Karin Waehner, l'empreinte du sensible

Dedicated to one of modern dance’s pioneers in France, the film focused on Karin Waehner, dancer, choreographer, and remarkable teacher, is filled out with multiple moving testimonies.

Dedicated to one of the pioneers of modern dance in France, this film on Karin Waehner, a dancer, choreographer and extraordinary teacher, is full of many moving testimonies. Choreographers, critics and dancers of several generations, including Angelin Preljocaj, evoke her teaching, while rare archive documents show her artistic career and situate it in History. 

A large part of contemporary dance work takes place in the secret of transmission, the result of the high didactic quality of dancers and choreographers who often work quietly in the shadows. This “sensitive touch” unveils an entire facet of the history of dance. Born in 1926, Karin Waehner studied and danced with Mary Wigman, with a stay in Buenos Aires, before settling in France in 1953 where she created and taught until her death in 1999. Bare handed clearing, work on feelings, preparation, interior necessity, the work of the German choreographer focuses on sensation. That of a body slowly modelled but also shared by history. A critical body that assumes and replicates the gesture of which it is the mediator. She herself also largely evokes and comments this delicate and rigorous approach of apprehending memory.

Source : Irène Filiberti