Marlis Alt
Marlis Alt was a dancer in Tanztheater Wuppertal from 1973 to 1978. She collaborated on 13 pieces by Pina Bausch.
Information
1950 | born in Uffenheim (Germany) |
1966 | dance training at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen (Germany) |
member of the Folkwang Tanzstudio and first performances in choreographies by Pina Bausch | |
1972 | studies at the Martha Graham School in New York (USA) |
1973 to 1978 | member of Tanztheater Wuppertal and important role creations |
2020 | dies in Switzerland |
Biography
Marlis Alt
was born 19 March 1950 in the Bavarian town of Uffenheim. At 16 she went to the Folkwang School in Essen to study dance. Her teachers included Egbert Strolka, Jean Cébron and Hans Züllig. On completing her course she became a member of the Folkwang Dance Studio, led by Pina Bausch, in whose choreographies Fragment, Im Wind der Zeit, Aktionen für Tänzer and Nachnull (After Zero) she danced. She was fascinated not just by Pina Bausch’s physical language but also her working methods; as well as dictating movements, Bausch adopted improvisations from her dancers, engaging with the particular qualities of each person. She gave each of them space for their own interpretations. For Marlis Alt it was ‘true collaboration, in dialogue with her.’ Like this, everyone could continue to develop. At that time this was not established practice.
Sacre
In 1972 she was given a DAAD grant to study in New York at the Martha Graham School with teachers such as Yuriko and Mary Hinkson. In 1973 she returned to Germany and was taken on by Pina Bausch in her new dance theatre company, the Tanztheater Wuppertal. She became one of the ‘founding’ dancers, performing in works as varied as Fritz, the ‘schlager revue’ I'll Do You In..., Adagio – Five Songs by Gustav Mahler and the dance opera Orpheus and Eurydice. In the original triple bill Rite of Spring (1975) she had roles in all three parts. Her creation of the victim in the third piece, a choreography of Igor Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps, was exceptional. Marlis Alt gave the pain, desperation and fear of her protagonist an emotional directness, leaving the audience no escape from the confrontation. The role she shaped became a benchmark for many subsequent dancers. At the same time she saw a consoling aspect to a sacrifice made to renew the seasonal rhythm; the consolation for her was the communion of the ritual, connecting everyone with each other: everyone is a victim; no-one is alone. In this sense, she was aware of the way Pina Bausch’s choreography was simultaneously atavistic and contemporary, archaic and current.
Judith
Following performances in the Brecht/Weill double bill The Seven Deadly Sins (1976) she continued with the role of Judith in Bluebeard – While listening to a tape recording of Béla Bartóks opera ‘Duke Bluebeard’s Castle’ (1977), a further milestone. Again a woman is a victim. Again she is played by Marlis Alt in a mixture of resilience and resignation, rebellion and despair. Only this could give her take on the role the edge it needed, bringing the figure up close to the audience, making it tangible. Despite her intuitive understanding of Pina Bausch’s choreographic world, after her final performances in Renate Emigrates, in the 1977/78 season, she abandoned dance. She married, raised two children and supported her husband for several years in his fight against soil erosion in Ethiopia. In 1998 she returned once more to Wuppertal at Pina Bausch’s invitation for the new production of Bluebeard. Marlis Alt died on 18 June 2020 in Switzerland.
