ABSTRACT
Arendell argues in this chapter that Bausch follows Eisenstein's use of an actual-materialistic element in theater that can best be seen in her pieces, Kotakthof and Café Muller to its furthest reaches much like Bertolt Brecht's Alienation Effect. In 1976, Bausch worked with the Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill piece, The Seven Deadly Sins where she moved away from straight dance forms and invited performers to sing and act as well as dance. The second portion of this show involved a piece by Bausch, Don't Be Afraid, that pushed her dancers even further into the realm of dance theater, and some of her best-known conventions were born: men wearing dresses, dancers addressing the audience, characters who step out of character much like Brecht's own performers before this did. This step marked a Tanztheater shift from pure dance to something more notably theatrical. Arendell reminds us that even Brecht felt that a gestic theater relied on the choreographic principles. According to Arendell, although Bausch landed in a stage approach similar to Brecht's alienation, montage, and gestural vocabulary to reveal political truths, her methods were often different as means to arrive at this same point.
