2019
Granville Island, Vancouver, BC
On the grounds of The Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, Deer Lake, Burnaby, BC

The Nelken Line Vancouver Project was lead by Kinesis Dance Artistic Director Paras Terezakis and performed by twenty dancers paired with twenty novice community performers. Conductor Tim Sars lead the Vancouver Carnival Band in playing the Nelken Line theme, Louis Armstrong’s West End Blues. Additional members of creative team include Media Artist Sammy Chien and Scenographer, Andreas Kahre.

This project came by the invitation of the Pina Bausch Foundation to the global dance community. The Foundation developed this project as part of their mission to keep the choreographic legacy of Pina Bausch alive. Pina Bausch was the high priestess of dance theatre from the 1970’s until her death in 2009. She was a German born choreographer, a commanding presence and archetypal figurehead whose penetrating artistic vision provided a rare window into the human heart. In high contrast to the cool experimental dance work of her time, Pina’s works delved deeply into the human condition and often explored themes of desire, love, illusion, disappointment and obsession embracing both the heights and the hell of human nature. She confessed to being inspired by real-life feelings and the experiences that her dancers brought into the studio.

During the filming in 2009 of the Wim Wenders’ film PINA, she unexpectedly died. Wenders cancelled the production, but the devoted dancers of Pina’s Tanztheater Wuppertal convinced him to complete the film. The film brought her work to an even greater level of fame. William Forsythe claimed. “Pina basically re-invented dance… She was a category of dance into herself.”

When talking about her own work Pina Bausch once said, “I loved to dance because I was scared to speak. When I was moving, I could feel.”

After her death, the Tanztheater Dancers kept the Company together, continued performing her repertoire and create unique opportunities to keep her legacy alive. In 2017, The Pina Bausch Foundation sent an invitation worldwide to “Join The Nelken Line” also known as The Seasons or The Carnation Line. “Lines” are a recurring element in many of her works, lines are sequences of movement with repetitive steps and gestures that the dancers perform standing in a long queue. In the Nelken Line there are four distinct gestures that represents the alternation of the four seasons.

The Foundation asks that those who take up the Nelken Line challenge not only perform it but make a video recording of their live event that provide back to the Foundation to be shared worldwide on their digital platform. In this way, all Nelken Line projects can be seen and enjoyed globally.

When local Arts Producer, Carolyn Lair saw the Pina Bausch Foundation invitation, she thought a West Coast Canadian production would not only celebrate Bausch but also feature the extraordinary talent of our local dancers, performers and media artists. When she took the idea to Kinesis Dance somatheatro Artistic Director, Paras Terezakis, he agreed it was a great project to take on. Paras in turn invited artists Sammy Chien and Andreas Kahre to join the project.

Two videos were created from the two performances: one by Sammy Chien – Chimerik Collective; one by Chris Randle.