Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Viktor

In 1986, the city of Rome invited contemporary dance luminary Pina Bausch and her company, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, to devise a piece inspired by the Eternal City.

The darkly comic result, Viktor, ended up being the first of the late Bausch’s travelogues, a series which took her company around the world on residencies. The dancers lived in each city for a while, soaking up the soul of the place, before returning to Wuppertal to produce intriguing new creations based on their impressions.

First performed at Sadler’s Wells in 1999, Viktor was last seen there as part of the World Cities series in 2012, a posthumous celebration of Bausch’s talent.

An intense work, Viktor sees 29 dancers performing in what looks like an archaeological dig. Here, in the muddy depths of a grave which is still being dug, a dead couple are united in a macabre marriage, and a woman is transformed into a water fountain.

Bausch, who died in 2009 aged 68, blurred the boundaries between dance, theatre and opera. She choreographed Viktor to music which spans centuries and continents: folk music from Italy, waltzes from Russia and dance music from the Middle Ages to the 1930s.

Danced by Pina’s legendary company, now a Sadler’s Wells International Associate Company, Viktor demands that audience members immerse themselves in each image as it engulfs the stage.

Bausch’s work has always been about imagination and showing a snapshot of life as she saw it. Catch Viktor if you are willing to embrace the absurd and won’t be put off by the unexpected – or the lengthy running time!