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Thursday, December 18, 2008

Bausch's India-infused soul

Last night, I saw Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch's Bamboo Blues at Brooklyn Academy of Music. For the most part, it's pure and relentless eye-candy, driven by a personal feeling about India--atmospheric, romantic, seductive, mesmeric. The piece runs two hours and twenty minutes--a considerable time investment. The first half's visual and movement motifs, although gorgeous, look so repetitious and indulgent and shallow that they do not inspire confidence in the whole.

But I stayed put.

I realized that Bausch was giving us something deliberate and genuine, something of herself, and we could make of it what we wished. All her choices were valid and apt. Bamboo Blues was a dreamy, languourous walk and a delirious gallop through her interior experience of India.

("Train comes, I don't know it's destination," sing the Sugababes in the show's soundtrack, "It's a one way ticket to a madman's situation.")

By the second half, I'd either found enough to draw me in--especially the music, and extra-especially my beloved 4Hero, and captivating dancing by Shantala Shivalingappa and others--or any resistance had been steadily worn down. Yes, by that point, I think I had become engulfed by all the billowing silk curtains of Bausch's mind.

Bamboo Blues continues at the BAM Gilman Opera House through Saturday evening.

Information and ticketing

And here's a review by dance blogger Evan on Dancing Perfectly Free blog.

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