Kurt Jooss - Commitment To Dance | Documentary on the Choreographer (featuring Pina Bausch)

Kurt Jooss (1901-79) was a famous German ballet dancer and choreographer mixing classical ballet with theatre; he is also widely regarded as the founder of Tanztheater and is noted for establishing several dance companies, including most notably, the Folkwang Tanztheater, in Essen. A student of the great movement theorist Rudolf von Laban, Jooss pioneered a new form of dance-drama by blending modem and classical idioms. As a teacher and mentor, he left his mark on the creativity of such choreographers as Birgit Cullberg and Pina Bausch. He was a man of confirmed humanitarian and political convictions that he expressed in his work, the supreme example being his masterpiece, the anti-war ballet The Green Table. Subscribe to wocomoMUSIC: Follow us on Facebook: This documentary portrait guides us through Jooss’s life, which was challenged by the political and humanitarian disaster that the national-socialist regime brought upon the world, and the experience of exile and uprooting. It recalls Jooss’s life as a dancer, choreographer and teacher, and examines his influence as a pioneer of modem dance theatre. The film contains a wealth of archive material, including home-movie footage; numerous performance extracts, some not seen on television before; and an interview with Jooss himself. Jooss’s daughter, Anna Markard, has specialized in producing her father’s ballets with companies around the world and has undertaken copious research to enable her to stage faithful reconstructions. In this program, she is seen rehearsing The Green Table with both the Ljubljana Ballet and members of the Lyon Dance Conservatory, and talks about her relationship with her father. Other contributors include Pina Bausch, Jean Cébron and Noelle de Mosa who both worked with Jooss; and his biographer Patricia Stockemann. © 2001, Licensed by Digital Classics Distribution