Have you heard of Pina?

After 10 years apart Pina and I are finally re-united. Hanging over my bed in my family home, this special gift, signed by Pina herself for my 18th Birthday, has been reminding me to always seek for new inspirations, trying new dance forms, experiment, find my own style and never let go of dance. For those who haven’t heard the name Pina Bausch before, let me introduce you to the most astonishing dancer, choreographer and artist, who inspired me since I was a young girl. She created a dance form now known as Tanztheater (Dance Theatre) and was one of the first to shift from ballet into modern dance. Her imagination had no limits. She would fill the stage with sand, or let the dancers perform in water, she experimented with sound and with movement. Her choreographies are still danced all around the world, like in the recent production at Sadler’s Wells She Persisted (which I have of course seen).

And the appearance of a “strange lady on the wall”- as described by my oldest daughter, has of course triggered many questions about my dance history. Here just a few, of many, photos which I dug out for the little ones. Enjoy!