Pina Bausch’s “…como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si…” was anything but post-modern dance. It was a spectacular mix of lights, props, special effects, and countless mini-segments targeted to make the audience chuckle in amusement. Post-modern dance focuses on the expression of uninhibited, instinctual movement, without the help of costumes, lighting, props, or special effects. Pina Bausch’s dance uses all of these to add to the performance, making them the central feature of the show, rather than the other way around. The choreography of Bausch’s dance was centralized around the relationships and tensions between men and women, showing them in a comedic, romantic, and even exaggerated light. In contrast to post-modern dance, which is characterized by loose, natural movements, Bausch’s dance uses very choreographed, aesthetic movements that are pleasing to the eye.
Of course, there were visible similarities between the performance and those of post-modern dance. They might sound like arbitrary observations, but there were moments of eccentricity in the Pina Bausch piece that are analogous to the raw, equally unique moments of post-modern dance (especially with regards to contact improvisation). One such moment includes the scene in which a woman walks across the stage with a potted tree strapped to her back. She sits on the other side of the stage, sits down, and then another female dancer walks on stage with a glass of water, helps the woman carrying the tree drink it, and leaves. Not long after, the woman the tree gets up and walks off the stage the same way she came. Again, this similarity is quite arbitrary, but to the untrained mind, these eccentricities are quite prominent. The focal point of this scene in the Pina Bausch, however, is the tree that the woman carries, not the woman herself, and this is the stark difference between Pina Bausch and post-modern choreographers is most visible.
Although I agree with Jana that Pina Bausch’s “…como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si…” was not particularly post-modern dance, there were more post-modern aspects that were mentioned.
Post modernism is about unconventional dance, regarding any human movement as dance. In Pina Bausch’s choreography, movements such as sitting on a chair, spitting out water, and speaking were part of the dance. The dancers would also do things like drop rocks, or carry a tree onto the stage and incorporate it into the movement. These aspects could be considered very post-modernistic. The choreography was also definitely not ballet based like some modern performances. A scene of a female dancer dancing in a plain colored dress on the white stage also seemed to resemble simplistic post-modernism to me. In another point during the performance, I specifically remember relating the movements between a male and female to Merce Cunningham’s contact improvisation, because the female was falling over the male, letting gravity provide the fluidity to her movements.
With these points made, the dance still cannot be considered post-modernistic. Pina Bausch’s focus on musicality, avant garde props, and intricate costumes are all assets that portray a modern performance style. There was also a meaning behind the movements, portraying different relationships between the male and female dancers.
Although Pina Bausch’s “…como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si…” was a mix of post-modern and modern dance elements, I still enjoyed the show. The comedy that was incorporated always kept me interested and the new elements introduced in each scene kept me at the edge of my seat. I also liked the way that scenes came full circle and ended similarly to the way it started. By the end, I had felt every emotion throughout the show. The performance was definitely different from what I have seen so far and turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
While I do agree with Jana (and Olga) that “…como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si…” was hardly post-modern in appearance or execution, and all of the similarities pointed out are also the ones that struck me when I watched the dance, when I reread Banes’s work on post-modern dance, I noticed some more fundamental similarities: both early post-modern dance and Pina Bausch’s “…como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si…” played with the distinction and breakdown between life and art. Though the movements of Bausch’s piece and the typical natural, flowy movements of post-modern dance are very dissimilar, the intent to make dance reflect real life (as opposed to ballet’s fantasy movements) is apparent in both. For example, in “…como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si…” we see women walking in heels and brushing their hair, meeting and dancing with men, and feeling the urge to steal away under the table with a fine meal and devouring it. Portrayal of these real-life situations and scenarios is an unconventional definition of “dance,” just as Rauschenberg, Cunningham, and Tricia Brown’s choreographies were.
However, the differences that Jana an Olga point out do make Pina Bausch’s work much more UNlike post-modern dance than like it. A quote from Banes exemplifies what I think is the biggest difference between the two: post-modern dance made valid “the option of making a dance for the pleasure of the dancer, whether or not the spectator finds it pleasing, or even accessible.” Pina Bausch’s choreography is so far removed from this idea that there is no way it could be classified as post-modern; the entire choreography is meant to be enjoyed by the audience. it is FOR the audience, not just performed in front of “the spectators.” And enjoyed it was. “…como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si…” was one of the most entertaining pieces I have seen.