{"id":44536,"date":"2020-02-02T09:47:14","date_gmt":"2020-02-02T09:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/?p=44536"},"modified":"2026-04-16T11:33:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T11:33:48","slug":"the-legal-dispute-between-tanztheater-wuppertal-pina-bausch-gmbh-and-its-intendant-artistic-director-adolphe-binder-has-been-ended","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/the-legal-dispute-between-tanztheater-wuppertal-pina-bausch-gmbh-and-its-intendant-artistic-director-adolphe-binder-has-been-ended\/","title":{"rendered":"The legal dispute between Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch GmbH and its Intendant (artistic director) Adolphe Binder has been ended."},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite the unlawful termination of her contract (the dismissal was rejected by three labor courts), the parties have agreed to stop additional litigation not to strain the future of Tanztheater. Due to the remaining different views regarding the artistic tasks and role of an artistic director as well as its structural implementation the parties will now go separate ways. The Management of Tanztheater and its governing bodies expressly confirm their acceptance of the verdict its reasons and assessments and no longer adhere to the wrongly alleged reason for the dismissal.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Personal statement – Adolphe Binder<\/h3>\n

Despite the great support that I have received, especially in the past 19 months, from the public and from the\u00a0 members of the Tanztheater and despite the labor court disputes won in all three instances,\u00a0I have decided with a heavy heart to waive the artistic direction of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina\u00a0Bausch in the future and to conclude a court resolution.\u00a0I understood my vocation as an important task to build the bridge into the 21st century together\u00a0with this unique ensemble and thus to link heritage and innovation as paired forces of the company.<\/p>\n

With great support from the dancers and many other employees I was able to successfully set\u00a0impulses, be a moderator and motor to make Pina Bausch’s great work shine at a high level further\u00a0on, to present what has not been shown for a long time, to recontextualize it into a contemporary\u00a0frame and at the same time expand this rich repertoire with works by other excellent\u00a0choreographers. This creative process has borne fruit and has been enthusiastically received by both\u00a0international and Wuppertal audiences.<\/p>\n

The time as an intendant and artistic director of the Tanztheater is therefore one of the most\u00a0valuable experiences of my life. I would like to take this opportunity to once again express my sincere\u00a0thanks to all my fellow colleagues who have supported me, accompanied me and wrestled with me\u00a0to find the right way.<\/p>\n

Artistic work, as I understand it, needs dispute, needs openness and transparency. Only a theater\u00a0that dispenses with intrigue and power games can develop a form of conflict and argument culture\u00a0without which no genuinely new art can emerge. If, as is the case with the Tanztheater, traditions\u00a0and habits have determined work for a long time, this is certainly a challenge. It can only be\u00a0successfully implemented in the long run if all employees are willing to contribute to the associated\u00a0change process.<\/p>\n

It was therefore a real gift for me to experience great openness, trust and a lot of joy in new ideas\u00a0with all artists, and especially with those collaborators who developed the legendary pieces together\u00a0with Pina Bausch.\u00a0Unfortunately I could not find this openness, the courage to accept new challenges and to place\u00a0artistic freedom into the forefront in the then management, the advisory board and the\u00a0representatives of the city of Wuppertal, who appointed me as intendant in 2016, assigned me to\u00a0initiate an artistic development process not only from an artistic point of view, but also with regard\u00a0to the necessary organizational restructuring of the Tanztheater.<\/p>\n

The Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch is neither a government-authority nor a profit-oriented\u00a0touring theater, but a nationally and internationally important cultural body and institution that has\u00a0the obligation to serve the (freedom of the) arts.\u00a0 The heritage of Pina Bausch can only be cultivated and transferred to a vital future in an atmosphere\u00a0of mutual respect. Putting power above humanity and avoiding dialogue at eye level may be\u00a0common means in politics but should have no place in connection with the name Pina Bausch.<\/p>\n

However, to my great regret, I had to realize that until today the old and new managers of the dance\u00a0theater have no willingness to actually support me in the implementation of my contractually agreed\u00a0artistic task. Instead, as in the past, I would have to spend a lot of time fighting for my artistic\u00a0freedom instead of developing dance art. A situation in which courts would have to defend the\u00a0freedom of art against the organs of Tanztheater would damage the reputation of one of the most\u00a0important contemporary companies in a way that I cannot and will not sign responsible for.\u00a0I decided to take this step solely out of the concern that this would further damage Pina Bausch’s\u00a0artistic legacy.<\/p>\n

I deeply regret, but I do not see the opportunity to continue on my path, which has already led to\u00a0considerable artistic and economic success.\u00a0The work of Pina Bausch is marked by a deep humanity that has moved people around the world for\u00a0decades. A humanity that has arisen from love and that should be an obligation for everyone who\u00a0deals with the work of Pina Bausch in whatever function.\u00a0I would like to wish my successors to feel inspired and enriched by the love Pina Bausch has felt for\u00a0dance and dancers the same way that I did. A love that is still felt within this wonderful ensemble.<\/p>\n

Adolphe Binder<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite the unlawful termination of her contract (the dismissal was rejected by three labor courts), the parties have agreed to stop additional litigation not to strain the future of Tanztheater. Due to the remaining different views regarding the artistic tasks and role of an artistic director as well as its structural implementation the parties will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":31158,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[254],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44536"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44539,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44536\/revisions\/44539"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}