Text by Norbert Servos
Translation by Steph Morris
Gallery
Photograph from “Fritz” by Pina Bausch
Photo: Rolf Borzik © Pina Bausch Foundation
Premieres
Piece | Nachnull (After Zero) |
Date | 8 January 1970 |
Venue | Munich Germany |
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Piece | Aktionen für Tänzer |
Date | 12 June 1971 |
Venue | Wuppertal Germany |
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Piece | Fritz |
Date | 5 January 1974 |
Venue | Opernhaus Wuppertal Wuppertal Germany |
Choreografische Assistenz | Hans Pop |
Dance | Carlos Orta |
Catherine Denisot | |
Charlotte Butler | |
Dominique Mercy | |
Ed Kortlandt | |
Gabriel Sala | |
Heinz Samm | |
Jan Minařík | |
John Giffin | |
João Penalva | |
Malou Airaudo | |
Marlis Alt | |
Monika Sagon | |
Monika Wacker | |
Riitta Laurikainen | |
Tjitske Broersma | |
Vivienne Newport | |
Wolf-Werner Wolf | |
Stagehand | Helmut Kühne |
Lighting | Hans-Joachim Deinert |
Make-up | Heinz Dildey |
Sound | Horst Kersten |
Artistic director | Pina Bausch |
Ballet master | Hans-Dieter Klos |
Repetition | Werner Precht |
Technical direction | Rolf Bachmann |
Stage manager | Werner Hartkopf |
Source of cast | Evening leaflet for “Fritz” by Pina Bausch, “Rodeo” by Agnes de Mille and “The green Table” by Kurt Jooss in in Wuppertal, Jan. 5, 1974 |
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Piece | Iphigenie auf Tauris |
Date | 21 April 1974 |
Venue | Opernhaus Wuppertal Wuppertal Germany |
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Piece | I'll Do You In… |
Date | 8 December 1974 |
Venue | Opernhaus Wuppertal Wuppertal Germany |
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Piece | Adagio – Five Songs By Gustav Mahler |
Date | 8 December 1974 |
Venue | Opernhaus Wuppertal Wuppertal Germany |
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Piece | Orpheus und Eurydike |
Date | 23 May 1975 |
Venue | Opernhaus Wuppertal Wuppertal Germany |
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Piece | Wind From West |
Date | 3 December 1975 |
Venue | Opernhaus Wuppertal Wuppertal Germany |
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Piece | The Rite of Spring |
Date | 3 December 1975 |
Venue | Opernhaus Wuppertal Wuppertal Germany |
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Piece | The Second Spring |
Date | 3 December 1975 |
Venue | Opernhaus Wuppertal Wuppertal Germany |
Dance | Colleen Finneran-Meessmann |
Jan Minařík | |
Josephine Ann Endicott | |
Marlis Alt | |
Michael Diekamp | |
Vivienne Newport | |
Stagehand | Paul Aron |
Lighting | Hans-Joachim Deinert |
Make-up | Heinz Dildey |
Sound | Horst Kersten |
Ballet master | Hans-Dieter Klos |
Ballettkorrepetition | Werner Precht |
Technical direction | Rolf Bachmann |
Stage manager | Herbert Görsch |
Source of cast | Evening leaflet for “The Rite of Spring”, “Wind From West” and “The Second Spring” by Pina Bausch in in Wuppertal, Dec. 3, 1975 |
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Piece | The Seven Deadly Sins |
Date | 15 June 1976 |
Venue | Opernhaus Wuppertal Wuppertal Germany |
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Piece | Bluebeard. While Listening to a Tape Recording of Béla Bartók's Opera "Duke Bluebeard's Castle" |
Date | 8 January 1977 |
Venue | Opernhaus Wuppertal Wuppertal Germany |
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Piece | Renate wandert aus (Renate emigrates) |
Date | 30 December 1977 |
Venue | Opernhaus Wuppertal Wuppertal Germany |
Costume assistant | Ortrud Himmelreich |
Dance | Anne Marie Benati |
Arnaldo Alvarez | |
Barbara Passow | |
Dana Sapiro | |
Dominique Mercy | |
Ed Kortlandt | |
Erich Leukert | |
Fernando Cortizo | |
Heinz Samm | |
Hiltrud Blanck | |
Héléna Pikon | |
Jacques Patarozzi | |
Jan Minařík | |
John Giffin | |
Josephine Ann Endicott | |
Luis P. Layag | |
Malou Airaudo | |
Mari Di Lena | |
Marion Cito | |
Marlis Alt | |
Monika Sagon | |
Monika Wacker | |
Tjitske Broersma | |
Vivienne Newport | |
Yolanda Meier | |
Stagehand | Paul Aron |
Lighting | Hans-Joachim Deinert |
Make-up | Heinz Dildey |
Sound | Horst Kersten |
Ballet master | Egbert Strolka |
Jean Cébron | |
Ballettkorrepetition | Werner Precht |
Technical direction | Rolf Bachmann |
Workshop management | Leo Haase |
Stage manager | Herbert Görsch |
Props | Günther Fränzel |
Source of cast | Evening leaflet for “Renate wandert aus (Renate emigrates)” by Pina Bausch in in Wuppertal, Dec. 30, 1977 |
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Piece | Bluebeard's Castle |
Date | 25 July 1998 |
Venue | Théâtre de l'Archevêché Aix-en-Provence France |
Dance | Andrey Berezin |
Dominique Mercy | |
Fernando Suels Mendoza | |
Jan Minařík | |
Josephine Ann Endicott | |
Julie Shanahan | |
Marlis Alt | |
Rainer Behr | |
Raphaëlle Delaunay | |
Singer | Laszló Polgár |
Violeta Urmana |
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