Like Woody Allen, German choreographer Pina Bausch in her late years turned to a travelogue format, visiting foreign lands and building sprawling dance-theater works about them: Turkey, Hong Kong, Italy. Her final work (she died suddenly, in 2009, at 68) references Chile, a conceit mostly noticeable in the music.
The structure of “… como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si …” will be familiar to Bausch fans: beautiful women in fabulous gowns submit to and dominate childlike guys. Courtly males kiss the hands of their targets. Sexual byplay is never far from the surface, but the charm of the long piece lies in the way it captures the playfulness of children.
A young man slips out of a woman’s persistent embraces. A guy attacks a girl with red chiffon. The female performers use their long hair like a fifth limb, flailing it as they fling themselves across the white floor. The dancers are terrific.
“Musguito” is episodic, and it ends where it begins, with a woman in white crawling on hands and knees. The adoring crowd cheers.
The run is sold out, but show up at 6:30 and get on the waiting list, or stand outside with a sign and plead for tickets. It’s worth the hassle. Or rent Wim Wenders’ Oscar-nominated doc “Pina” and grieve quietly at home.
If you go
Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch
Through Saturday
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
30 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn
Sold out
718-636-4100
