Pina Bausch / Meryl Tankard: Kontakthof – Echoes of ’78 – Sadler’s Wells, London

Choreographer: Pina Bausch

Choreographer and Director: Meryl Tankard

The first performance of Pina Bausch’s Kontakthof was in 1978. Now, 48 years later, choreographer Meryl Tankard has gathered together the surviving original performers of the piece for a reinterpretation which looks back at that premiere and incorporates black-and-white footage of the event. Kontakthof – Echoes of ‘78 is part of Sadler’s Wells’ Elixir Festival 2026, which celebrates ageing through the medium of dance, and as such, it’s a perfect vehicle for exploring the wisdom of perspective as well as the resilience of the human body.

Kontakthof, for the most part, lends itself well as a dance piece to be performed by older people. Though there are parts of high exuberance, which the dancers handle well, a great deal of the movement consists of mannered gestures – manic smiles and stern grimaces. It’s fascinating to see these expressions as they have changed over the years. Tankard manipulates the footage in varying ways. At first, the figures appear singly projected as if they are holograms, ghosts of the past, then at other times the film covers the stage, which resembles – as in the 1978 performance – a vast village hall.

There’s a hit of poignancy when it becomes clear we’re watching footage of people who are no longer with us. The surviving dancers are left to interact with an invisible presence, which bears real symbolic weight. And in the process, the meaning of the piece is modulated. In its original performance time was already there as a theme, with 1930s German dancehall music providing the soundtrack for a tale of wooing on a dancefloor that has remained a constant throughout the years.

There’s a form of narrative to the choreography that inhabits an expressionistic theatrical space. Through the highly mannered, practised movements of a formal dance, its function as a kind of horrific mating ritual is laid bare. In a context where sensuality and love-making should be taking place, instead the women scream at the touch of the men who appear as predators, scraping their chairs across the hall in pursuit of their prey.

The humour can feel a little arch, but the portrayal of woman as object still hits home. Filtered through the lens of age, it’s as if the performers are remembering feelings rather than feeling them first-hand, communing with their younger selves whose presence on stage through the video footage is a strong one. The result is rather akin to a documentary, with the fourth wall being fully broken at the end of the first half when the dancers introduce themselves to us, telling us about their lives now.

The primal power of a straight interpretation is slightly lost in the process, as if the subject has become the dancers rather than Bausch’s piece itself, making it perhaps a rather niche introduction to her work, but a vital experience for the converted.

Runs until 11 April 2026