Meryl Tankard on Pina Bausch

The Great Women Artists

Katy Hessel

Arts

4.8 • 944 Ratings

🗓️ 31 March 2026

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

TODAY on the GWA Podcast: choreographer Meryl Tankard on her mentor and friend, the legendary dancer and choreographer: PINA BAUSCH (1940-2009). Artist, choreographer, visionary, and trailblazer in bringing dance into the modern world, Pina Bausch – one of the most popular names when it comes to artists' influences – was hailed for her raw, haunting, experimental dances, and all-encompassing productions. Born in 1940 in Germany in the midst of WW2, from an early age Pina took ballet and dance lessons. In the 1950s, a scholarship at Juilliard took her to NYC, a time of great artistic reinvention, and then back to Germany, where she founded Tanztheater Wuppertal and created her groundbreaking choreographies. While the group, at first, faced hostility, the crowd – and the world – soon realized her innovations. On the magic of dancing with Pina Bausch, Meryl told me: "Every time we moved it had an emotion behind it ... that's what really shocked everyone at the beginning, because dance had always hidden the pain, hidden the insecurities; we had beautiful hair and costumes. And Pina went, 'let's forget all that. Let's talk about what you are really feeling'. She choreographed vulnerability. She choreographed all our insecurities, and she put music to it. People were just like, wow, that's me. They could see themselves." I meet with Meryl Tankard on the occasion of her creating a new encounter with Bausch's piece "Kontakthof", with “Kontakthof – Echoes of ‘78”, to be performed at Sadler’s Wells here in London (7–11 April). With nine of the original dancers returning to their roles, the production will integrate projections of archival footage from the original performance, reflecting the passage of time since its creation. And I can't wait to find out more! THIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY THE LEVETT COLLECTION: https://www.famm.com/en/ https://www.instagram.com/famm_mougins // https://www.merrellpublishers.com/9781858947037 Follow us: Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel Sound editing by Nada Smiljanic Music by Ben Wetherfield "Kontakthof – Echoes of '78" https://www.sadlerswells.com/on-tour/current-productions/kontakthof-echoes-of-78/

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome back to the Great Women Artists podcast. I'm very excited to bring you
0:06.6	today's episode, but just before we get to our sponsor, I am delighted to say that my new book,
0:11.7	The Story of Art Without Men, an illustrated guide to amazing women artists for younger readers,
0:17.8	or anyone, to be honest, is out now. You can buy it from your local bookshop
0:22.7	or wherever you get your books. And I'm thrilled to say that this series is supported by the
0:27.7	Levit Collection, a vast and varied art collection, and which in the last eight years has become
0:33.6	entirely focused on works by women artists. You can find much of this made up of
0:39.2	impressionists, surrealist, abstract expressionists, contemporary artists and more at FAM in Mujan in
0:45.6	France, the first museum in the world outside of the USA to have a permanent collection
0:50.9	dedicated to major female artists. It's spearheaded by Christian Levitt,
0:55.5	who has published three research books in this area. Located in the heart of the historic village
1:01.1	of Mujan Nican in the south of France, FAM features a stunning collection of nearly 100 works
1:07.0	by 90 internationally acclaimed and emerging female artists. The impressive exhibition of
1:12.5	paintings, sculptures and photographs from the Levitt Collection highlights the creative brilliance
1:17.6	of women who have played pivotal roles in shaping some of the major artistic movements,
1:22.7	from Impressionism to contemporary art. It's only 30 minutes away from Nice Airport,
1:29.0	and FAM, which stands for Female Art artists of the Mujan Museum, is open every day. And for further information and bookings,
1:35.3	please visit www.famfamfablem.com. I hope you enjoy this episode.
1:47.0	Hello, everyone. I hope you enjoy this episode. Hello everyone and welcome to The Great Women Artist podcast with me, Katie Hessel.
1:53.0	Some of you might know me from The Great Women Artists, an Instagram account I set up in October 2015,
1:59.0	which celebrates female artists on a daily basis, ranging
2:02.5	from young graduates to old masters. Well, in a similar fashion to the Instagram, this podcast
	...

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