Meryl Tankard on Pina Bausch

TODAY on the GWA Podcast: choreographer Meryl Tankard on her mentor and friend, the legendary dancer and choreographer: PINA BAUSCH (1940-2009). Artist, choreographer, visionary, and trailblazer in bringing dance into the modern world, Pina Bausch – one of the most popular names when it comes to artists' influences – was hailed for her raw, haunting, experimental dances, and all-encompassing productions. Born in 1940 in Germany in the midst of WW2, from an early age Pina took ballet and dance lessons. In the 1950s, a scholarship at Juilliard took her to NYC, a time of great artistic reinvention, and then back to Germany, where she founded Tanztheater Wuppertal and created her groundbreaking choreographies. While the group, at first, faced hostility, the crowd – and the world – soon realized her innovations. On the magic of dancing with Pina Bausch, Meryl told me: "Every time we moved it had an emotion behind it ... that's what really shocked everyone at the beginning, because dance had always hidden the pain, hidden the insecurities; we had beautiful hair and costumes. And Pina went, 'let's forget all that. Let's talk about what you are really feeling'. She choreographed vulnerability. She choreographed all our insecurities, and she put music to it. People were just like, wow, that's me. They could see themselves." I meet with Meryl Tankard on the occasion of her creating a new encounter with Bausch's piece "Kontakthof", with “Kontakthof – Echoes of ‘78”, to be performed at Sadler’s Wells here in London (7–11 April). With nine of the original dancers returning to their roles, the production will integrate projections of archival footage from the original performance, reflecting the passage of time since its creation. And I can't wait to find out more! THIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY THE LEVETT COLLECTION: //

You can listen to Meryl Tankard on Pina Bausch online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Meryl Tankard on Pina Bausch is an episode from The Great Women Artists by The Great Women Artists Podcast.

This episode is 00:43:41 long.

This episode was published on Mar 31, 2026.

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