Sensitively and perceptively, Pina Bausch processed the world that surrounded her. Her »Kontakthof« condenses the forms of human interaction shaped by social constraints and clichéd behaviour. Pop music and tangos evoke the stuffy, harmless atmosphere in which ritualised formalities turn brusquely into unbridled extremes. After the low-contact period, the work, which premiered on 9 December 1978, lays its fingers in acute wounds: Strangeness, rapprochement, fear, longing, lust, violence, hatred. Our view of the existential relevance and simultaneous excessive demands of interpersonal relationships has been particularly sharpened in the past one and a half years.

The performance rights are held by the authors' publishing house, representing the Pina Bausch Foundation. The excerpt from the film »Lebensraum in Gefahr« by Theo Kubiak is performed with the kind permission of the author and Radio Bremen.

Interview with Bettina Wagner-Bergelt (german)