An encounter between two of the most remarkable women artists of the 20th century, ONE DAY PINA ASKED... is Chantal Akerman's look at the work of choreographer Pina Bausch and her Wuppertal, Germany-based dance company. "This film is more than a documentary on Pina Bausch," a narrator announces at the outset, "it is a journey through her world, through her unwavering quest for love."
Capturing the company's rehearsals and performances over a five-week European tour, Akerman takes us inside their process. She interviews members of the company, who Bausch chose not only for their talents, but for certain intangible personal qualities as well. The dancers describe the development of various dances, and the way that Bausch calls upon them to supply autobiographical details around which the performances were frequently built.
"Akerman's film is a work of modestly daring wonder, of exploration and inspiration. With her audacious compositions, decisive cuts, and tightrope-tremulous sense of time-and her stark simplicity-it shares the immediate exhilaration of the moment of creation. Akerman's film is of a piece with Bausch's dances."—Richard Brody, The New Yorker
Up Next in Dance (& dancers)
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Pol Pot Dancing
Directed by Enrique Sánchez Lansch • Documentary • 2024 • 101 minutes
Chea Samy was a renowned soloist in Cambodia’s royal dance ensemble in the 1930s—and Pol Pot’s foster mother. After marrying his older brother, she raised him as her own until he vanished into the underground. In 1975, like mi...
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Gallant Indies
Directed by Philippe Béziat • Documentary • 2022 • 109 minutes
Based on Jean-Philippe Rameau’s opera-ballet that was directed by Clément Cogitore for the Opéra National de Paris.
In 2019, eight opera singers and 30 dancers from a wide variety of artistic and demographic backgrounds convened at ...
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Rebels on Pointe
Directed by Bobbi Jo Hart • Documentary • 2016 • 90 minutes
Exploring universal themes of identity, dreams and family, REBELS ON POINTE is the first-ever documentary film celebrating the world famous Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. The notorious all-male, drag ballet company was founded o...
