Today we had a rehearsal for Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring. I’m in my 23rd year of dancing this work, and there are still many new things to discover. I first performed it as a student, and then joined the Tanztheater Wuppertal in 1995. I come from Venezuela, and never imagined I would spend so many years in Germany. Wuppertal is part of Pina’s history, an aspect of her philosophy. She was loyal. People may have thought the company should be based in Berlin or another big city, but she stayed here. It’s the right environment for the work – we don’t have so many distractions.
There has been no change in the work since Pina died. We have a contemporary or ballet class in the morning, then a rehearsal, a break, and a performance or more rehearsals in the evening. The routine and rhythm are very helpful in keeping you going. I have a strong connection to morning class – if I miss it, I feel unprepared for what is coming. I enjoy it very much – we’re all together, starting the day’s journey.
Sometimes I’m too tired after the previous night’s performance. Vollmond, for example, is a very heavy piece – we’re moving in water, so your muscles get tired and need more time to recover. In that case, I’ll do my own warm-up and stretching. As you get older, how you use your energy is completely different. In my 20s, I might have been more energetic, but with the experience of years I realise that you need to look for it in another place.
The work is very theatrical, but we don’t have any acting classes – we never did. We’re not actors. Pina put us in situations where people might feel we were acting, but we’re not. We might have been talking about something that happened to us, and she put it on stage. But I do scream a lot on stage, so I have taken advice about protecting my voice.
Pina constructed a season so that, with so many pieces, we were always rehearsing. We didn’t do a long run of any single piece, so there was no time to get stale. Also, if you have been involved in the creation of a particular piece, it feels personal, and it’s nice to go back.
People think we must all know each other intimately, because we spend so much time together. You know each other so well, you’re on stage screaming and crying and laughing – but it’s healthy to live beyond the company. There are dancers I’ve known for more than 20 years, but I’ve never visited their apartments.
It is too early to say how much will change now that we are making new pieces again. We have just made our first creations for six years, but did them in a very short time. It’s just the start. We didn’t work with anybody other than Pina for all these years – it is like another door opening. New dancers are coming into the company, and it is very exciting to see what they bring to the work.
I’m so grateful to have met Pina – I learned to be totally present, to not hold back and enjoy the moment. I don’t know how long I can continue – there are bodily limitations, but each season I’m grateful to be doing these pieces, and enjoy them even more. If you asked me what I’d be doing in two years, I couldn’t say – but I’m enjoying the present.
- „…como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si…“ (Like Moss on a Stone) is at Sadler’s Wells, London, 11-14 February. Box office: 020 7863 8000.
