Wim Wenders’ PINA, showed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, is a beautifully directed and edited documentary.  So much is revealed , clearly and vividly, without much dialogue. We learn that Pina Bausch had a deep sense of humanity. She understood people and emotions. We experience sadness, longing, anger, love, struggle, fear and loss throughout the film. Bausch was intent on getting the point across that dance is necessary to life. “Dance, Dance or all is lost,” is what we hear her say at the film’s conclusion. Unfortunately, Pina Bausch died just before this documentary was made.

A lack of dialogue could have a negative effect on a documentary, but here it prompts us to interpret the film and its dances in our own way. PINA features interviews of Bausch’s colleagues who, unusually, don’t speak. During the interviews that are interspersed between dance excerpts, we only hear the voices of the dancers as they stare out at us. Within each segment, Bausch’s colleagues share memories of their interactions with her. Many said that they felt she was the only person who could “really” see them. We sense Bausch’s over-bearing, yet detached presence even with her very few appearances (as part of older film clips) in the movie.

The actual movements in Bausch’s choreography cut  to the essence of an experience. It is almost spiritual. One of the first dance excerpts shown is from “Le Sacre du Printemps.” It reminds me of a scene in the movie based on Arthur Miller’s play, “The Crucible,” where all the towns’ girls are in the woods having a séance of sorts. We see in “Le Sacre…” that each woman takes a chance of giving her virginity (the sheer red scarf symbolizes virginity) away to no avail. When one of them is finally able to do so, she is given to a male elder. After the woman gives away her virginity, all the other women in the group shun her.  Bausch shows human beings at their most raw and primal with honesty.

Bausch incorporated natural elements into her dances: water, boulders, and mountains of dirt were put on stage. In his film, Wenders mirrors the choreographer by putting her dancers into outdoor settings: a tram, a park, a stream, a shopping mall, and finally a huge rock quarry.

PINA was eye opening. I was exposed to a new style of dance- Tanztheater- and I realized as Bausch’s company of dancers from all over the world spoke, that dance is a universal language which speaks to people from all walks of life and cultures.

This film has changed my perspective on what dance is supposed to be and how it can be received.