Poetry and Dance
Lyriktribute to Pina Bausch (Satis Shroff)
POETRY AND DANCE (Satis Shroff)
Her images were unusual,
Shocking to some.
Dancers
Jeering and tormenting
Other dancers.
Dancers
Throwing ripe tomatoes
At each other.
Instead of the bastinado,
Lighters held on the soles
Of other dancers.
Women were women
And men were men,
In Pina’s world.
No melange
Of oestrogens and testosterons,
No X and Y
Chromosomes.
Her women wore scarlet lips,
You were tormented with ballet:
Adagio, flips and turns,
Carried out rigorously.
In the ‘Rite of Spring’
The dancers were covered with soil.
In ‘1980’ there was a lawn.
In ‘Carnations’ the Nelken were crushed
On stage.
In ‘Palermo, Palermo’
A tall wall fell apart.
That was Pina Bausch live.
We’ll miss the facial muscles
Of her performers,
Her own dance choreography,
Warning us all
To stop ruining the Umwelt
Of this precious planet.
A high priestess,
A courageous stage poet,
Who threw constantly
Challenges,
With her mute, energetic
Choreography.
The poetess is gone.
What remains are her images,
Long after the dancers
With their flailing hands,
Have vanished into oblivion.
A numbness lingers
At the Tanztheater Wuppertal.
Exit Pina Bausch
At the age of 68.
Copyright © Satis Shroff | Year Posted 2021
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