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A couple of months ago I had never heard of Pina Bausch, the famous modern dance choreographer. Actually, to be precise I had never really heard about modern dance. Now, having seen Wim Wenders' Pina and this documentary about a group of teenagers as they learn and ultimately perform her 1978 creation Kontakthof. Dancing Dreams turned out to be Bausch's last appearance on film before she died suddenly from cancer.The movie was something of a revelation to me. You see, I have to admit that three times I started to play my DVD screener. Twice, I fell asleep. The modern dance moves were going straight over my thick head. 'Is a young girl running around a stage laughing dementedly dance?', I was asking myself. Then there is the rehearsal of a scene when the lads and lasses seem to be taught how to touch each other. All very arty, don't you know. But, thereafter, the film starts to mix in interviews of the young people with scenes from their rehearsals and it all starts to make sense. These shy teenagers are pushing their boundaries. The dances reflect real life themes: love, death and suicide. Individuals seem to grow as the film goes on. And, as one learns about their real-life loves and even tragedies, so one is inwardly cheering them to dancing success. By the end of the movie, their gain in confidence and development as a group is truly impressive. For those who don't need a dot-to-dot guide to modern dance like me, this will be a fascinating insight into the world of Pina and her dedicated lieutenants Josephine Anne Endicott and Benedicte Billet. The support and motivation of their charges is really something to behold. So, who would have thought it? Man with two left feet pays tribute to film about modern dance. It seems that everyfilmin2011 has become more than a blog - it is an enlightenment! Thanks to Harriet at Soda Pictures for my screener. I'm giving this 7/10 |
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