, neglecting the bells and whistles of dance while still maintaining the integrity of choreography that celebrates the human body.
Pina Bausch’s piece didn’t quite follow the criteria described above. This dance was an exploration of male-female relations; even though it didn’t make its statement absolutely obvious, it made the audience think. Bausch’s choreography was quite technical at times, yet the dancers made it flow beautifully and put their emotions in it. Moreover, music, lighting and props played a major role in this piece, which isn’t typical to post-modernism. The lighting set the mood, different props such as tables and chairs were brought upon the stage, while the magnificent Spanish music kept the audience captivated and moved. The most obvious aspect of this dance, though, was the dancers’ costuming. The women wore colorful long gowns, while the men wore grey or black suits. Most dancers wore shoes, which is another departure from post-modern dance. The collective impression this ensemble made, then, was rather striking. As if this wasn’t impressive enough, the stage broke apart from under the dancers at certain parts of the performance, symbolizing the fragility of some relationships and keeping the audience on the edges of their seats.
However, Bausch did incorporate some aspects of post-modernism in her choreography. She incorporated short, whimsical scenes in between dance segments in order to make the performance more segmented and less traditional. Additionally, mundane movements such as eating and talking were part of the choreography, which represents the post-modernist celebration of the human body in its simplicity.
Overall, then, the post-modernism of “…como el musguito en la piedra. ay si, si, si..” is debatable. The piece contrasted the ideologies of this movement by using bells and whistles and making a societal statement, but it stayed true to the genre by celebrating mundane movements and the human body.
I agree with Sigal’s statement that it is debatable if Pina Bausch’s work is a form of post-modern dance. Post-modern dance is a reaction to the restraints of other forms of dance that are more compositional. In post-modern dance, everyday movements are considered valid forms of dance. Like Sigal said, in this dance movement everyone can be a dancer with or without training. This form of dance is simpler in its scenery, costumes, and movement.
On the contrary, Pina Bausch’s “…como el musguito en la piedra. ay si, si, si..” does not represent all of these post-modern dance qualities. The performers seemed to be well trained. Their movements were not always very simple or everyday motions. Many moments of the piece were well choreographed. The costumes in this performance were extremely important. The women in the piece wore beautiful gowns with various colors. In the second act, the scenes projected on the stage, like the water, were important to the piece. Other props were used as well. A very prominent change in the scenery was the breaking apart of the stage. This was very visual and not so much simple like post-modern dance would be. Symbolically, the breaking of the ground can represent the different relationships of the women and men in the performance as well as the difficulties in Chile at the time Pina Bausch made the piece.
On the other hand, Pina Bausch’s “…como el musguito en la piedra. ay si, si, si..” contains some post-modern characteristics. Some simple actions were used in her performance including the dropping and picking up of the stones and the eating. Another more post-modern aspect of her piece is the use of speech. The dancers would often speak to each other or the audience during some of the segments.
Ultimately, Pina Bausch’s “…como el musguito en la piedra. ay si, si, si..” was very interesting although it is hard to classify and not necessarily a form of post-modern dance. The qualities of this piece were interesting and different from many of the performances I have seen before.
To begin, I would say that Sigal’s opinion of Pina Bausch’s “…como el musguito en la piedra. ay si, si, si…” is pretty much what I thought it was, too. To think that the performance is post-modern dance is debatable because of the many aspects that were threaded into the piece. As Sigal stated, post-modern dance is supposed to be about the body, and Sigal, in my opinion, is correct in saying that Bausch’s piece is a very [very] loose portrayal of post-modern dance. When I think of post-modern dance, I automatically visualize Merce Cunningham, who was all about the body, touch, and expression through these two mediums. Meanwhile, Pina Bausch played with more theatrical mediums such as costumes, words, and props. With this in mind, I actually thought that Bausch’s “…como el musguito en la piedra. ay si, si, si..” was more of a silent play with some dance aspects.
It’s true that Bausch’s piece has dance aspects that can be considered post-modern. There were moments when the dancers seemed to move/dance just to express themselves. The talking, eating, and acting during the performance are all pretty post-modern. However, the entire piece was choreographed and the movements all seemed pretty structured, which hindered me from thinking it as a real post-modern dance. This and all of the props, clothes, and words that were used made it seem very theatrical. This is not to say that I do not enjoy theatrical performances because that is extremely untrue. But to say that Bausch’s performance as being post-modern would be too much of a stretch.
Instead of calling it a post-modern dance, I’d probably call it an abstract play. I say this because plays have stories and backgrounds, which is what Bausch’s piece had. I think she was trying to indirectly talk about the man-woman dynamic. Plays also have dance in them as well! With that said and all of the abstract elements and parts of the performance, an abstract play may in fact be a better category to put Bausch’s “…como el musguito en la piedra. ay si, si, si..” under than post-modern dance.
I think Sigal accurately describes the relation of Pina Bausch’s ““…como el musguito en la piedra. ay si, si, si…” to post-modern dance by acknowledging similarities and differences between the two. Pina Bausch modifies classical ballet by defying its complex, far out of reach movements with ordinary life concepts, but retains its theatricality.
Pina Bausch’s choreography is best characterized as tanztheater, a form that combines dance and theatricality to portray real-life situations. We saw the use of music, costumes, props in the dance performance that touched on, as Sigal says, male-female relationships. The females wore long, colorful dresses and the men wore tuxedos. The theatricality of classical ballet was present in Bausch’s work as music and stage effects were used to accompany the various dance moves, integrally delivering particular themes. The stage ruptured and broke apart in intense, conflicting scenes such as the one in which an old man was chasing a young man dressed in ripped clothes. A threatening music tone was also used to fit the theme. In that sense, it differs from post-modern dance. When I think of post-modern dance, I immediately see Merce Cunningham as the epitome of the movement. So, as I drew connections between Cunningham and Bausch, I noticed that Cunningham employed certain dance movements for the sake of dance without any intention of portraying a particular message; he left it to the audience to interpret them in any way they wanted. Instead he wanted the dancers to enjoy any movement he saw as dance, which implied that everyone could be a dancer. He stripped theatricality from his performances by evading any relevance of music, costumes or props to the dance. Once, he agreed to perform on a stage design with styrofoam pillows that he didn’t know about before the actual performance, again stressing the idea of perceiving dance for the dance itself. He brought dance down to reality in that sense. Bausch made dance accessible to reality by depicting real-life themes. It could well be said that post-modern dance choreographers portrayed ordinary life elements in particular forms themselves, while Bausch used and modified theatrical elements of ballet to fit the real-life situations she tried to portray.
-Faryal