Trippy': the Pina Bausch classic being revived by its original cast dancing' with their younger selves

"Theatres are haunted houses: on any stage, the ghosts of past performances can rise. At the opera house in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia, you can imagine the decades-ago premieres of Pina Bausch's first potent tanztheater shows, which left audiences either enraptured or slamming the exit door. An original cast member may still appear in revivals today, giving a tantalising link to the history of a company now packed with dancers who joined after the German choreographer's death in 2009."

"But tonight a full house in Wuppertal is watching Bausch's classic Kontakthof delivered by a cast of nine, all of whom created it here almost 50 years ago. And they are accompanied by ethereal archive footage of the production from 1978, blown up to a dizzying scale. It is uncanny and moving to see them enter, in monochrome outfits, their steps mirroring those from the black and white film projected on an enormous gauze screen."

"Kontakthof was first staged with 20 dancers and those who have not returned for this iteration some of them deceased remain frozen in time in film, accompanying tonight's cast who have more than doubled in age since. I walked in like Joan Crawford wearing red lipstick and fur coat. Pina gave me a smile A scene with two performers in 1978 is recreated with just one, the missing member's absence keenly felt."

A full house in Wuppertal watches Kontakthof performed by nine original cast members nearly 50 years after its creation. Ethereal 1978 archive footage is blown up and projected on an enormous gauze screen so the dancers' younger images loom over the aged performers. Some original dancers are deceased and remain present only in film, while others return to perform sequences, recreating moments with missing partners. The performance blends past and present through mirrored steps, amplified cries, and a round of candid confessions from the cast. Personal revelations include longing for children, grief for a mother, and reflections on resilience and reliability. The work evokes Stephen Sondheim's Follies through the interplay of aged bodies and onstage memory.

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