On a stage carpeted with 8,000 carnations in bloom—a vast field in shades of pink—Alsatian dogs on leashes patrol menacingly, men in drag bunny-hop for a passport check, and children are screamed at. What else could this be but a work by the inimitable Pina Bausch? Nelken (Carnations) opens tonight in Wuppertal, Germany, 42 years after its first performance, in 1982, which was seven years before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Nelken is a perfect example of the genre that Bausch pretty much invented—Tanztheater (dance theater). As in most of her work, dance as we know it is nowhere to be seen. And linear plotlines? None. Expect to see a relentless repetition of vignettes that explore many corners of the human condition. Expect charismatic performers reaching through the fourth wall. (“You want to see more?” we are asked.) Expect absurdity bordering on nonsense, then sudden poignancy.
