Pina Resonates with Student Dance Fans

In honor of the Kevin P. Mahaney ’84 Center for the Arts’ 20th anniversary season, this year’s Clifford Symposium was dedicated to the arts. Titled “Creativity and Collaboration,” the symposium was an appropriately collaborative effort backed by numerous sponsors, ranging from the history department to the environmental studies program.

In addition the Hirschfield Film Series partnered with the film and dance departments to show Pina — a documentary tribute to the late choreographer, Pina Bausch.

A dazzling performer, teacher and director, Pina Bausch has been an influential force in German expressionist dance since the 1970s.

She died in June 2009 before she could begin shooting footage for a film that would capture her deep love for dance.

In collaboration with Bausch’s family and the dancers in her company, director Wim Wenders completed the film, which was screened in Dana Auditorium on Saturday, the 29th.

The film garnered positive reviews, especially amongst dance fans like Hai Do Son ’14.

“I’m overwhelmed,” he said after the screening. “I loved it.”

Son had been looking forward to Pina for weeks, even blocking out time for the screening on his calendar.

“I had that time reserved for Pina,” he joked.

The movie itself fully immerses the viewer in the world of dance.

Following the dedication, the viewer plunges straight into Pina’s surrealist, modern choreography, with shots of her most famous pieces performed on stage and in outdoor city locations.

The film centers around the idea of visual evocations, focusing on provocative images rather than dialogue to illustrate the emotive elements of Bausch’s choreography and dance.

For viewers unfamiliar with modern dance, the movie might seem slightly confusing.

Jonathan Fall ’13, decided to see the film because he had heard good things, not because he had any background or interest in dance.

Although he liked the film overall, he believed dancers might take away much more from it.

“I don’t think I really got it,” he said after the screening.“The film is from a dancer’s mindset, and so I think it’s hard for people not in that mindset to understand.”

Bianca Giaever ’12.5, an independent scholar and narrative studies major, found the film’s expression of a dancer’s mindset appealing.

She credited both the film and dance courses she is taking this semester with sparking her interest in the crossover between the two.

“I’m watching the film now thinking about what it’s like to do the movements and how interesting it would be for me to make a film about dance,” she said.

While Giaever took much away from the screening of Pina and other events at this year’s symposium, she wished that overall student attendance had been higher.

“The audiences were mostly people from the community, with just a sprinkle of students and a lot of professors,” she said.

“I don’t know why, because the events were great. I saw some of the best lectures and performances this weekend.”