Dancing Grandmothers

Eun-Me Ahn, the visionary of South Korean dance, once again takes a close look at the society of her home country. In "Dancing Grandmothers", the choreographer and companion of Pina Bausch unites her company ensemble with South Korean grandmothers, who give the production its name.

On a research trip through South Korea in 2010, Eun-Me Ahn approached various grandmothers and asked them to dance for her at the edge of a field, a bus stop, in the hairdressing salon, or in the shopping center. She then filmed the women and the joy they conveyed through their movements. The carefree expression of bliss stood at odds with the histories of harsh living conditions inscribed into the ageing bodies. Eun-Me Ahn met women who experienced the Second World War, the Korean War, and the rapid technologization of the country: "Whenever we met a grandmother, the modern history of Korea came alive through their bodies, as if they were a history book of our country, more concrete than any written or spoken word."