Press Release: Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch returns to Sadler's Wells with Viktor - February 2018

[Jan McNulty]

Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch 
Viktor
Thursday 8 - Sunday 11 February 2018
Performances: Thursday - Saturday at 7.30pm, Sunday at 4pm
Tickets: £12 - £60
Ticket Office: 020 7863 8000 or www.sadlerswells.com

Viktor, created by the endlessly inventive Pina Bausch, returns to Sadler’s Wells from Thursday 8 - Sunday 11 February 2018. The piece, an international co-production with Teatro Argentino and the City of Rome, is performed by the legendary Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, a Sadler’s Wells International Associate Company.



In 1986, the city of Rome invited Pina Bausch and her company to make a piece inspired by the Eternal City. Viktor turned out to be the first of Pina Bausch’s epic travelogues, a series which took her company around the world for inspiration-gathering residencies. Living in each city for a period of time, her renowned company would then return to Wuppertal to create a new work inspired by their visit. The piece has previously been performed at Sadler’s Wells in 1999 and again as part of the World Cities series in 2012.

Deep in the muddy depths of a grave which is still being dug, a corpse couple are united in a macabre marriage and a woman is transformed into a water fountain. Viktor is set to music which spans centuries and continents: folk music from Italy, waltzes from Russia and dance music from the Middle Ages to the 1930s. Pina Bausch directed and choreographed Viktor, with set designs by Peter Pabst, costume designs by Marion Cito and music in collaboration with Matthias Burkert.

Renowned as the inventor of tanztheater, and widely regarded as one of the most significant influences in contemporary dance, Pina Bausch has inspired generations of audiences and artists all over the world, nurturing an ensemble of vivid imagination and grand scale. Since her death in 2009, the company has continued to tour with her choreographic works around the world. Earlier this year, Adolphe Binder joined the company as Intendant and Artistic Director. In 2018, the company will create new pieces in Wuppertal with guest choreographers for the first time. Dimitris Papaioannou will create New Piece I with the company and New Piece II will be by Alan Lucian Øyen.

Contains nudity

Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch is a Sadler’s Wells International Associate Company


NOTES TO EDITORS

ABOUT SADLER’S WELLS
Sadler’s Wells is a world-leading creative organisation dedicated to dance in all its forms. With over three centuries of theatrical heritage and a year-round programme of performances and learning activities, its goal is to motivate everyone to experience dance – to take part, learn, experiment and be inspired. Audiences of over half a million come to Sadler’s Wells’ London theatres each year, with many more enjoying its touring productions at partner venues across the UK and around the world, or accessing its content through digital channels. 
Sadler’s Wells commissions and presents more new dance work than any other theatre in the world, embracing the popular and the unknown. Since 2005, it has helped to bring over 140 new dance works to the stage, many of them involving its 16 Associate Artists, three Resident Companies and four Associate Companies – the most exciting talents working in dance today. It also nurtures the next generation of talent through its artist development initiatives, and reaches over 25,000 annually through its learning and engagement programmes
Located in Islington, north London, the current theatre is the sixth to have stood on the site since it was first built by entrepreneur Richard Sadler in 1683. The venue has played an illustrious role in the history of theatre ever since with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and English National Opera having all started at Sadler’s Wells. Sadler’s Wells is a charity and a National Portfolio Organisation, currently receiving 10% of its revenue from Arts Council England.

ABOUT PINA BAUSCH
Pina Bausch was born in Solingen in 1940. She received her dance training at the Folkwang School in Essen under Kurt Jooss, where she achieved technical excellence. Beginning her work as a choreographer in 1968, Pina Bausch invented tanztheater as it is known today. 
Bausch’s initially controversial fusion of radical theatre, surreal art, drama and danced body language, gradually achieved international recognition for the company. Her original approach to theatre and dance influenced the international development of dance and inspired not only a generation of choreographers, but also theatre makers, visual artists and filmmakers. Awarded some of the greatest prizes and honours world-wide, Pina Bausch is one of the most significant choreographers of contemporary dance.
During 36 years as Artistic Director of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, she nurtured an ensemble of vivid imagination and grand scale and developed an artistic canon renowned for its diverse cultural influences and rich visual style. Since her death in 2009, the company continues to tour all over the world and presents between 11 and 14 different pieces by Pina Bausch each season.