iMuseo Teatrale alla ScalaCentro Storico
Pina Bausch, Le Sacre du printemps
Rare photographs from the Pina Bausch Foundation archive of the rehearsals for Le Sacre du printemps, ahead of its first staging by the La Scala Ballet.
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You meet Pina Bausch from behind: long hair down, hands on her hips, watching her dancers on a floor of dark earth. Ulli Weiss took the photograph in 1978 while ZDF filmed the piece in Hamburg, and a rare recording from that shoot plays here too.
The Pina Bausch Foundation chose the images from its archive and set their order, on 18 panels in the Ridotto dei Palchi, the foyer La Scala's audiences cross at the interval. The first are Rolf Borzik's, who designed the sets and costumes, shot in the Wuppertal rehearsal room in 1975; the rest follow the company on stage up to 1995. Quotes from the original dancers fill in the effort behind it.
It's here because La Scala's own ballet company dances Bausch's Sacre for the first time, 7 to 21 November, after Balanchine's Apollo. Museum visitors walk through the room, open daily 9:30 to 17:30 (last entry 17:00), until 22 November.
Look for
Bausch with her back to you
Look for the choreographer in black, hands on hips, watching the ensemble on the earth-covered floor during ZDF's 1978 filming in Hamburg.
The first Chosen One
At the 1975 Wuppertal premiere, Marlis Alt stares out wide-eyed in a thin slip dress while Jan Minarik's hand rests on her shoulder.
The contact sheets
Whole strips of Ulli Weiss's Kodak film from 1981 and 1986 run down one panel, the ensemble frame by frame.
Borzik's rehearsal room
The show's own designer photographed the 1975 rehearsals in the Wuppertal dance studio: dancers in black practice clothes and long skirts, arms flung back.
Finola Cronin's bathtub
On the quotes panel she recalls lying in the bath most afternoons, then going back to repeat the same movement for another two hours.
Good for
- An Hour Or Less
- Nerding Out
- Out-Of-Town Guests
Skip if
You want costumes or objects: this is photographs on 18 panels plus video.
Also at Museo Teatrale alla Scala
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Image credits
8
- Pina Bausch, Le Sacre du printempsCourtesy of Museo Teatrale alla Scala
- LIBERE! 1946-2026. Le conquiste delle donneGianni Berengo Gardin / Contrasto
- Un Tiziano per MilanoCourtesy of Museo Poldi Pezzoli
- Museo Teatrale alla ScalaDaniel Case / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Gallerie d'Italia MilanoJwslubbock / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Museo Poldi PezzoliPaolobon140 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Palazzo CitterioGiovanni Dall'Orto / Wikimedia Commons
- Museo del NovecentoFred Romero / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0