ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Arendell ties Bausch's work to that of Gerzy Grotowski's Poor Theatre. By “poor,” Grotowski meant rich in emotional experience but using a bare stage, and by “rich” he meant overly detailed stage scenery and a high dependence on text rather than on body as means of expression. What Grotowski means by a poor theater is one that uses only the performer's body and their mastery of craft; these are usually what any dancer relies on as well. Grotowski's general focus on the body's actions places him in direct alignment with movement of any kind and automatically connects him with Dance Theater. Arendell makes a strong argument to be made that all dance translates impulse and action into physical reality at the level of movement phrases. Bausch's pieces often escalate to states of physical violation and outrageous excess by putting human truth on stage in some of its most raw forms. However, Grotowski claims his actor's wretchedness is transformed into a state of holiness, Arendell argues that Bausch's dancers try less to convert the wretched into what is holy, and more to expose social codification as a wretched form.
