Bausch was one of the 20th century's most important choreographers, and her dances juxtaposed chaos, dreamscapes and riveting human emotion.

– The Washington Post

Bausch was a genius… Her mixture of dance and theatre has shaped contemporary dance today and has challenged audiences worldwide.

– Dance Magazine

But one can appreciate the fact that Miss Bausch does have an indisputable genius of her own for observing human behavior and processing that raw material through an artistic blender.

– The New York Times July 7, 1988, By Anna Kisselgoff

One of the most breathtaking designs in dance history.

 – The Guardian

A choreographer who has broken down the boundaries between dance and theater and pioneered a new direction for theatrical art.

– 2007 Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy

She showed us another way to overcome our fears and to not feel imprisoned in our bodies any more. She conveyed a concept of freedom…to discover the hidden language in ourselves.

– Wim Wenders, filmmaker

Pina Bausch established a turning point in contemporary dance for the last quarter of the last century ...

– Pedro Almodóvar, film-maker

Pina Bausch is one of the most skilful storytellers of our times.

–Akram Khan, choreographer, Akram Khan Dance Company

She has basically re-invented dance … She is a category of dance unto herself.

–William Forsythe, choreographer

Pina Bausch has changed the dance and theatre landscape forever. ......, her amazing body of work stands testament to her enduring vision, innovation and creativity.

– Wayne McGregor, choreographer & artistic director, Random Dance

She was the first one to ask questions of her dancers and use the answers to make performances. ...... It was quite revolutionary.

– Alain Platel, artistic director, Les Ballets C de la B

Her work truly allowed people to see the world from another perspective that, had she not been around, we would never have known.

– Lloyd Newson, DV8 Physical Theatre

She was a genius and a giant in the field of modern dance theatre.

– Monica Mason, director of the Royal Ballet

Few dance theatre pieces can sustain a life of more than three decades, barely changed, and continue to attract thousands of audience members.

– The Adelaide Review Oct. 22, 2015 by ALEX PARRY

Beautiful, funny, disturbing and always fascinating, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch’s Nelken defies convention and expectation.

– InDaily, March 10, 2016 by Greg Elliott

Nelken is truly dance theatre, a fusion of voice, movement and music with choreography that draws on and at the same time informs the expression of the broadest range of emotions, from tears to laughter in a trice.

– The Advertiser, March 10, 2016 by Peter Burdon

Nelken is the German word for carnation, and the stage covered in pink flowers grabs the audience's attention. With Gershwin's "The Man I Love" playing in the background, a man appears and signs the lyrics. Male dancers in ill-fitting dresses bound gleefully through the flowers. Such playful scenes soon give way to those of oppression and humiliation, such as authoritarian figures asking to check passports. Although seemingly irrelevant to each other, various actions evoke a range of emotions in this entertaining and challenging work. Nelken is the creation of the late choreographer Pina Bausch who pioneered dance theater during her time as artistic director of Tanztheater Wuppertal in Germany, which continues to perform Nelken to enthusiastic audiences around the world.  

Pina Bausch

Born in 1940 in Solingen, Germany as Philippine Bausch, she gained international acclaim under her nickname Pina from nearby Wuppertal where the dance theater she directed until her death in 2009 was located. Bausch received dance training at the Folkwang School in Essen under Kurt Jooss, and achieved technical excellence. In 1973, the director of the Wuppertal Theaters Arno Wüstenhöfer appointed her head of the Wuppertal Ballet, which she renamed the Tanztheater Wuppertal. Under this name, this dance theater company produced programs that seemed initially controversial, but gradually achieved international recognition. The combination of poetic and everyday elements in its works decisively influenced the international development of dance. Awarded some of the greatest prizes and honors in dance worldwide, Bausch was one of the most significant choreographers of our time.

Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch

When Pina Bausch took over the dance department of the Wuppertal Theatres at the start of the 1973/74 season, she was the creative nucleus of the Tanztheater Wuppertal. With her credo "finding a language for life", Pina Bausch not only expanded the expressive potential of dance, but also fundamentally changed the art form itself.

The dance theater she developed differed completely from classical ballet companies. Pina Bausch unleashed a revolution in the performing arts which permanently altered the evolution of theater, and classical and modern dance, as well as influenced the work of a whole generation of choreographers.

Pina Bausch’s work has been characterized as "love of people, courage, interest in human depths and the ability to ask more questions than it answers". This is what the current artistic director Adolphe Binder wants to carry on into the future. Continuing to bring the Tanztheater Wuppertal up-to-date through constant evolution is undoubtedly what Pina Bausch would have wished. In one of her rare speeches, she said, "The questioning never ends, and the search never ends. There is something endless about it, and that is the beautiful thing."

Creative and Production Team

Intendant and Artistic Director / Adolphe Binder

Managing Diretor / Dirk Hesse

Choreography / Pina Bausch

Set Design / Peter Pabst

Costumes / Marion Cito

Dramaturgy / Raimund Hoghe

Musical Collaboration / Matthias Burkert

Music / Franz Schubert, George Gershwin, Franz Lehar, Louis Armstrong, Sophie Tucker, Quincy Jones, Richard Tauber and others

Collaboration / Hans Pop

Cast / Regina Advento, Pau Aran Gimeno, Emma Barrowman, Andrey Berezin, Michael Carter, Çağdaş Ermis, Silvia Farias Heredia, Jonathan Fredrickson, Scott Jennings, Milan Kampfer,  Douglas Letheren, Blanca Noguerol Ramírez, Breanna O´Mara,  Franko Schmidt, Julie Shanahan, Julie Anne Stanzak, Oleg Stepanov, Julian Stierle, Michael Strecker, Fernando Suels Mendoza, Tsai-Wei Tien, Stephanie Troyak, Aida Vainieri, Ophelia Young, Tsai-Chin Yu and othersn.

Stuntmen / Bodo Haack, Robert Schenker, Hendrik Mohr, Jürgen Klein