The last time Pina Bausch, the revolutionary dancer-choreographer from Germany who died of cancer recently, visited Calcutta was in January 2008. She was here to stage her dance piece Bamboo Blues, inspired by her long association with India. In keeping with her enigmatic personality, people saw little of her then, except for the time when the production was through and she came onstage to acknowledge the loud cheering of the audience.

Bausch was gaunt and frail even then, and reminded one of Vincent Van Gogh’s gaunt figures. She was brilliantly smiling one moment, and turning into the Sphinx the next, puffing away at Camels all the while. Bausch had been visiting India for a long time, and way back in 1979 she had had a taste of leftist wrath when she staged Stravinsky’s Rites of Spring. The Democratic Youth Federation, of which Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee was leader then, forced her company, Wuppertal Tanztheatre, to stop the show as one scene contained a nude man. Then in 1994 she returned with Carnation, the brutal, beautiful and ridiculous production that let off enough sparks to be remembered for years to come. In 2006, she returned with her entourage of physically perfect young dancers, and together they roamed the streets of the city looking for the bits and pieces with which she composed snatches of her dance piece she later called Bamboo Blues. It was done in collaboration with Goeth-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan. She visited the flower market near Howrah Bridge, did the ferry ride across the river and went for a tour of north Calcutta and its grand buildings. They went to Kalighat and its temple, and descended the steep steps leading to Adi Ganga as well. Unlike her compatriot, Guenter Grass, who had earlier visited the city, Bausch did not cross the Adi Ganga to see the red light area from close quarters. She was startled by the poverty and dirt in Calcutta but was moved by the “beautiful family life.” In Bamboo Blues she had incorporated the street ablutions, Kartik idols and the lush green countryside. Pina Bausch, who was a friend of Chandrakala’s, will be remembered for the eloquent movement of her hands which expressed what no words ever could.