Pina Bausch established her Tanztheater Wuppertal in the early '70s. Working from a small town in Germany's industrial heartland, her company has built up an extraordinary international reputation with more than 35 productions to its name.
"Tenchi," the 12th international co-production of the Tanztheater Wuppertal, is the result of a long-established relationship with Saitama Arts Theater, who first invited Bausch to work with them when they opened 10 years ago. Bausch started research for this new work in November last year, when she and her company visited and took lessons in, among other things, Japanese language, budo (martial arts) and kendo, as well as conducting research into traditional Japanese crafts; they also participated in the local Chichibu night festival.
In this new work, her dancers seem to have engaged with the vernacular language both intellectually and physically; the piece is peppered with light-hearted as well as serious attempts at communication in Japanese. In the first half, each dancer comes to the front of the stage claiming to be researching a different aspect of the culture, in a parody of the ensemble's own ventures into Japanology. Other motifs drawn from Japanese martial arts have been incorporated into the dancer's own individual styles, and the final, heart-stopping rumba includes a moment where two dancers -- one in stilettos, the other in geta -- perform a kind of wild tap-dance.