[Herald Interview] 'Dancing with P' explores dance's legacy after death of Pina Bausch

“Dear members of Tanztheater Wuppertal, I am Lee Kyung-sung, a theater director from South Korea.”

The play “Dancing with P” opens with this letter Lee wrote in the summer of 2021 to the renowned German dance company founded by Pina Bausch (1940-2009), the legendary figure who transformed the landscape of contemporary dance.

“After Pina passed away in 2009, I often saw her works performed on stage, because Tanztheater Wuppertal was still touring worldwide. While it made me happy, I was also curious,” Lee continues on the stage.

“The original troupe members retire and new dancers join. I began to see Tanztheater in a new light,” said Lee in a recent interview with The Korea Herald.

“Bodies are replaced, but the dance persists. How is Bausch’s creative spirit transferred to the new generation? Can a choreography remain the same when the bodies that perform it have changed? Can it still be called the same work?”

These questions are at the heart of “Dancing with P,” currently showing at U+ Stage in the LG Arts Center, Seoul. The 100-minute documentary play blurs the line between reality and fiction, weaving through time, memory and the notion of creative inheritance.

Lee brings together six performers -- actors, dancers and artists from varied backgrounds -- to explore the legacy of Bausch’s movement language, philosophies and creative process.

The project started in 2021. By early 2024, Lee had conducted interviews with veteran dancers who had spent over two decades with Bausch, as well as younger performers carrying on her legacy. In July, he brought first-generation Tanztheater members Kim Na-young and Eddie Martinez, who had worked directly with Bausch, to Seoul for a three-week workshop with the cast.

The result is a unique blend of documentary theater, choreography and personal reflection. The production also includes a surprising character -- a ChatGPT-based chatbot named "Master P," programmed with data about Bausch.

When Lee asks the chatbot, “Where are you?” to which Master P responds, “I exist in the vibrations of your emotions and the directions of your questions. I am present when you need me.”

Six performers -- Na Kyung-min, Sung Soo-yeon, Kim Yong-bin, Jung Jae-pil, Zunbul Betul and Hwang Soo-hyun -- each standing at the crossroads of their own past and present, bring their personal experience to the stage. But the performers follow a scripted dialogue, developed from their workshops, blurring the line between narrative and improvisation.

In the question-and-answer dialogue between Master P and director Lee, the performers apply Bausch’s famous question "What moves people?" and explore “What moves me? How do we connect here and now? How can we carry forward the legacies we inherit?”

“I see ‘Dancing with P’ as an evolving conversation -- not only among the performers but also with the audience,” said Lee. “As we confront our own values and the legacies, I hope we can look within ourselves and what values we should leave behind even after we are gone.”

The play runs through Sunday, with English subtitles available at weekend performances.

Lee, who is also a professor of acting and performing arts at Sungkyunkwan University, is set to become the first South Korean director invited to Munich’s Residenz Theater, where he is set to direct a new production in April 2025.