Working at Sadler's Wells meant that I had the wonderful opportunity to be in the presence of the dance theatre visionary, Pina Bausch. I had a little task of buying bundles of pink carnations at the Covent Garden flower market to decorate an after-party of her production of Nelken, performed by her company, Tanztheater Wuppertal. Everyone quietened at the sight of Pina as she smoked and spoke, all elbows and wrists and a ballerina's tight bun. She changed the language of European dance so fair enough that she was allowed to puff away next to the no-smoking signs on the Sadler's mezzanine.
Pina passed away last week. And while nobody was buying forged tickets for her tribute on e-bay and elephants were not paraded in Wuppertal, Germany, her work ( glorious and stark and true) will be celebrated through performance for many moons to come.
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