„Kontakthof“ – Rhythmus und Bewegungsinteraktion bei Pina Bausch

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this essay is to investigate “moments of meeting” (Stern 2005) and rhythms of interruption in Pina Bausch’s piece “Kontakthof” (i.e., the version “Kontakthof with Ladies and Gentlemen over »65«”, 2007). Combining the perspective of microanalysis and a close reading of two significant scenes of the piece with a macroanalysis of dance aesthetics and questions of framing in theatre theory, contextualising “Kontakthof” within the history of “Tanztheater” (the 70s/80s in post-war Germany), the article shows how the composition and bodily articulation of movement interactions are constituted between the dancers and the audience. The “Ponyriding” scene is based on rhythms of transgression touching the boundaries both between male and female dancers and between performers and audience. A close reading of the “Tango-Scene” shows how the rhythms of moving together and the disbalances between interruption in the movements and gestures of a “tango” can be compared with performative processes of turn-taking in language interaction.