A LANGUAGE FOR LIVING

A unique revival with an all-Greek ensemble.
From 17 December, the National Theatre of Greece presents Kontakthof, one of the most iconic works by the great choreographer Pina Bausch, in a joint production with the Pina Bausch Foundation. It was first performed in Greece at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in September 1988 by the Tanztheater Wuppertal.

The artistic directors of this revival are Josephine Ann Endicott, a member of the original 1978 cast – and Pina’s longtime assistant – and Daphnis Kokkinos, a member of the Tanztheater Wuppertal and assistant to Pina since 1993.  The Foundation’s rehearsal directors for the production are Anne Martin – also a member of the original cast – and Scott Jennings. Kontakthof will be presented on the Main Stage of the Ziller Building by 23 exceptional Greek performers aged 21 to 55, who have been selected especially for this production.

Kontakthof premiered in 1978 at the Wuppertal Opera House. It is a milestone in Bausch’s early career and a key example of her collaboration with the set and costume designer Rolf Borzik, who shaped the company’s visual language during those defining years. The piece tours to this day, often performed by different generations. in 2000 it was “With Ladies and Gentlemen over 65” and in 2008 by teenagers aged 14 to 18 – each time posing anew the question of what “contact” means at various ages.

 “Kontakthof is a place where people meet who are searching for contact”, said Pina Bausch. “To show yourself, to deny yourself. With fears. Desire. Disappointments. Desperation. First Experiences. First attempts. Tenderness and what arises from it was an important theme in the work. [...] To show something of yourself, to overcome yourself." She herself, after all, was not interested in “how people move but what moves them” – emotions, desire, insecurity, the need for communication, loneliness.

As Endicott and Kokkinos, say, “What stands the test of time in Pina Bausch’s Kontakthof is the presence of people and their everyday lives on stage, revealing their desires, their insecurities, their longing for intimacy and love.”
 

Performance rights: Verlag der Autoren, Frankfurt am Main representing the Pina Bausch Foundation, Wuppertal