Monday, June 25, 2012

Pina Bausch - Nefés

Ten women and ten men.
Water seeping through the black flooring, creating a small lake in the middle of the stage.
Reflection of the water and the dancers's shadows on the back wall.
Men lying on the floor wearing white towels, as if in a hammam. Women stand next to them, head down, long hair hanging over them. They brush their hair slightly in rhythm.
The men sit on black chair. The women come crawling on stage and stop next to them. They pet their hair.
'My grandmother had 10 children!' she says after ten dancers come out from under her dress.
In the darkness, two women walk into the water with torches, and pick things up in their dresses (seafood?)
A male dancer sits cross-legged on the floor. To impress a girl, he throws a pillow high up in the air and as the pillow comes down he moves his leg and jumps slightly so the pillow is now under him. The girl, also sat on the floor, is impressed so he does it several time until he finds his way around her. He turns on himself, taking her with him.
'I am too fat for you!'
The men make a long line, holding hands, across the stage. It seems infinite as the last man in the line walks up to the front, and it goes on off stage and re-appears. The women do the same, going down into the audience.
The empty space around women's arms when the men they were holding leave their place.
A female dancer is lifted by a man and held horizontally as he turns and turns and turns. Several men replace him. When she is finally back on her feet, she is dizzy.
A branch balancing on a head, with inflated plastic bags hanging at each side.
A picnic.
A row of men slowly moving across the stage, from one sitting position facing the audience, to the same one facing the back. At the back, a row of women also do a routine of gestures all together, which takes them across the stage. They all smile happily at one another, and even hum the Tom Waits song that is playing.

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