The stage is dark. You can hardly recognize that a female body is moving here. »Would you like me to talk, or would you like me to dance?« A woman in a white dress and red stilettos introduces a touch of glamour in the space – it is Cristiana Morganti. The Italian woman danced for more than 20 years at the Wuppertaler Tanztheater with Pina Bausch and created numerous roles in the legendary choreographer’s pieces.

»Jessica and me« is a self-portrait that beautifully demonstrates how Cristiana Morganti – after the shock of Pina Bausch’s death in 2009 – has found her own dance and choreographic authenticity. Morganti offers insights into her life and becoming; she reflects on the art of dance as well as her existence as a dancer. Humorous and with plenty of tempo, she tells of her momentous meeting with the dancetheater-icon Pina Busch and also touches on poetic and melancholic subjects of age and transience.

Cristiana Morganti was born in Rome in 1967. She studied classical dance at the Accademia Nazionale di Danza in Rome and modern dance at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen. In Germany, she worked with Susanne Linke, Urs Dietrich, Joachim Schlömer, Felix Ruckert, VA Wölfl and Wanda Golonka. From 1993-2014, she was a dancer in Wuppertal with the company from Pina Bausch; she continues to be invited there as a guest artist. She created her first solo, »Moving with Pina«, in 2010. »Jessica and me« (2014) has had guest performances in more than 30 cities in Italy, France, Ireland, Sweden, Great Britain and Germany. In 2016, the duo »A fury tale« followed.